You may be wondering what in the world "Cowpens" are.  Well, we will be working on this first of many "projects" for the year.  No, these don't require mega dollars worth of supplies and preparation, as most of the work is done in class on graph paper and white paper.  It does require that the kids seek patterns, while associating those patterns with mathematical sentences, expressions, and graphs.  We will eventually do "Bullpens" and other projects as the year progresses.

Basically, farmer Dawkins needs to build cowpens in order to meet with certain governmental standards for cow-keeping.  For one cow, the farmer has a square-shaped pen with 8 pieces of fence and a hollow middle where the cow goes.  For each additional cow, we must increase the length of the pen by two sections, making the pen one section longer on top and bottom for each additional cow.  Charts are below....

  One Cow...

   Two Cows....  Hope this helps you with the cowpen idea! 

We've started a new LTF lesson!  LTF stands for "Laying The Foundation," which is a wonderful proactive jump forward by Jefferson County.  Our Board of Education leaders took the initiative to initiate a program that accelerates our AP and Pre-AP classes as well as our regular education classes by not only training teachers for some inventive teaching techniques, but also providing lessons and materials that will enhance our Math, English, and Science classes.   In the process, teachers of these subjects across Jefferson County were provided digital projectors, Elmos, Write Boards, and laptop computers.  The technology is amazing, and all of the students benefit from it's use! 

Back to the lesson, "The Biggest Area" is a two-page handout urging students to exhaust all possible combinations of length and width of a rectangle with a given perimeter.  That is, if they are given a perimeter of 10 units, then the only resulting combinations of length and width are 2 x 3, and 1 x 4, since a rectangle with any larger dimensions, like 5 x 1 would be more than 10 units long(perimeter).  See, 2+3+2+3 = 10, and 1+4+1+4 = 10, but their areas are quite different.  The goal of LTF math worksheets is to represent the same data in several different ways.. so when the students are done, they will have drawn the different rectangles, shown the lengths, widths, and areas within a table, and finally graphed the resulting combinations of LENGTH and AREA.  The resulting graph is very interesting.  We should be done with this by Wednesday, and we'll process them on Friday. Enjoy!

Check on the first section "Class Requirements and Calendar" for updated information. 

Click on "files"  to view the 9weeks calendar and the class requirements.  My class is designed to incorporate the standards set by the Alabama Course of Study, Jefferson County Guidelines, NCTM, and GBMP(Greater Birmingham Mathematics Partnership.  I believe that students should have the opportunity to use several methods to learning and solving problems , dependent upon their individual learning styles.  Students will be expected to work as individuals as well as in group situations.  We will have daily work, homework, quizzes, tests and projects that will be graded in order to evaluate learning.  Math is a language, and we will emphasize math vocabulary and concepts on a daily basis.  I look forward to teaching you this year.

 Robbie is a robot who begins his life in stage 1 with a body and grows new sections of his two arms and two legs with each successive stage of growth.  The goal here is, as with "Cowpens," to find the pattern as Robbie progresses to each stage of growth and find the parts that stay the same (constant) and which parts change(varioble).  By finding the pattern, you can predict how many sections would be in the 10th, 100th, and even the nth stages.  Eventually, we will see how to apply this pattern to a linear function graph.  (a line)  As with Cowpens, I will walk the kids through the steps needed for the project each day in class next week spending about 10 minutes for question/answer on the project details. 

       Our third project is off to a great start.  I even dare to say that the kids are ACTUALLY trying AND finding the pattern!   Now that we have had two other projects, the students are aware of my expectations for our projects.   Also, remember that most of our projects are done in class and don't require outside supplies (unless you'd like to donate posterboard and construction paper for presentations.) 

     Essentially, bullpens are different from cowpens, because they have to have a wall between them to keep them from fighting.   A single bull pen will have 8 sections of fence in a 3x3 square with a hollow middle for the bull.  Each additional bull requires 5 more sections of fencing.  The kids need to set up the t-table so that the number of bulls corresponds to the total number of sections required to build that number of bullpens.  Next, after they've realized that the RULE is to add 5 each time, they begin to look for a pattern that invloves the number 5.   One bull = 8 sections, so how many fives are in 8?   Two bulls = 13 sections, so how many fives are in 13?  Eventually, they find these patterns help in predicting how many sections are required for 10, 100, and ANY number of bulls.   ENJOY!!

Please be patient with your young learner....if they bomb a test this first nine weeks, they get more chances to improve their understanding of a topic.  For instance, our fist test was on the Order Of Operations, and some didn't do well.  However, the second test not only had new material, but also a section for Order Of Operations, so if they improved on that portion of the test, their previous grade will increase as their mastery of the material improves.  Our third test was on multiplying and dividing Integers, but it included specific sections that pertained to adding and subtracting as well as Order of Operations, so grades had an opportunity to increase again.  If students are really trying NOT to improve by not doing classwork, not showing evidence of their thinking, nor checking their work as we go over it in class, then they probably won't be successful.  However, if he/she is trying to learn and doing their part for their learning process, I promise that I will meet them half way and they will find success!