Well, I'm typing this post from the eighth floor of the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Denver, Colorado where I'm busy preparing for two presentations that I will be leading with Toni at the National Middle School Association's Annual Conference. And, as you can imagine, it took quite a bit to pull everything together to leave this morning!
So, for the last few days, you've seen tons of pictures pop up on here without any explanation as to what we've been doing! Ha!
Well, overall, the kids and I have been engaged in a conversation about integers, order of operations and most recently, beginning expressions and variables--in fact, that's what they'll be working on while I'm gone. When I return, obviously, expect much more detailed blogs updating you on all I've learned and what's on the horizon for Pre-Algebra.
Have a great weekend!
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
The Seventh Night of the Number Devil! Mwhahaha!
Taking a break from the Integers, we reconnected with our old friend the Number Devil on the seventh night of his great adventure.
Tomorrow? We'll be picking back up where we left off! Reminder to those kiddos who needed to do make ups or redos or try agains on their mastery quizzes -- these will happen tomorrow. :)
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
OOO With NEgatives!
After our warm up, we checked our mastery quiz that the kids worked on last night for homework. The exciting news is that many kids passed (missed 2 or fewer questions!) and the rest got very close and will try again soon! Whoohoo!
Afterwards we moved into practicing some problems on Order of Operations using negatives.
I suggested to the kids that they might want to complete some of the problems they didn't finish for homework. Be on the lookout. :)
Monday, October 20, 2008
Wrapping up multiplying and dividing
In today's edition of IBC, we took some notes on reciprocals and multiplying exponents with negatives... all on top of some wacky examples to help them with their practice mastery quiz on multiplication and division which is their homework tonight! :)
Friday, October 17, 2008
Wrapping up some notes on integers
We took a bit of a side street today to talk about some off the way concepts and ideas about working with integers... multiplying and dividing as well as adding and subtracting. You can check them out below.
I've recommended that the kids continue to practice their M/D for a (not-so) pop quiz on Monday -- which they could possibly use as their mastery quiz!
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Mastery and Multiplying and Division
We got our mastery quizzes back (make sure to connect with your children!) today and then practiced more multiplying & dividing integers. Tonight I suggested that the kids continue to practice these new skills...
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Mastery!
Today the kids got to take their first IBC Mastery Quiz on Adding & Subtracting Integers. For these mastery quizzes, the kids must answer at least 90% correct to demonstrate mastery. They'll get them back tomorrow -- and if they didn't reach mastery, they will take it again until they do reach mastery. :)
Afterwards we read about the Fibonacci numbers in the Sixth Night in The Number Devil. :)
Homework tonight is to complete the first multiplying integers sheet in their integers packet from a few weeks ago.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Nothing New Today
No new news for today, but the kids will want to remember both parts of their homework (if they didn't finish their practice mastery quiz in class yesterday).
Explain, in as many words as you need, how to solve the following integer problem and why your answer is correct. (Think of the rules for adding and subtracting.)
4 + (-5) =
The one thing I did forget to blog about yesterday was their writing assignment! They were to...
Explain, in as many words as you need, how to solve the following integer problem and why your answer is correct. (Think of the rules for adding and subtracting.)
4 + (-5) =
More tomorrow!
Monday, October 13, 2008
Getting Ready for our first quiz...
After our warm up, we took some quick notes on absolute value and then proceeded on to a practice quiz on adding and subtracting integers. We'll try our hand at our first Mastery Quiz on WEDNESDAY (because of block scheduling). Those kids who need to finish their quiz need to do so at home.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Subtracting Integers
Today we checked our adding integers homework (if we had any) and then moved quickly to subtracting integers. Subtracting isn't all that hard when you remember that after you add the opposite, you just follow the adding rules!
The most exciting part of the day? BALLOON HOMEWORK. You guessed it! The kids homework is INSIDE a balloon that they are not allowed to pop until 3:15. If it gets popped before hand? Triple the homework! Mwhaha! Just another component of Integer Boot Camp!
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Let's Add some integers
After an OOO warm up, all we did today was add integers. :) That's it! Just adding some integers!
Things to be aware of... we found out that some folks are confused about the "rules" -- if the signs are the same, do the problem and keep the same sign.... AND.... if the signs are different subtract the smaller from the larger and keep the sign of the larger.
There may be a few straggling problems for homework...
Monday, October 6, 2008
What's this about your pants?
You may be asking yourself this question this evening when your children share about Pre-Algebra today!
We really jumped into integers today by talking through a numberline, describing the relationships between positive and negative numbers, and developed the rules for adding integers. All this you'll see below. :)
However, the most memorable moment came in the middle of one of those teaching "flow" moments... I had set the children up for a suspense... then reveal by saying, "Alright now, hold on to your pants because this just might knock your socks off..." -- or something like that! -- and after the reveal I heard Owen's voice from the back of the room: "Oh my gosh, my pants fell off!" The entire room burst into laughter! I guarantee they'll never forget that moment. How to add integers? Hm... But pants falling off? (Metaphorically!) Ha! :)
(No pants were actually knocked off during the class period!)
Homework (that some finished in class) is to complete a sheet that describes and investigates the relationship between integers.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
After our warm up...
After our warm up... there wasn't much more of class because of picture day!
When everyone DID get a chance to regroup, we checked our homework and then it was time to go!
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Hua! Integer Boot Camp!
What the heck are those kids doing with face paint on? And Matthew? What's going on here??
Today began Integer Boot Camp!! I've found the best way to review signed numbers is with a little pretending. :)
I'll post on the wiki the sheet I gave the kids today describing IBC--you'll definitely want to check it out! http://cfsmatthew.wikispaces.com/classdocs
Homework tonight is to complete the first page of the packet on integers: adding integers. I told them to work on it, not worry about getting everyone of them right, because we're really going to work on it tomorrow. :)
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