The 4th Nine weeks study guide may be downloaded from the "Files" button at the top of the home page.  Kids will be given this on Tuesday, May 8, and will work on them Tues and Wed turning in any work done in class for participation grades while I'm at workshops those two days.  We will review any questions they have on Thursday when I return.  Grades for classes thus far include the Pi Booklet(100 pts), Stained Glass Windows (100 pts), Powerful Polygons(100 pts), Tests on measuring angles, FOIL, and simplifying polynomials (all worth 100 pts each), and worksheets.  All of our projects have been done in class and not necessary to do outside of class if the student is on task.  Many of our kids are not turning in work, and several have failing grades due to lack of effort.  At this time of the year, I am urging the kids to take responsibility for their education and that I am done babying them.  Some kids just are not maturing while their classmates are right on target for where they should be by this time in the 8th grade.  Please encourage your children to continue to work as we don't have any "free" days in Math class.

Go to FILES on my home screen and open the 3rd Nine Weeks Study Guide if you've lost the one I gave you on March 5, 2011. 

Feb 28... We have been working on ARMT item examples in class over the last two weeks so as to prepare the kids for the general 8th grade knowledge and expectations on the ARMT assessment.  Last week we worked on measuring angles and construction of angles using protractors as well as finding the supplements, complements, and missing angles of triangles and other polygons.   On Friday, we tested on these skills and most of the kids were very successful on the material.  Also, kids were given a quiz grade on the notes they took in class throughout the week.  While looking at these notes, I noticed that many kids are not taking very good notes, which were allowed for them to  use as resources for the tests.   Those that were not successful, or did not finish their tests were allowed to revise their tests today in class while other kids worked on an ARMT booklet(3pages with 8 problems) that we will review tomorrow in class.  As with any classwork, this will be taken up for a grade for participation.

Feb 15... Be sure to ask your child about doubling and halving when they multiply or divide... it brought up some interesting conversation today.  They may be a little frustrated with the assignment for the next two days over gardening in the mountains of North Carolina, but we are applying pictures and numbers to working with fractions.  They will find rectangles great help in representing their thoughts about the vegetable gardens.  We have been practicing for the upcoming ARMT exam by using item specs on the Order of Operations, word problems, and perimeter and area of rectangles, triangles, and trapezoids.

Feb 1... The kids began the 4 page booklet today that is due on Friday for a test grade of participation.  The order does not matter, but they will be graded on work shown.. not on answers.  They can work alone or in pairs, but each child is responsible for their own booklet.  Most kids showed mastery of the last Test on linear equations.  I was very proud of the number of kids that have actually wrapped their brains around this skill as they found equations from a graphed line as well as graphed lines from a given equation.  They identified slope and y intercepts as well.  The Graph Whiz that is part of their booklets involve graphing only a limited portion of a line, which we call a line "segment."

Jan 25th....We have a test tomorrow, Thursday, January 26 on linear equations and graphs.  All students who bombed the first quiz on this material 2 weeks ago have the opportunity to do better on tomorrow's test and will have that percentage as the updated grade for the original quiz as well as the test grade.  I believe that kids should have a chance to improve their skills and have grades adjusted as they master the material.  Good luck!!

January 14

Report cards will be mailed out on Tuesday, January 17, 2012.  If you check the calendar, you will notice that we are working on Perimeter, Area, Pythagorean Theorem, and spacial awareness such as North, South,East, and West. 

December 13th... The kids had a good time at Samford watching The Nutcracker today!!  I hate that we didn't have time to see the Planetarium, but they now believe us when we say how WONDERFUL the cafeteria is there!!!! 

Nine weeks exams are supposed to be Thursday and Friday of this week, but in light of how many of our students are not very proficient at mathematics, we will begin working on the exam tomorrow, Wednesday, December 14, 2011.  Study Guides were given out last Monday and they have had 9 days to work on them.  They will receive 50 points assessment grade for turning in the work they've done in preparing for this exam tomorrow...if they don't turn in that work(stapled to the back of the study guide) they will receive 0/50 points.  Students have been told, it has been written on the exam, and we have reviewed every day except last Thursday, which was a study day with no talking. 

December 5, 2o11...    The kids received their study guides today...these will be due the day of the exam and worth 50 points.  Remember that credit is for the work, not just the answers.   The exam is 30 problems, and most of the kids don't get finished in one day, therefore we will review and let them start on the test Wednesday, so they will have all three days to work on it.  The nine weeks exams are 20% of their grades, so it weighs heavily on the semester.  Our field trip to Samford to watch the Nutcracker is next Tuesday, December 13, so we have Tuesday through Monday to review the study guide in class.

November 26, 2011,

I can not believe we have the possibility of snow in the Birmingham area Monday or Tuesday!!!   The students were given a "booklet" last week with 3 pages.  The first page is one-step equations followed by the second with two-step equations, and the third page is multi-step equations.  Students need to show at least one step in solving the equations.  They were to work on the odd problems only with review last Tuesday and this Monday.  We will be focusing on solving single, double, and multi-step equations as well as linear equations and their graphs through Christmas to wind up the newest content for the 2nd Nine weeks in Pre-Algebra. 

November 3, 2011

Menu #2 is due tomorrow.  The students already have had one task graded, which they can correct and turn in for full credit and 1/4 of their Menu grade.  They will turn in 3 other tasks at 50 points each for a total of 200 points.  There will be  a 4 problem quiz tomorrow on binomial products like (x + 4)(x - 7)..... you may remember this as "FOIL" from high school.  We will also simplify problems like   5(n - 4) +2.  Have a great weekend!

Oct 28, 2011:  We are half-way through Menu #2, and the majority of the kids are working hard..remember that menu tasks are not above student ability(these are used all the way down to 2nd and 3rd grade), but the work and detail put into them is where the quality exists.  We have processed  several menu tasks have been processed, so the kids know what I am expecting on their menu items that will be due next Friday.  Ask your child to explain to you how to show a rectangular array (have them draw a rectangle and show you how to "FOIL" the problem: (x+2)(x+3).)   You can also ask them questions like "What does it mean to show something algebraically, tabularly, geometrically, verbally, or graphically?"  Have a great weekend!!!

Oct. 19   We are now into our second nine weeks of school!   We are working on our first investigation, called "Billiards Rectangles," which requires the kids to construct their own rectangles and find how many pathways result from each rectangle in order for the "ball" to travel to another corner of the rectangle.  In an investigation, there is no "correct" answer, but rather that kids enjoy discovering mathematical relationships and share their findings with each other.  We are relating this to the scientific method.  ENJOY!!!   Menu #2 starts tomorrow.

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 first 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!

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.

TEXTBOOKS!  I will be issuing textbooks this week...remember that these are to stay home as I have a classroom set for them to use at school.  Please respect the age and condition of these artifacts as we ask you to keep them at home rather than in and out of your lockers, for they can not survive the daily wear and tear of locker/classroom use.  We will not work out of these books as often as you may be used to in the past.  We will also be practicing procedures for MENU items soon. 

Our first quizzes on the Order of Operations went well.  There were still a few people that struggled with following the priorities of Parentheses and exponents from the inside out, Multiplication OR Division LEFT to RIGHT, then after all the other have been done, we work Addition OR subtraction from Left to Right.  Some students were still adding or subtracting when there was still multiplication to be done on the quiz.

All students should have a learning log(composition notebook) in their file in my room now.  These will be sort of a scrapbook/portfolio of their work throughout the year.  Hope you have a great week and a safe Labor Day weekend!