Thursday, December 18, 2008

The Last Post of 2008!

Today, as I suspected, it was incredibly hard to stay focused. The
last day of math class for 2008!!

The focus of our day was, of course, our t-shirts! What a great
idea! (It was the kids', mind you...)Take a look at the picture of us
in our shirts below! :) Those kiddos who forgot... don't forget to
connect with your partner tomorrow.

We tried in vain to work on some word problems... but the excitement
of the t-shirts kept us from being too serious. ;)

As a heads up, we'll come back from break, pick up where we left off
with word problems and soon thereafter it will be test time. If the
spirit so moves you, you can totally practice some word problem work
over the break! Check out the earlier post of our word problem packet.

See you in 2009!

Our t-shirts!!

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Dodging the tomatoes

I dodged a few tomatoes today as we continued our conversations about word problems. (Well, not actual tomatoes... ;))  We're steadily moving along, at our own pace.  We were able to complete #s 2-3 during class and I would like them to complete number 4 for homework.  (I'm going to post the problems that I scanned in a bit...)

Onward!

(don't forget the t-shirts!)

Warm up

WP #1 (from HW)

WP #2

WP #3

Monday, December 15, 2008

WPP

Today the kids got their WPP... the Word Problem Packet.  We processed another example, and they got one problem (#1 in the packet) for homework.  The most important part of these problems is for me to see that they can follow the steps... identify and define the variable, write an expression, plug it in, write an equation, solve it.  Its supposed to be a little hard right now! 

Friday, December 12, 2008

The Age Problem

There's just something about second period... time always goes by so quickly!  After our warm up, there was only time for one word problem today: The Age Problem.  I name it so because the format is the same for many different kinds of word problems.  Look for a post below for the actual problem. :)

Catch ya Monday!

Warm up worked out

Notes from today!

http://cfsmatthew.wikispaces.com/file/view/82+The+Age+Problem.pdf

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Defining One-Step Equations... and word problems dun dun dun!!!!!

After our warm up, we discussed how we've really been working on one-step equations all this time and then ventured on to start our work with one-step word problems. :)  Just worked through one today to get our feet wet... nothing for homework (or to worry about!) as of yet.

Check out our notes from today!

http://cfsmatthew.wikispaces.com/file/view/wp_onestep.pdf

Warm up

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Equations!

After a quick warm up, and noting each other's t-shirt sizes, we launched into some much needed practice on equations.  We're focusing on following the steps and clearly SHOWING OUR WORK.  The kids were working on #s 21-32 in class and should finish for homework--answers are posted online, below. :)

Answers to Homework

Homework is #s 21-32 from #78 in their notebooks...

21) x = 476
22) x = 522
23) x = 1000
24) x = 10,000
25) x = -1
26) x = -2
27) x = 456
28) x = 426
29) x = 17
30) x = 710
31) x = 153
32) x = 171

T-Shirts (Adult Sizes)

Yael - Women's Small / Kids XL
MeiLa - Women's Small / Kids XL
Lily - Women's Small / Kids XL
Jennifer - Women's Medium
Jessica - Adult Medium
Owen - Youth Large
Lucas - Adult Small
Matthew G. - Adult Medium
Michelle - Adult XS (Small)
Logan - Women's Small, Kids XL
Isabella - Women's Small (maybe medium?)
Cara - Women's Small, Kids XL
Matthew R. - Adult Small (make sure it's pre-shrunk)

Warm up

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Santa's T-Shirt Factory??

Today we did a warm-up on integers and fractions, checked our homework, and made arrangements for Santa's T-Shirt Factory!

The warm up was well-received (see below).

Even our homework checking went well!  I've told kids about what I call the "No Having a Cow Zone" -- there's this way that some kids approach checking their work.  If they, let's just say, miss one problem, they **have a cow** and miss the next five answers because they're distracted.  So, we talked about creating a No Having A Cow Zone... and it worked!  Yay!  (And, it seems as if everyone is feeling pretty confident in their one-step equations.)

Santa's T-Shirt Factory.  Now, I don't want to accidently give or not give credit to someone, but one of the kids in Pre-Al thought that it would be a great idea for us to create t-shirts for each other... in the "Secret Santa" fashion.  So today we drew names for each other.  Here's what you need to know as the parent.  One.  We're not talking fancy, high-end dollar productions here.  I'm going to run to my closet, grab an old (gently used!) t-shirt, and some Sharpies, and have at it.  Two.  It must be Pre-Al related.  This class is one of those classes that has just clicked--there is an amazing culture and climate in the room from 9:35-10:20.  As such, we have a lot of jokes and funny quotes that have become part of our culture... and while it would be hilarious to just put those on our shirts, that ain't gonna cut it!!  The shirt must be Pre-Algebra Themed... including LOTS of references to math, shortcuts, rules, Matthew sayings, what not.  If you have any questions or your child needs clarification, please do not hesitate to let me know.  Size-wise?  I'm aiming for small-medium.  We're not going for designer, but it would be nice if these shirts actually were worn around school every once in awhile.  I just like the idea of homemade Pre-Algebra shirts. :)

Hope all is well!

Warm up

No having a cow!

Monday, December 8, 2008

Equation Homework!

How could I have forgotten that your kids have homework!  Twenty equations... all mixed together... and they MUST show their work.  Ask them about it! :)

Oh where, oh where has Matthew been?

You may (or may not!) have been wondering about my whereabouts considering my lack of posting on the blog. :)

Last week was an incredibly full week--just beside myself busy. You all know how that feels!

And to add to the mayhem, I was away at the North Carolina Educational Technology Conference in Greensboro on Wednesday and Thursday. I cannot express to you what an amazing conference this is... you'll have to check out their website and read some of the session descriptions. This trimester I am actually considered as part of the "admin" staff in the middle school--and my focus is technology. I am blessed with the gift of time in the afternoons to learn about and offer workshops for other middle school staff members on technology. This conference was a way for me to keep my thumb on the pulse of what's happening. The newest buzz in the educational technology world? GoogleDocs. :) You should check it out if you've got some time.

Anyways, last week your children worked heavily on equations... adding, subtracting, multiplying... and YES, even some of those fractiony ones. :)  We've been approaching each equation using our rules:
1. Do everything you can to get the variable by itself.
2. To do so, do the opposite operation that what is written.
3. Whatever you do to one side, you must do to the other.

In fact, those fractiony ones were first seen with Lisa Ray, parent of a CFS students, while I was at the conference. Lisa helped introduce the kids to the idea of a reciprocal.

This week will see a move to some good old fashioned practice.  :)  They may grumble a bit, but it will help them in the long run!

Whew! Enjoy and have a lovely evening!

HW

Tuesday, December 2, 2008