Too bogged down to blog...

Sorry for the skip of yesterday's blog, I got busy and forgot! Here's the update.

All classes took quizzes yesterday. Graded quizzes will be passed back either today or tomorrow.

 

Today...

6th: Earlier in the week, students had a HW assignment on GCF and LCM then the next day they had a quiz on the same material. Amazingly the HW grades were very low (if turned in at all), but the quiz grades were great. I asked them why this could be. The overwhelming response was, "HW is not as important as a quiz". So, we reviewed both the quiz and the HW assignment today and talked for a while about why HW is indeed an important part of the learning process. Please reinforce this at home.

7th: Students were thrilled today to be allowed to write on their desks! We did an activity with snap cubes and dry erase markers learning the basics of box-n-whisker plots. We will continue with this topic for the majority of next week. It is  VERY crucial in the 7th grade curriculum.

8th - 2nd Block: Mrs. Burford has a SMART BOARD!!!!!!!!!!  This was the topic at hand in my 8th grade classes today. They were sooo excited to use it. In 2nd Block we began a lesson on Geometric Transformations that will continue for 4 days. Today we covered Translations which is the sliding of a figure in a plane. Students caught onto this topic easily and have a 10 question worksheet to complete for HW. 

8th - 4th Block: After the majority of the class bombed an OPEN NOTES quiz yesterday. Today this class had a serious discussion about how the decisions you are making now (i.e. to not take notes in class, or talk to your buddy instead of listening) can effect you later. We began a review of this quiz question by question to be sure that student to have the notes and understanding that they will need. Some students STILL did not seem to take the review seriously! Please remind your students of the need to do their best!   

Study STudy Study!!

6th: Today we discussed last night's homework as well as how GCF and LCM can be used in real life problems. Students should complete word problem sheet for HW. We will have a quiz tomorrow on Exponents, Scientific Notation, GCF, and LCM.

7th: Today we talked about choosing an appropriate graph to display different sets of data. This topic is not only important for math class and life, but it is also integrated into the computer ciriculumn. Tomorrow there will be a quiz on Bar Graphs vs. Histograms and Choosing Appropriate Graphs.

8th - 2nd Block: Today we reviewed last night's homework and talked more about how to set up proportons for indirect measurement problems. There will be a quiz tomorrow on all the applications if proportions that we have discussed.

8th - 4th Block: After a review of Translations, Reflections, and Rotations, today we went on to talk about Dilations our 4th and final geometric transformation. Tomorrow we will have a quiz on all the transformations we have learned. Students will be able to use the notes they have taken over the last 4 days to solve the problems effectively on this quiz, however, they will need to continue to study these notes over the next few days because they will NOT be able to use them on the test next week.

New Quarter!

Just a reminder to everyone that we have now started the 3rd quarter of the year. Wow, time flies!  Please remind your students of expectations and talk to them about doing the best they can in all areas! Many times I see a fall in grades and attitudes in the 3rd quarter and I don't want this to happen this year.

 

6th: Today we talked about a way to use prime factorizations to find GCf and LCM. Students were given a guided notes sheet and will need to complete #7-10 in both columns on the back for HW. We will do word problems with GCF and LCM tomorrow and have a Quiz on Wednesday.

7th: What is the difference between a bar graph and a histogram? Your students should all be able to answer this question! We will discuss how to chose an appropriate graph for a set of data tomorrow and have a quiz on Wednesday. No HW tonight.

8th - 2nd Block: Ask your students how they would measure the height of a local church's steeple? Or have them describe why a surveyor might use indirect measurement to draw a scale drawing of a piece of land in Stokes Co. We have learned how scale and indirect measurement are applications of proportions that professionals around us use daily. Please reinforce these concepts at home. Students will need to complete the practice skills and word problems worksheets for 4.7 Indirect measurement tonight for HW.

8th - 4th Block: Today in class we continued talking about geometric transformations. Today we quickly reviewed translations and reflections then discussed rotations in depth. Students should have finished the practice problem in class, however may need to complete them at home if they did not.  

6th: Today in class we were briefly interrupted by the gentlemen who came to measure and cut out a place for an installation of a Smart Board in my classroom. (Yippee, whoohooo, me excited?? not at all!!) We moved to the cafeteria and continued with class! We were able to complete a lesson on scientific notation and students will need to complete odd practice problems for HW if they did not finish in class.

7th: Today we talked about being aware of misleading graphs and statistics that are presented in the media. We read a very interesting article about a misleading graph that was presented by CNN about the Terry Shivo case. This of course brought up lots of discussion. After talking ethics for a few minutes, we continued to talk about the misleading graphs lesson, I told many of them that they should talk more about the ethics  issues with their parents, so don't be surprised if they want to talk, or if you have a normal middle schooler and they never mention it! ;) We will have a quiz on analyzing graphs and charts tomorrow. This is mostly all review for them and I feel very confident that they will do well.

8th-2nd Block: Again today we went over the homework sheet on Ratios and Proportions. This is a review from 6th and 7th grade, but will be needed for the 8th grade material we will cover next week. They should complete the odds for HW.

8th- 4th Block: Today in class we began a discussion of Geometric Transformations. We will be learning about 4 types on Transformations (Translations, Reflections, Rotations, and Dilations). The first 3 are review and the 4th one is new material for them. Today we focused mostly on Translations, a sliding of an object from one spot to another. They should complete #6-10 on the practice skills worksheet and #1-2 on the word problems for HW.  

Two-hour delay makes my day! :)

6th: Today in class we almost completed review of the Edutest we took last Thursday. We will complete this review, do some Alice math, and clean out our notebooks tomorrow. No HW.

7th: Today in class we completed the review of last week's Edutest. Students will begin studying graphs that can be used to display data tomorrow. For HW tonight students have a worksheet to review graphs that they have already covered in elementary school and 6th grade.

8th: Both 8th grade classes went over the correct answers to the Benchmark test we took last Wednesday. They were also given the chance to ask questions if they had them about the problems on this test. 2nd Block has a review of Ratios and Proportions for HW, evens only!

Edutest anyone?

All Classes took the edutest quarterly assessment today in class. Tomorrow is the end of the quarter. All missing work must be turned in by tomorrow to avoid an incomplete on your report card. 8th grade classes will take Grade Level Benchmark tests tomorrow.  

Make-up Monday

Today in all classes students were passed back any work that I had graded for them. They were also given progress reports with their current quarter grades and missing work. All students were given the opportunity to do missing work in class today. ALL MISSING WORK IS DUE BY WEDNESDAY!! Wednesday is the end of the quarter! Some students will need to finish missing work for HW tonight. There is no additional homework.

All classes will be taking Edutest tomorrow.

8th grade classes will have a benchmark exam on Wednesday. The grade they earn on the benchmark can be used to replace their lowest test grade if they so desire.

6th and 7th grade classes will go over correct edutest answers on Wednesday.

Due to the short week this week, test corrections have been moved from the normal Friday.

7th Grade Test Corrections will be Tuesday afternoon. These should be quick and easy. Most mistakes made were careless. Students can be picked up by 4 at the latest.

6th Grade Test Corrections will be Wednesday afternoon. We will be going over each problem as a group. I want to be sure they know exactly why they missed each problem and how to do it correctly. Test corrections for 6th grades will probably last until at least 4:30.

review review review

6th and 7th: TEST tomorrow!!

8th - 2nd Block: 3D Graphs Due tomorrow!!

8th - 4th Block: Quiz on Applications of Proportions!

 

**8th Graders -Professional Luncheon Tomorrow!

Happy Birthday Mrs. Rohm!!

6th: Today in class students did review centers on all of the topics we have covered in Probability. We will do a review again tomorrow and have a test on Friday.

7th: Today in class we completed data collection and used an Excel spredsheet to find mean, median, mode, and range of our class information. We will talk tomorrow about how to find measures of central tendency from graphs and charts then we will have a test on Friday.

8th - 2nd Block: Students continued working on 3D graph projects in class today. Due Friday!!

8th - 4th Block: Today in class we began talking about indirect measurement, another real life application of proportions. Students are to complete 6 questions on similar figures before class tomorrow. We will continue talking about indirect measurement for the rest of the week.  

Rain, Rain, go away.....at least during my 7th grade class!!

6th: Today in class we talked about how to be sure that collected data is both fair and credible. Students were asked to complete the bottom of our guided notes sheet for HW. They should put an F if they think the situation is fair and a B if they think it is Biased. Please talk with your students about how information that they read and see on TV may be biased and they should be careful to find out if the sorce is credible before they believe everything they see. We will review tomorrow and Thursday and have a TEST on all of Probability on Friday!!

7th: I had planned to do an activity in the computer lab today, however because the 8th grade computer test ran later than expected, we had to do the same activity on paper outside. We were doing measurements so that we can use them to calculate statistics. Needless to say, it started raining in the middle of the activity. So we finished up as best we could and we will try again tomorrow! :)

8th - 2nd Block: Just a few more days......looking good for the most part! Keep up the good work.

8th - 4th Block: Today in class we finished our lesson on using scale then practiced using the scale on the NC map. We will talk about another real life application of proportions in class tomorrow.  

Monday Madness

6th: Today in class we did our 3rd section of an ELA and math integration unit. We are solving math problems about the happenings in book Alice in Wonderland. Today we covered problems taken from chapters 5 and 6 of "Alice". We will do more of these activities as Mr. Capizzani's class continues discussing the text of the book in their ELA class.  We will go back to probability tomorrow and have a test on all of probability on Friday.

7th: Today in class students received graded work from last week. We went over the correct answers from Friday's quiz. Students played a Central Tendency card game to review the calculations of Mean, Median, and Mode one last time. Tomorrow we will collect info about ourselves and classmates by rotating through stations. We will then use this data to compare measures of central tendency between different sets of data.  

8th -2nd Block: Three more days to complete 3D Graphs. They are beginning to take shape. I am excited to see the final product!

8th - 4th Block: Today we started talking about Scale Models and Drawings. Use of a scale is a great real life application of proportional reasoning. We will continue with using scale on a map tomorrow then move on to other applications of proportions later in the week. HW -Finish through # 14 on today's blue worksheet.  

Is this really Thursday already!!!

6th: Today in class we discussed more about Permutations and Combinations. We were able to do some practice problems and talk about which they were out loud. Students were also given a chart that gives keywords and situations to watch for for each. Please go over your child's homework with them tonight.
7th: Today in class we discussed how outliers effect the mean, median, mode and range of a set of data. We will have a quiz tomorrow on these concepts.
8th-2nd Block: Students continued to work on their 3D graphs. Some of them have very creative ideas! I am excited to see the finished product.
8th-4th Block: Today we discussed real life applications of proportions. We will have a quiz on Proportional Reasoning tomorrow.

Happy New Year!!

Welcome back on this COLD day on January! I have to admit I was hoping for snow, but oh well! I was glad to see everyone today. Hope you all had a wonderful break!

 

6th: Today in class we started what might be one of the hardest concepts for 6th graders to grasp - Combinations and Permutations. Please work together with your child to study this concept. They may need to talk through some of their homework this week to decided if they are indeed doing a permutation problem or a combination problem. Quiz Friday on Combinations and Permutations. Test Friday the 11th on all Probability Topics.

7th: Today in class students were extremely talkative! Please remind your child (or yourself if you are a student) that school does go on after break and we must focus back on learning. Test grades were given back from the test on Functions and Slope that was given before break. Test Corrections will be Friday the 11th. We reviewed the Measures of Central Tendency (Mean, Median, Mode) and Range from 6th grade. Tomorrow we will continue with this topic as well as talk about Outliers in a set of Data. We will have a quiz on Friday.

8th-2nd Block: Students continued to work on their 3D graphs. Graphs are due Friday the 11th.

8th-4th Block: Today in class we began talking about proportional reasoning in anticipation of next week's lessons on using scale and indirect measurement. We will discuss using proportions to solve problems tomorrow and have a quiz on proportions on Friday.