6th Grade Math Weekly Goals:
5/30/2017-6/7/2017:
This will be the last post of the school year. Can you believe it is already here! This week students will receive their Unit 5 projects back and will be able to see the great work they did. We will be doing a few lessons in these last few days which will include: graphing data, comparing data sets, solving equations with variables and finally probability. It was such a pleasure working with all of you this year and I wish you all the best in 7th grade next year!
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Week of 5/22/2017-5/26/2017:
This week we will be wrapping our Decimal Ops unit by calculating tips and tax. We will then spend some time calculating percent discounts on items we can buy. The week will end with a Unit 5 project rather than a unit test. The project will consist of students looking up items on Amazon they want. They will fill out an order sheet, calculate tax, shipping and totals based on the prices they found. A rubric will be provided to students to let them know the expectations.
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Week of 5/15/2017-5/19/2017:
Partner quizzes will be reviewed and returned to you on Monday for revision. This week, you will be taking your 6th Grade Math CAT and Performance Task tests on Tuesday and Wednesday, It is important you are at school these days and that you work hard and try your very best on these tests. You guys have been working hard all year and you have the problem solving skills to be successful. Remember, Never, Never Give Up! Our week will wrap up by starting our last investigation in our Decimal Ops book. We will be taking a look at calculating sales tax.
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Week of 5/8/2017-5/12/2017:
This week we will be spending some more time working with Decimals, specifically multiplying and dividing decimals. We will develop and review algorithms used to conduct these operations. ACE problems will be assigned on Thursday. You will be working on the following problems starting on pg. 57 #'s: 2, 7, 8, 14, 15, 16, 21, 26, 32, 58. The week will end with Day 1 of a partner quiz. We will have a discussion in class about the expectations during a partner quiz. The quizzes will be reviewed and returned to you the following Monday for revision.
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Week of 5/1/2017-5/5/2017:
We are going to be starting off the week by wrapping up Problem 3.1 and how we use whole number multiplication to help us multiply decimals. We will also be taking the NWEA test this week. Students are expected to bring a book to read for when they are finished with their test. We will also be spending some more time taking a look at strategies to multiply and divide decimals. There is a Loon's Game this week on Thursday. If you did not receive a blue slip since our last reward day, you will be able to attend.
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Week of 4/24/2017-4/28/2017:
We are going to be starting off the week by wrapping up our discussion of adding and subtracting decimals. Wednesday we will be working on ACE problems starting on page 34 . Students will be required to complete problems: 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 17, 18, 20, 31. There will also be Check Up 2 this week. We will have a Quizizz (posted on Google Classroom) to help practice for this Check Up. We will wrap up the week by starting Investigation 3. We will be taking a look at how to multiply decimals with various strategies.
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Week of 4/17/2017-4/21/2017:
Welcome back from the long weekend! We are going to be starting off the week by wrapping up our discussion of unit rates in real life situations. We will decide which item has a better unit price, which car has the best miles per gallon, and if we know the unit price of an item, how much multiple items cost. Tuesday we will be working on ACE problems starting on page 14. Students will be required to complete problems: 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 24, 28, 31, 32. There will also be Check Up 1 this week. We will have a Quizizz (posted on Google Classroom) to help practice for this Check Up. We will wrap up the week by starting Investigation 2. We will be taking a look at how decimals relate to place value.
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Week of 4/10/2017-4/14/2017:
Welcome back! I hope you had some time to do some things you enjoy over your break. We are going to be starting off the week doing some review from our last book, "Covering and Surrounding." You will be given the opportunity to retake your Unit 4 test or make corrections on your test. We will then move forward with Section 1.3 in our new book, "Decimal Ops." We are going to be doing some work with Unit Rates, a topic we have already looked at this year.
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ATTENTION 6th GRADE MATH STUDENTS:
Hey guys. Per doctor's orders, I am out until after Spring Break. I know we had a few things to wrap up before Spring Break, and I promise we will get to those as soon as we are back together again. First of all, you will have an opportunity to retake your Unit 4 test. We will do some review and answer any questions for a couple of days before I give you time in class to do a retake. Also, we will continue with Investigation 1 in our new "Decimal Ops" book. I hope you all have an AWESOME break!
Week of 3/27/2017-3/31/2017:
We will be starting Unit 5, "Decimal Ops" in class this week. At the start of the week, we will be taking a look at real world problems which involve decimals. We will take a look at what operations are useful for solving certain problems and also using unit rates. We are going to be doing an activity which will involve converting how fast we walk (in meters per second) to miles per hour. We will end the week with a Check Up.
Take note: April 11 is now a scheduled 1:00p.m. Early Release day.
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Week of 3/20/2017-3/24/2017:
We are going to start the week by taking a look at Investigation 4 of Covering and Surrounding. We will be taking a look at how to find out information about 3-dimensional figures by using 2-dimensional nets. We are going to be taking a look at surface area and volume. Students will be using a lot of manipulatives. All of the labsheets we will using this week are posted on the "COVERING AND SURROUNDING 4.1-4.3" tab above. We will wrap up the week with a Jeopardy review game and our Unit 4 Test.
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Week of 3/13/2017-3/17/2017:
This week's post is going to be very similar to last week as we were not able to complete most of our tasks from last week due to the power outage. We will starting off the week with a set of review questions from our whole "Covering and Surrounding" unit. We will then move on to completing our ACE problems from last week. The page numbers and problems are listed in last week's post. There will also be a two day partner quiz this week. Students will be working with a partner to complete this assessment. On day one, they will work through the entire quiz and I will mark only the incorrect answers. On day two, they will rework their incorrect answers. They are only allowed to ask me two questions about the problems between the two days. We will wrap up the week getting started on Investigation 4 of "Covering and Surrounding" where we will be working with geometric nets to create 3-dimensional shapes.
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Week of 3/6/2017-3/10/2017:
This week we will be wrapping up Investigation 3. Students will be spending Monday building different parallelograms and seeing if areas and parallelograms of families of parallelograms will be comparable. We will also be using coordinate grids to describe the locations of polygons on a grid. There will be an ACE day this week starting on page 64 #'s: 1-4, 8, 9, 10-13, 20, 34, 38. We will be doing a lot of review this week that will prepare us for the partner quiz early next week.
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Week of 2/28/2017-3/3/2017:
Our goals this week will be to finish Investigation 2. We will begin the week by constructing triangles using certain guidelines presented to us. We will also be completing the ACE problems we did not get to last week (page 42 #'s: 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21. ) and will be taking a Check Up on Wednesday. When students are finished with their Check Up they will be spending the rest of the hour on Sumdog. We will then begin Investigation 3 which will deal with area and perimeter of parallelograms. We will devise a method of how we can find the area and perimeter of a parallelogram using methods we have already discovered for rectangles and triangles.
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Week of 2/20/2017-2/24/2017:
Our goals this week will be to work our way through Investigations 2.1-2.4 in Covering and Surrounding. There will be a labsheet for both Sections 2.1 and 2.2 which can be found in the "COVERING AND SURROUNDING 2.1-2.4" tab above. We are going to be using an online Geoboard to take a look at area and perimeter of triangles. [LINK]. Students will end their week with ACE problems. They will be working on page 42 #'s: 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21. (Due to the Fog Day, we will not get to ACE problems until next week. Students will instead be watching a review video and worksheet on Friday. I will post the assignment sheet to the "COVERING AND SURROUNDING 2.1-2.4" tab above.
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Friday, February 17: Today you will be taking your Check Up 1 over Investigation 1 from "Covering and Surrounding." When you finish your quiz, it is expected that you will work on your Technology Gaming Slideshow Portfolio. I will have the rubric up on the board for you to be looking at while you work. Further directions will be given in class.
Thursday, February 16: You will be working on ACE Problems in class today. The problems begin on page 14 and you will be working on numbers: 2,3,5,7,8,12,14,16,17,30,57. You will be given an ACE sheet on which to write down your answers and we will discuss before class is over.
Wednesday, February 15: Today in class we are going to be taking a look at Problem 1.3 and seeing what happens when we fix the perimeter of a rectangle. We will come up with some strategies to find out what our possible lengths and widths would be if we were given a perimeter to work with. We are then going to create a graph which compares length of the rectangle to the area of the rectangle and answer some questions based on our findings from today. Hint: The perimeter formula will help a lot today.
Tuesday, February 14: Today we will be reviewing the material presented in Problem 1.2 from yesterday. We will make sure you have all of the notes copied down in the 1.2 notes packet provided to you in class yesterday. We will then lead into a discussion on graphing and create a graph which relates the side length of a rectangle to it's perimeter. We will then be taking a look at our Unit 1 Test and going over the retake procedure. You will have time during Technology class today to work with a partner to make corrections on the questions you got wrong on your Unit Test.
Monday, February 13: Students will be working on Problem 1.2 in class today. There are four videos I made for you to watch that walk you through the problem. The focus of today's problem is what if we want to keep the AREA of a rectangle fixed, meaning it's not changing, how many different rectangles can we come up with? You will realize that a property about numbers we learned earlier this year, dealing with factor pairs, will help you answer this question. There is also a video that reviews graphing with you as you will create a graph that compares the side length of a rectangle to the rectangle's perimeter. If the area cannot change, does this mean the perimeter cannot change? See the above tab, "COVERING & SURROUNDING 1.1-1.3" for today's labsheet.
Friday, February 10: Today we are going to begin our next unit titled, Covering and Surrounding. During this unit, I will be keeping the math books in my room at all times. If you know you are going to be absent, you are more than welcome to check out a book to use at home. Our first problem we will be investigating area and perimeter of rectangles. We are going to be doing some modeling with math tiles on our Chromebooks. Our problem today will focus on finding area and perimeters of "Bumper Car" tracks and we will be using Labsheet 1.1A and 1.1B. These can both be found in our COVERING & SURROUNDING 1.1-1.3 tab above.
Thursday, February 9: I am sorry everyone, but I am out sick today. Please make sure to be completing the assigned tasks for the day. You will be working on Khan Academy. This is a supplement to instruction that will help you further your understanding of adding and subtracting fractions with different denominators. You need to watch the videos and complete the practices that are posted at this link: https://www.khanacademy.org/math/arithmetic/fraction-arithmetic/arith-review-add-sub-fractions/v/visually-adding-fractions-with-unlike-denominators. Please make sure you are on task the whole hour. We will be talking about your progress on this site during class on Friday.
Wednesday, February 8: Early Release schedule today. Students who have not finished their Unit 3 Test will be given the opportunity to do so in class today. Those that are already finished will be expected to read silently on their own while others are testing. If everyone finishes, we will use the remainder of the class period to continue working on our Technology projects we started this week.
Reminder to parents: It is expected that your student come to see me if they are absent. I will provide them with notes and anything else they missed in class. Again, it is the responsibility of the student to do this. I will be sure to provide them with a hand out, especially if it is a graded assignment, but day to day work and notes are the responsibility of the student to make up and/or complete.
Tuesday, February 7: Students will be taking their Unit 3 test today. They will be receiving both pages of their test today, however, the expectation is that they will need some class time on Wednesday to finish it. If a student does finish tomorrow, they are to bring a book to read to silent read on their own. Students will not be permitted to play or read on their Chromebooks. Students need to remember they can use all notes, previous Check-Ups and Partner Quizzes from this unit on their test. Some students have elected to leave their materials here in the room, these will be available to them tomorrow and Wednesday if needed.
Monday, February 6: This is Jeopardy! Today we will be playing a Jeopardy review game to prepare for our Unit Test tomorrow. Students will be put into groups. Each group will submit an answer via a sheet of paper and all correct responses will receive points. Just as a reminder, our Unit 3 Test will be tomorrow.
Friday, February 3: There will be a sub in class today as I will be traveling to Ferris State University with the 8th graders to compete at the MathCounts competition. Students will be working on ACE problems starting on page 73 in their Let's Be Rational books. Students will be provided with an ACE sheet in class. They are to watch videos of sample problems and do the corresponding problems on their ACE sheet. They need to be working on problems: 1, 7, 11, 23, 27, 30, 32, 38, 39. If you finish early: (Extension Problems- 47, 48, 49, 50, 52, 53, 54, 55). They need to turn their ACE Sheets in to the tray by the end of class so we can over these problems on Monday.
Thursday, February 2: Today we are going to be doing some group problem solving work in class. We are going to be presented with several story problems and students are going to be tasked with figuring out what operations they need to be using to solve the problems. Groups will present their problems and solutions to the class. The problems we will be working on are taken directly from Problem 4.3 in our math book. Students will also receive back all Check-Ups and Partner Quizzes from this unit to use to study and prepare for their Unit Test next Tuesday. Reminder that parent letters are due back by Monday, February 6 if students wish to receive an extra credit point on their test.
Wednesday, February 1: Welcome to February! Today in class we will be continuing our exploration of fact families and will be looking specifically at fact families which involve division and multiplication of fractions. We will also continue solving equations for an unknown variable. Students will also have a chance to work with a partner to complete problems on page 69 in their book. Students will also have a chance to make quiz corrections during Tech time today to improve their Check Up 2 quiz scores from Monday. A parent letter was sent with students today. If signed and returned by Monday, February 6, students will receive an extra credit point on their test.
Tuesday, January 31: We are going to begin class today with a Number Talk about dice! We are then going to be starting our fourth and final investigation of our "Let's Be Rational" unit. Today we are going to be taking a look at fact families for addition and subtraction. Students will be introduced into solving two step equations which involve an unknown variable. Students will also come to a realization (hopefully as a review) that addition and subtraction are inverse operations, in that they "undo" one another.
Monday, January 30: We will begin class today with a quick homework check and a Quizizz to review our KFC method of dividing fractions. Students will then be taking Check-Up 2 for this unit. There will be an extra credit opportunity for students to work on when they are finished with their Check-Up and they are then to read silently for the remainder of the hour.
Friday, January 27: Happy Friday! Today in class, students will begin with a challenging warm up problem they should be able to solve with the skills, rules and strategies we have developed this week when dividing fractions. We will then spend the majority of the hour working on problems from Problem 3.4 and the ACE problems at the end of the chapter. I have compiled the problems I would like the students to be working on on a worksheet. The worksheet can be found under the "LET'S BE RATIONAL 3.1-3.4" tab above. Depending on time, we will end class with a Kahoot to review dividing fractions. Students need to complete TWO problems from number 19-25 on their worksheet we worked on in class today. I will be taking a homework check grade on Monday.
Thursday, January 26: Today we will begin with a few warm up problems that will help us review the material we have learned in Problems 3.1 and 3.2 this week. We are then going to push forward into problem 3.3. Our goal for today will be to develop strategies to divide a fraction by a whole number. We will find out if we can still use our same rules of KFC (or KCF) to do this. We are also going to review the idea of what a reciprocal is and how reciprocals help us do various operations in mathematics. If time allows, we are going to do a Kahoot together as a class that will provide further practice on the material we have covered this week.
Wednesday, January 25: We will begin class with a quick quiz reviewing the material that was covered in the videos and notes from yesterday. We are then going to continue by starting Investigation 3.2. We are going to be using string as a manipulative today to help us determine what it means to divide a whole number by a fraction. We are going to start with a 14 inch piece of string and mark off 3/4 inch segments. We are then going to cut our string into these 3/4 inch segments to see if we get more than 14 pieces or less than 14 pieces. We will further develop our strategy for dividing by a fraction: Keep, Flip, Change -or- Keep, Change, Flip.
Tuesday, January 24: There will be a sub in my room today and we reviewed the expectations and plans for the day yesterday in class. The class will be watching a total of 3 videos on Problem 3.1. The videos were created of me teaching the lesson just as if I was there giving the lesson. The videos will be posted on our Google Classroom page. Students are expected to be taking notes on the first two videos. Then students are expected to be working on questions A and B on pg. 49 in their book. Students will then be watching a third video to review the problems for today. The big idea of today's lesson is KFC! It's a method we will be learning and utilizing to divide a fraction by another fraction. (Keep, Flip, Change).
Monday, January 23: Today, students will be spending the class period taking their mid-year NWEA Assessment. If students are able to meet or exceed end of year 6th grade assessment standards, they will not have to take the test a third time later this school year. When students are finished, they need to be silent reading.
Friday, January 20: (Exam Schedule 1:00 release. Only 4th Hour Today) As a warm up today, students will be answering questions C3 and C4 from pg. 31 Problem 2.1 from yesterday. They will be turning this bell work in. We will then be spending the rest of the hour developing strategies to multiply whole numbers, fractions and mixed numbers. We will also be looking at how to diagram situations of multiplication that involve fractions and mixed numbers. The Partner Quiz will be given during our Tech Exam time. We will be doing this quiz together as a class.
Thursday, January 19: (Exam Schedule 1:00 release. Only 3rd Hour Today) As a warm up today, students will be answering questions C3 and C4 from pg. 31 Problem 2.1 from yesterday. They will be turning this bell work in. We will then be spending the rest of the hour developing strategies to multiply whole numbers, fractions and mixed numbers. We will also be looking at how to diagram situations of multiplication that involve fractions and mixed numbers. The Partner Quiz will be given during our Tech Exam time. We will be doing this quiz together as a class.
Wednesday, January 18: SNOW DAY.
Tuesday, January 17: SNOW DAY. Students should be aware that there will be a Partner Quiz on Thursday or Friday (depending on what day they are in my class during the exam schedule).
Monday, January 16: Today, we are going to begin Investigation 2 of "Let's Be Rational." Today's problem we will be taking a look at brownie pans and figuring out how much of the pan people purchased by multiplying fractions. An example is: if 2/3 of the pan was left and they bought 1/4 of that, how much of the original pan did they buy? We will be working on Labsheet 2.1 which can be found in the "LET'S BE RATIONAL 2.1-2.3" tab above. Students will be provided with two different colored pencils in class to help them determine the answer to the questions we will be looking at today.
Friday, January 13: Today, students will be taking Investigation 1 Check Up. This Check Up will be over the material we learned before break and the material that we have been reviewing last week and yesterday. Students are able to use all notes including the review that we completed together in class on Monday. We will do a short Kahoot review game to review adding rational numbers. When students are finished taking their Check Up, they will be finishing up their Technology Timeline projects, completing more math practice, and/or working on a Domino Math worksheet that provides further practice on subtracting fractions.
Thursday, January 12: Snow Day.
Wednesday, January 11: Snow Day.
Tuesday, January 10: Snow Day.
Monday, January 9: Class will be a little different today. Students will need to bring a pair of headphones or use a pair of mine in the classroom. Students will begin class by watching Review Video #1, then answering questions 1 and 2 on their review sheet. Students will then be watching Review Video #2, then answering question #3. Students will then be watching Review Video #3 and answering question 4 and 5. There is one additional video titled, Review Video #4 that will review subtracting mixed numbers and what happens when one fraction is larger than another and need to borrow from the whole number. This review will be for their Check Up that they will be taking tomorrow in class.
Friday, January 6: We will begin class today by taking a mini quiz over the material we covered in class yesterday on the Fraction Review Packet. Students were provided with answers yesterday and they will be able to use their packet on their quiz. Students will then be working on ACE problems on pg. 18 #'s:7,9,16,23,33,34,40,53,55. We will go over these questions and answers before class ends. Please be aware that their will be a Check Up on Tuesday, 1/10.
Thursday, January 5: Today we will be doing quite a bit of review on adding fractions, subtracting fractions, adding mixed numbers reducing fractions and finding two fractions that add together to be a sum of 1. Students will be working with a partner of their choosing and will be required to correct their responses when we go over the packet. We will also have time for questions. Our hope is that by the end of class today, students will have a good grasp on adding and subtracting fractions and being able to reduce fractions. The worksheets we will be using in class today are posted under the "Let's Be Rational 1.1-1.4" tab above.
Wednesday, January 4: Welcome to 2017! Today in class we are going to continue on with Investigation 1 and look at Problem 1.4. Today's problem will introduce adding and subtracting mixed numbers. We will look at some useful strategies when adding and subtracting strategies by using recipe cards that have a mixed number for each element. Students will also be using their skills to solve one step equations. A labsheet for today's problem can be found under the "Let's Be Rational 1.1-1.4" tab above.
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Tuesday, December 20: Today we are going to be continuing our review Kahoot game that we started in class yesterday. Students will just need their Chromebook in class today. I wish you all a wonderful Holiday Break. I will see you all in 2017!
Monday, December 19: Welcome to the last "School Day" Monday this year! Today we are going to be playing a partner Kahoot. Students will need to find a partner and each partner pair will need one Chromebook device. Students will be going to kahoot.it to compete in our "Holiday Break Review" Kahoot! The questions that will be on the Kahoot are from all units that we have covered in class so far this year. Students have seen these questions before. Each problem will have a 60 second time and students will not be able to post their answer until 30 seconds has passed.
Friday, December 16: We are going to continue using estimation today, but using a real world application. Today students will be presented with the challenge of determining what fraction of a land section certain people own. Then they will be presented with questions which ask them to add land sections together. Questions will consist of asking students to determine certain acreage, how much land someone would have to buy to own a certain amount of land and what owners own a total section of land if you were to combine their individual land sections together. The labsheet we will be using today is under the "Let's Be Rational 1.1-1.4" tab above.
Thursday, December 15: Today we are going to be working on Problem 1.2. Students will be taking notes as we continue to review what it means to estimate the sums and now the difference of rational numbers. Today we are going to introduce the idea of overestimation and underestimation depending on certain problems we face. We are going to go through a few real-world problems together as a class. For each problem, students will need to: 1. Decide if they will need to overestimate or underestimate for the given situation. 2. Estimate the sum or difference. 3. Describe strategies of how they know whether to overestimate or underestimate.
Wednesday, December 14: Today in class we are going to be summarizing Problem 1.1 that we started in class yesterday. Students will be answering questions C and D on pg. 10 with a partner as their Bell Work. We are going to summarize estimating sums of rational numbers and work on some problems that ask us to estimate the sum of rational numbers to the nearest whole number. Students will also be able to take a look at their Unit 2 test scores. Students who wish to retake the test must do so before the end of the day next Tuesday before break begins. Most students did very well on this test. :)
Tuesday, December 13: Today we will begin our new unit titled, "Let's Be Rational." At least for the start of this unit, students will just be grabbing a math book everyday when they come to class. We will begin today with doing estimations of sums of rational numbers. Students will be playing a game called, "Getting Close." Each group will receive a collection of fraction and decimal cards. Each student will also receive game cards with 0,1,2, and 3 printed on them. Two random cards are pulled and students will each need to decide if they think the sum of the two rational numbers is closest to 0, 1, 2 or 3. Whoever guesses correctly wins that round. Groups will then be calculating the exact sum of the two rational numbers.
Monday, December 12: SNOW DAY!
Friday, December 9: Students will be finishing their Unit 2 Tests today. I will have an activity for students to work on in class once they are completed. Students need to also make sure to return all math books to me today. We will be starting a new Unit on Monday.
Thursday, December 8: Unit 2 Test today. Students will be given the entire hour to complete as much of their Unit 2 test as possible. As a reminder, students can use all notes, worksheets, ACE Sheets and any other material I provided to them during this unit while taking their test. I will have instructions ready in class if students finish their test before the end of the hour.
Wednesday, December 7: Today's class will serve solely as a review for the Unit Test we will be starting in class tomorrow. I have two review videos prepared for students to watch and take notes on. I made these videos based on the questions that students have been asking in class and based on questions missed on previous quizzes from this unit. The videos also correspond to a review packet the students will be completing tomorrow. We will go over this before class ends. This tool can be used on Thursday's test along with all notes and quizzes from this unit. See the "Bits & Pieces 4.1-4.3" link above for the review packet link.
Tuesday, December 6: Today we will begin class with a Bell Work problem similar to the Genetics Problem we tackled in class yesterday. Students will then be given an ACE SHEET (see the sheet in the "Bits & Pieces 4.1-4.3" tab above). They will be working on #2,4,6,8,10,20,32 starting on pg. 103. There will also be two extension problems: #21 and 44 for them to work on if they finish early. We will go over answers and discuss any questions students have on the ACE SHEET.
Monday, December 5: Today we will be continuing our discussion of percents in class. We will be collecting data in class about common genetic traits (widow's peak, attached earlobes, dimples, straight vs. curly hair). We will decide what percentage of our class has each trait and then try to make an estimate of how many people at Vestaburg Community School has these certain traits using our small sample. The labsheet we will be using to collect data is located in the "Bits & Pieces 4.1-4.3" tab above. Students will be getting back all Unit 2 quizzes today to use as a resource to study from for their test this week on Thursday and Friday. A reminder: students can use all notes and quizzes on the Unit 2 test. They will also need to return their math books to school no later than the end of the day on Friday, December 9.
Friday, December 2: To start class, we will be doing an equivalent fraction challenge. Students will need to place all equivalent fractions in the correct place before time runs out. Today we will begin our last Investigation in "Comparing Bits and Pieces." This investigation will introduce percents and how we can represent both fractions and decimals as percents. We will be looking at free-throw averages (very fitting from our field trip yesterday), to decide which team had the better percent of free-throws made during the game. Students will be seeing how we can represent rational numbers in three different forms: fractions, decimals and percents and how we change between the three. Students will be receiving Progress Reports during their 7th hour today and I will also be sending home a short parent letter. I will attach both the Labsheet and the Parent Letter that will be handed out in class tomorrow under the "Bits and Pieces 4.1-4.3" tab above.
Thursday, December 1: There will only be 3rd hour math today and we are going to be working on our tech project. We will begin our new project. Students are going to be creating an Autobiographical Timeline. They will start off this week by creating a paper version of their timeline on a large sheet of paper. They must include 30 events that have occurred in their lifetime. The complete details can be found on our Google Classroom page.
Wednesday, November 30: Today, students will be starting class by watching a 10 minute review video of Investigation 3. They will then be taking Check Up 2 which covers all material from Investigation 3. Students are able to use their notes and ACE problems we worked on yesterday in class.
Tuesday, November 29: Today in class, we will begin by doing a quick review of comparing decimals to see if they are <,>, or = to one another. We will also review how to turn fractions into decimals and also take a look at repeated decimals and we write them. Students will then be working on ACE problems from Investigation 3 starting on pg. 82. They are to complete the following problems: 2,5,9,13,23,31,39,51,56,58,60 and 62. If they finish, they need to be also working on problems 7,11,and 38. Together as a class we will look at Problem 3.5 Question A and wrap up class with a quick Number Talk.
Monday, November 28: I hope you all had a great and relaxing weekend! Today we will be finishing up Problem 3.3 by having students work on the problems as Bell Work. We will go over the problems and then begin Problem 3.4. We will be using what we know about fractions to estimate and compare decimals. We will be using Labsheet 3.4 (see the document above in the Bits and Pieces 3.1-3.4 link). We will see where decimals are on a number line and how they relate to one another.
Wednesday, November 23: Remember, today is Pajama Day! Pay .50 to your first hour teacher and you can wear your PJ's all day! Today in math we will start class by doing a number talk. We will then be reviewing our Check Up 1 from last week. Students are expected to take notes on the answers and as we relearn concepts they did not understand.
Tuesday, November 22: Today we will be exploring decimals and how what we have learned about fractions so far can help us solve problems involving decimals. Our problem today focuses on cutting a huge pan of lasagna into 100 pieces and seeing just how we can split this up evenly in different scenarios. We will review tens, hundredths, thousandths, etc. decimal place values and use this knowledge to write fractions as decimals. Students were given Labsheet 3.3A, 3.3B and 3.3C in class today to help them solve various problems and examples.
PARENTS and STUDENTS: Vestaburg School is collecting Toys for Tots Donations and Non-perishable food for a Food Drive. Donations for the Food Drive will be accepted up until the end of the day, Tuesday, November 22. Donations can also be made in a monetary way. $1=9 pounds of food!!! Wednesday, November 23 will be Pajama Day! Students can pay $.50 to their first hour teacher to wear PJ's for the day. The money collected will go towards the Food Drive collection. Toys for Tots donations can be made up until Tuesday, December 2. Please think about helping a local family that may be in need this holiday season. Thank you for your generosity!
Monday, November 21: Happy Monday! Today in class we are going to be taking a look at how we can decide if fractions are closer to 0, 1/2, or 1. We are going to introduce the term "benchmarks" for the reason of deciding if each fraction is in fact closer to the benchmarks: 0, 1/2, or 1...and the opposite of these benchmarks (0, -1/2 and -1). Students will be able to compare positive and negative rational numbers and be able to identify where each of them is located on a number line.
Friday, November 18: Today in class we will be finishing up Problem 3.1 by working on Questions A1, A2, B1, B2, C1-C3, and D1-D3. Students will also be challenged to work on Question E and see how real life applications of "Absolute Value" work. We will finish class by doing a game of Kahoots! to review absolute value, improper fractions and mixed numbers.
Thursday, November 17: We will begin class today with a brief number talk. We are then going to begin Chapter 3 of our book. Looking at extending the number line to include rational numbers and negative numbers. We will discuss absolute value today and how this plays a role in a number's distance from 0 on the number line. Students will be able to identify where numbers and their "opposites" are located on a number line.
Wednesday, November 16: Students will begin class by watching a short review video and they will be taking notes as they are watching. A link to this video will be posted on our Google Classroom page. Once they have completed the video, they will be taking "Check-Up 1." When they are finished with their quiz, there are instructions posted on our Google Classroom page for them to visit.
Tuesday, November 15: No school today!
Monday, November 14: Today we will begin class by doing a "Number Talk." Students will need to come up with discuss different ways to solve simple arithmetic problems. We will then do a short review of what the students worked on during class on Friday and finish the class by working on ACE problems: pg. 50 # 1, 7, 23, 24.
Friday, November 11: Today there will be a sub in my room. Students have a bell work mini quiz to take that is posted on our Google Classroom page titled, "Friday Math Bell Work." Students will then need to pick up a packet in class and copy down notes and examples. Students will also be completing problems A, B & C from pg. 49 in their math book.
Thursday, November 10: Today we will begin by doing a problem together that reviews what students worked on yesterday. We will review what a Unit Rate is and then move into our next investigation talking about sharing unequally. We will do an example together which shows that a person's age depends on how many segments of the fruit worm they receive. Students will then be working together to solve problems to find equivalent fractions and ratios.
Wednesday, November 9: There will be a sub in my room today. Students will be taking notes in a packet that they will be given in class. A completed version is posted on our Google Classroom page and students will use this to copy down the notes and work on the problems on the sheet. The link to the notes sheet can be found here: drive.google.com/open?id=0B8odIMMekIpeWE84ek5ULXc1RVk
Tuesday, November 8: Today in class, we will begin with a quick Bell Work problem where students need to place the number "1" on a given number line that is already labeled with certain fraction values. Students will then be partnered up and will be taking a Partner Quiz for Investigation 1.
Monday, November 7: Happy Monday! Today in class students will be working on several problems to review equivalent fractions, comparing fractions to see which is greater or lesser than the other, and working with cardboard pizzas to model fractions and equivalent fractions. They will also be asked a few challenging questions where they need to decide which pizza would have the most left-overs if certain fractional amounts were removed. The packet can be found on the BITS AND PIECES 1.1-1.3 link above.
Friday, November 4: Today students will be working ACE Problems #2,5,6,10,12-15,27 starting on pg. 27 in their math book.
Thursday, November 3: Today is a shortened class due to an 11:00a.m. release time. We will be taking our ideas from yesterday when we were using the online fraction tiles to decide where certain fractions belong on a number line. We will do this by creating a whole class number line where we place fractions on a number line between 0 and 1. Students will then be able to see where certain fractions lie on the number line, what fractions are equivalent, and also the distance between fractions.
Wednesday, November 2: Today in class we will be thinking about how we can represent a fraction as a number on the number line. We will be working with equivalent fractions and an online Fraction Tiles site which can be found on our Google Classroom page. Students will be answering Question A and Question B on page 16 in their student book. We will then lead into a class discussion about equivalent fractions, how the fraction tiles have helped us find equivalent fractions and why the fraction "1/2" is used A LOT.
ATTENTION PARENTS: Parent Teacher Conferences are being held this week, Wednesday, November 2 from 5:00p.m.-7:30p.m. and on Thursday, November 3 from 1:00p.m.-4:00p.m. and 5:30p.m.-7:30p.m.
Please also see the below link for a quick Parent Survey. Thanks!
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________IIn an effort to improve system practices, Vestaburg Community Schools is conducting a Parent Survey. We value your opinion and ask that you take the time to complete this survey.
In order to complete the survey, please go to:
http://eprovesurveys.advanc-ed.org/surveys/#/action/11561/p420
Please be assured that your responses to this survey will be anonymous. Your honest opinion is appreciated.
Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.
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Tuesday, November 1: Welcome to November! Today in class, we will be moving forward to Comparing Pits and Pieces 1.2 "Fundraising Thermometers, Comparing Ratios." We will begin with a quick launch video that will ask students to consider who's fundraiser was more successful. We are going to be taking a look at pg. 12 in their books and introducing the idea of fundraising thermometers to compare the rate of change for each fundraiser we looked at in class yesterday. As a class, we will be labeling blank thermometers that we can use to track the progress of these fundraisers. This sheet can be found on the BITS & PIECES 1.1-1.3 link above, tilted, "1.2 Fundraising Thermometers." Students will then be working in groups to answer questions B and C on pg. 13. We will summarize this problem by answering question D together.
Monday, October 31: Today in class we will be beginning our new unit "Comparing Bits & Pieces." We will start today by comparing fundraising goals and introducing comparing fractions. We will be taking notes in class to review fractions, the notes sheet can be found on the BITS & PIECES 1.1-1.3 link above, titled, "Investigation 1.1 Cheat Sheet." We will then be deciding if certain claims are true or false and making our own claims about the three fundraising goals we are comparing. The claims can be found on the BITS & PIECES 1.1-1.3 link above, titled, "Bits and Pieces 1.1 Fundraising Strips."
Friday, October 28: It's Friday again! Today in class we are going to take some time as a class to go through the Unit 1 Test. Students will be handed back their test, they will not be allowed to write on their test, but will be allowed to take notes on the problems we work on in class. Students will have 2 weeks from today to come in during lunch to make corrections on their test. Half credit can be earned back by making corrections, full credit can be earned by retaking the entire test again. We will be filling out Student Led Conference Sheets during class today for students to put in their folders that will be shared with parent's during conferences next week.
Thursday, October 27: Happy Thursday! Today in class student's will be given the third page of their Unit 1 Test. When they are finished with page 3, they need to be working on the links that are posted on our Google Classroom page.
Wednesday, October 26: Early Release Day! Today in class, students will be given an introductory fractions assignment to work on if they are finished with page 1 and 2 of their Unit Test. We will continue the third page of the Unit Test tomorrow. We will also be using this time today to get students caught up who were absent the last two days so they can begin working on their test.
Tuesday, October 25: Students will be continuing to take their Unit Test 1. They will need to be finished with page 2 by today. When they are finished with page 2 today, they need to be working on the math practice games posted on our Google Classroom page.
Monday, October 24: Students will be taking their Unit Test 1 today and tomorrow. The test covers all material from PRIME TIME 1.1-4.4 which have been covering in class since the start of school. Students are able to use all notes taken in class, all note packets I provided to them and all of their old quizzes and Check-Up's from this unit. Students received these back from me on Friday.
Friday, October 21: This is Jeopardy! Today in class we will be doing a quick Chapter Summary and then playing a Jeopardy review game for the rest of the hour. The problems on the Jeopardy game are review for the Unit 1 Test on Monday. The link to the game can be found here: jeopardylabs.com/play/prime-time-unit-test-review-nadeau.
Thursday, October 20: Class today will be a work day where students will apply everything they have learned in PRIME TIME 4.1-4.4. Students will have the option to work alone or with a partner on Problems A or E, B, and C on page 74. They will then be working on ACE problems 13,32,43-46 starting on page 76.
Wednesday, October 19: Today in class we will continue our discussion of PEMDAS and do some practice problems in class. We will also be playing Order of Operations BINGO. This BINGO game has problems for students to solve using the Order of Operations to try and get a BINGO!
Tuesday, October 18: We are going to be wrapping up 4.2 at the start of class. I will be posting that answer key to the packet that students were working on in class yesterday. We are then going to begin Prime Time 4.3 Order of Operations. Students will take notes on the Order of Operations, which we will learn as the acronym PEMDAS (Parenthesis, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, and Subtraction).
Monday, October 17: Today in class, we will be using a worksheet to review and extend what we learned in class on Friday: How we relate the Distributive Property of the area of rectangles. The worksheet can be found in the PRIME TIME 4.1-4.4 link above.
Friday, October 14: Today in class we will be relating the area of a rectangle to the distributive property. We will use lots of models of rectangles in class today and students will be working in groups to help solve some real world problems. We will take a look at whether an expression of the sort: 2(4)+2(20) is equal to 2(24). Students will have an exit ticket in class today where they need to pick two problems from the options of problem 7, 8, and/or 9 from their book on page 75.
Thursday, October 13: Today in class we will beginning Prime Time 4.1 "Reasoning With Even and Odd Numbers." We our going to do our first "Number Talk" in class where students will need to respond to a question and then explain their reasoning behind it. We will define an even number and define an odd number. Our investigation today will allow us to create a rule to find all even numbers and all odd numbers.
Wednesday, October 12: (Early Release) Today in class we will be working on correcting our Check-Ups from Monday. Students will need to take notes on these corrections and turn their quiz into me at the end of the hour.
Tuesday, October 11: Today there will be a sub in my room. Students know and understand the classroom expectations while there is a sub in the room. They will be given a worksheet they need to complete in class. Parts of the sheet are to be done with a partner. Once the student gets the worksheet in class, they need to login to our Google Classroom page and do the 4 activities under the "Tuesday Activities" post. The worksheet gives specific instructions of what they need to do with each activity.
Monday, October 10: Students will be taking Check-Up 2 today. This is an on your quiz that students can use any notes and worksheets that we have worked on for PRIME TIME 3.1-3.4. There will be an extra credit sheet for students to work on following the Check-Up.
Friday, October 7: Today in class we will do a quick homework check, and then we are going to launch one of the biggest problems we have worked on this year: THE LOCKER PROBLEM! I have 30 lockers hung up around my room and we have to figure out which lockers will be open after 30 students go around the room and open and close the lockers. We will extend this thinking to a problem of 1,000 lockers! Students will receive their ACE problems back from this week. Reminder to students that their is Check Up 2 on Monday! Make sure they bring their notes, worksheets and ACE Problems to class. They can use them all on the quiz!
Thursday, October 6: The students will continue practicing using factor trees to help find the Greatest Common Factor of two numbers and the Least Common Multiple of two numbers. A practice quiz will be given in class. We will work through the first two problems together and students will need to work on the last two problems on their own. The handout can be found in the PRIME TIME 3.1-3.4 link above. This sheet is homework for any student who did not get it finished.
Wednesday, October 5: In class we will be working on stations today that will review material from 3.1 and 3.2 and that will introduce new material from 3.3. Students will investigate two ways to find the Greatest Common Factor of two numbers and the Least Common Multiple of two numbers.
Tuesday, October 4: Today students will be working on ACE Problems by themselves. These problems will be due at the end of class. Students need to work on numbers: 5, 7, 9, 14 (doing #14 for 5 and 7), 15, 20, and 31. At the end of class, I will ask students to place a check mark next to the number on the board they need help on. Students will need to turn their problems in at the end of class.
Monday, October 3:We will spend the class period today digging in to Prime Time 3.2, "Finding the Longest Factor String." A notes sheet will be provided to students and can be found in the PRIME TIME 3.1-3.4 Link Above.
Friday, September 30: As an opening activity, students are going to have to reteach each other the lesson that we went over yesterday in class. They need to make sure their partners have their notes completely filled in. We will spend the rest of the class period reviewing factorization using this website: http://www.math-play.com/Spinner-Game-Prime-Factorization/Spinner-Game-Prime-Factorization.html.
Thursday, September 29: Today in class we will beginning Prime Time Chapter 3. We are working on 3.1 The Product Puzzle and Factor Strings. Instead of doing the Product Puzzle presented in the student book, we will be working on constructing factor trees. These factor trees will help us in future lessons figure out the prime factorization of numbers. A handout was provided in class. The handout can be found in the PRIME TIME 3.1-3.4 Link above.
Wednesday, September 28: We have a shortened class today due to Early Release. Students will be taking notes on all of the Quiz Questions from the Partner Quiz. If they take good notes and turn them in at the end of class, they will receive full credit on their quiz.
Tuesday, September 27: Students will be given back their Partner Quiz that they started yesterday. Questions they have wrong are marked wrong and they need to work on fixing them up. When students finish, they need to pick up a multiplication and division review worksheet.
Monday, September 26: Students will be taking their Investigation 2 (2.1-2.3) Partner Quiz today. Students are to work with their partner, only communicate with their partner and turn their quiz in when they are done. If they finish before the end of class, they are to work on kizi.com. Students will be given the quiz back tomorrow to make corrections and finish working on it with their partner.
Friday, September 23: Game Day!
Thursday, September 22: Today in class, students will be given back their Check Up 1 from last week. We are going to go over each problem as a class. Students are to take notes on each problem, regardless if they missed it or not. This will allow for more practice and revisiting the material for another quiz on Monday next week. We will then be using the rest of class to work on ACE problems found on pg. 34. We will be doing numbers: 1,8,10,21,24,31.
Wednesday, September 21: Today we will be working on problems that deal with having to find common factors. Students will use models in class to help them figure out how to divide up a certain number of snack packs to a group of students so that everyone gets the same amount of each item.
Tuesday, September 20: Today in class, we will be working on problems where we need to decide if we will use Common Factors or Common Multiples to solve. We will specifically be looking at Cicada rhythms and when they will be born again at the same time if one group is born every 13 years and another groups is born every 17 years.
Monday, September 19: Welcome to Homecoming Week! Today, we will be starting Prime Time Unit 2. Students will be learning about Common Multiples and Common Factors. We will be using a human Ferris Wheel to model these vocabulary words.
Friday, September 16: Today in class, students will have the whole hour to work on Check-Up 1. They are able to use any notes or worksheets that we have done in class during this time. When they are finished, students are to be working on kizi.com. We will review this Check-Up on Monday.
Thursday, September 15: Crazy Stations. Students will be reviewing all of the material that we have worked on so far this year in preparation for their first Check Up tomorrow. Stations were set up around the room for them to work on problems similar to what we have worked on in class and also similar to those questions that will be on tomorrow's assessment.
Wednesday, September 14: ACE DAY. Students will be working on problems 16,19,21,27, & 30 in class starting on page 20 in their math book. Students will be given time to work on these in class and we will check them as a class. If students feel they need more practice at home, they are welcome to work on problems 23,26, & 28. Students will be having their first Check Up on Friday this week.
Tuesday, September 13: Today, students will be working on Prime Time 1.4 and building models with blocks to help represent what we have talked about in this unit. It will be important for them to understand how they can pair factors to build rectangles and we will investigate what makes a square number so special, both mathematically and with models.
Monday, September 12: Welcome to the start of another awesome week! Today, students will be working on Prime Time 1.3: The Product Game. Last week we looked at factors of numbers, now today, we are turning it around and asking, "what are the products of two factors?" We will investigate pg. 14 and use the following link to help us understand the product of two numbers: media.pearsoncmg.com/curriculum/math/cmp3/activities/A82386/index.html
Friday, September 9: ACE DAY. Students will be working in groups on problems 1-7,13,28,35,41, & 44 from their math books beginning on page 17.
Thursday, September 8: Students will be spending the whole class period NWEA testing. When they are done with the testing, they are only to be working on the following site: http://kizi.com/
Wednesday, September 7: Today we will be working on 1.2 Playing to Win: Prime and Composite Numbers. Students will understand the difference between a prime number and a composite number. The class will be filling out a chart of factors. Click on the Prime Time 1.1-1.4 link above to find this worksheet. We will answer all questions on pg. 11 in their student workbook.
Tuesday, September 6: Welcome back to school! Today we begin our first mathematics unit. Students received their math books last Wednesday. We will be working on 1.1 Playing the Factor Game. By the end of today, students will be able to identify all the factors of a number. We will be answering all questions on pg. 9&10 of their student workbooks. Students will be playing the Factor Game which can be found at the following link: http://media.pearsoncmg.com/curriculum/math/cmp3/activities/A82384/index.html
Monday, September 5: Happy Labor Day!
Wednesday, August 31: What happens if we have 31 students in the class. Can we have even teams? Hand out math books.
Tuesday, August 30: Classroom Expectations, Note card activity for Mr. Nadeau to get to know you. First story problem to launch our unit on factors. How do you divide up a class of 30 students into even teams?
Monday, August 29: Introduction Activity-take as much toilet paper as you think you will need. We will be finishing up this activity tomorrow in class.
This will be the last post of the school year. Can you believe it is already here! This week students will receive their Unit 5 projects back and will be able to see the great work they did. We will be doing a few lessons in these last few days which will include: graphing data, comparing data sets, solving equations with variables and finally probability. It was such a pleasure working with all of you this year and I wish you all the best in 7th grade next year!
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Week of 5/22/2017-5/26/2017:
This week we will be wrapping our Decimal Ops unit by calculating tips and tax. We will then spend some time calculating percent discounts on items we can buy. The week will end with a Unit 5 project rather than a unit test. The project will consist of students looking up items on Amazon they want. They will fill out an order sheet, calculate tax, shipping and totals based on the prices they found. A rubric will be provided to students to let them know the expectations.
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Week of 5/15/2017-5/19/2017:
Partner quizzes will be reviewed and returned to you on Monday for revision. This week, you will be taking your 6th Grade Math CAT and Performance Task tests on Tuesday and Wednesday, It is important you are at school these days and that you work hard and try your very best on these tests. You guys have been working hard all year and you have the problem solving skills to be successful. Remember, Never, Never Give Up! Our week will wrap up by starting our last investigation in our Decimal Ops book. We will be taking a look at calculating sales tax.
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Week of 5/8/2017-5/12/2017:
This week we will be spending some more time working with Decimals, specifically multiplying and dividing decimals. We will develop and review algorithms used to conduct these operations. ACE problems will be assigned on Thursday. You will be working on the following problems starting on pg. 57 #'s: 2, 7, 8, 14, 15, 16, 21, 26, 32, 58. The week will end with Day 1 of a partner quiz. We will have a discussion in class about the expectations during a partner quiz. The quizzes will be reviewed and returned to you the following Monday for revision.
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Week of 5/1/2017-5/5/2017:
We are going to be starting off the week by wrapping up Problem 3.1 and how we use whole number multiplication to help us multiply decimals. We will also be taking the NWEA test this week. Students are expected to bring a book to read for when they are finished with their test. We will also be spending some more time taking a look at strategies to multiply and divide decimals. There is a Loon's Game this week on Thursday. If you did not receive a blue slip since our last reward day, you will be able to attend.
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Week of 4/24/2017-4/28/2017:
We are going to be starting off the week by wrapping up our discussion of adding and subtracting decimals. Wednesday we will be working on ACE problems starting on page 34 . Students will be required to complete problems: 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 17, 18, 20, 31. There will also be Check Up 2 this week. We will have a Quizizz (posted on Google Classroom) to help practice for this Check Up. We will wrap up the week by starting Investigation 3. We will be taking a look at how to multiply decimals with various strategies.
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Week of 4/17/2017-4/21/2017:
Welcome back from the long weekend! We are going to be starting off the week by wrapping up our discussion of unit rates in real life situations. We will decide which item has a better unit price, which car has the best miles per gallon, and if we know the unit price of an item, how much multiple items cost. Tuesday we will be working on ACE problems starting on page 14. Students will be required to complete problems: 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 24, 28, 31, 32. There will also be Check Up 1 this week. We will have a Quizizz (posted on Google Classroom) to help practice for this Check Up. We will wrap up the week by starting Investigation 2. We will be taking a look at how decimals relate to place value.
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Week of 4/10/2017-4/14/2017:
Welcome back! I hope you had some time to do some things you enjoy over your break. We are going to be starting off the week doing some review from our last book, "Covering and Surrounding." You will be given the opportunity to retake your Unit 4 test or make corrections on your test. We will then move forward with Section 1.3 in our new book, "Decimal Ops." We are going to be doing some work with Unit Rates, a topic we have already looked at this year.
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ATTENTION 6th GRADE MATH STUDENTS:
Hey guys. Per doctor's orders, I am out until after Spring Break. I know we had a few things to wrap up before Spring Break, and I promise we will get to those as soon as we are back together again. First of all, you will have an opportunity to retake your Unit 4 test. We will do some review and answer any questions for a couple of days before I give you time in class to do a retake. Also, we will continue with Investigation 1 in our new "Decimal Ops" book. I hope you all have an AWESOME break!
Week of 3/27/2017-3/31/2017:
We will be starting Unit 5, "Decimal Ops" in class this week. At the start of the week, we will be taking a look at real world problems which involve decimals. We will take a look at what operations are useful for solving certain problems and also using unit rates. We are going to be doing an activity which will involve converting how fast we walk (in meters per second) to miles per hour. We will end the week with a Check Up.
Take note: April 11 is now a scheduled 1:00p.m. Early Release day.
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Week of 3/20/2017-3/24/2017:
We are going to start the week by taking a look at Investigation 4 of Covering and Surrounding. We will be taking a look at how to find out information about 3-dimensional figures by using 2-dimensional nets. We are going to be taking a look at surface area and volume. Students will be using a lot of manipulatives. All of the labsheets we will using this week are posted on the "COVERING AND SURROUNDING 4.1-4.3" tab above. We will wrap up the week with a Jeopardy review game and our Unit 4 Test.
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Week of 3/13/2017-3/17/2017:
This week's post is going to be very similar to last week as we were not able to complete most of our tasks from last week due to the power outage. We will starting off the week with a set of review questions from our whole "Covering and Surrounding" unit. We will then move on to completing our ACE problems from last week. The page numbers and problems are listed in last week's post. There will also be a two day partner quiz this week. Students will be working with a partner to complete this assessment. On day one, they will work through the entire quiz and I will mark only the incorrect answers. On day two, they will rework their incorrect answers. They are only allowed to ask me two questions about the problems between the two days. We will wrap up the week getting started on Investigation 4 of "Covering and Surrounding" where we will be working with geometric nets to create 3-dimensional shapes.
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Week of 3/6/2017-3/10/2017:
This week we will be wrapping up Investigation 3. Students will be spending Monday building different parallelograms and seeing if areas and parallelograms of families of parallelograms will be comparable. We will also be using coordinate grids to describe the locations of polygons on a grid. There will be an ACE day this week starting on page 64 #'s: 1-4, 8, 9, 10-13, 20, 34, 38. We will be doing a lot of review this week that will prepare us for the partner quiz early next week.
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Week of 2/28/2017-3/3/2017:
Our goals this week will be to finish Investigation 2. We will begin the week by constructing triangles using certain guidelines presented to us. We will also be completing the ACE problems we did not get to last week (page 42 #'s: 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21. ) and will be taking a Check Up on Wednesday. When students are finished with their Check Up they will be spending the rest of the hour on Sumdog. We will then begin Investigation 3 which will deal with area and perimeter of parallelograms. We will devise a method of how we can find the area and perimeter of a parallelogram using methods we have already discovered for rectangles and triangles.
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Week of 2/20/2017-2/24/2017:
Our goals this week will be to work our way through Investigations 2.1-2.4 in Covering and Surrounding. There will be a labsheet for both Sections 2.1 and 2.2 which can be found in the "COVERING AND SURROUNDING 2.1-2.4" tab above. We are going to be using an online Geoboard to take a look at area and perimeter of triangles. [LINK]. Students will end their week with ACE problems. They will be working on page 42 #'s: 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21. (Due to the Fog Day, we will not get to ACE problems until next week. Students will instead be watching a review video and worksheet on Friday. I will post the assignment sheet to the "COVERING AND SURROUNDING 2.1-2.4" tab above.
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Friday, February 17: Today you will be taking your Check Up 1 over Investigation 1 from "Covering and Surrounding." When you finish your quiz, it is expected that you will work on your Technology Gaming Slideshow Portfolio. I will have the rubric up on the board for you to be looking at while you work. Further directions will be given in class.
Thursday, February 16: You will be working on ACE Problems in class today. The problems begin on page 14 and you will be working on numbers: 2,3,5,7,8,12,14,16,17,30,57. You will be given an ACE sheet on which to write down your answers and we will discuss before class is over.
Wednesday, February 15: Today in class we are going to be taking a look at Problem 1.3 and seeing what happens when we fix the perimeter of a rectangle. We will come up with some strategies to find out what our possible lengths and widths would be if we were given a perimeter to work with. We are then going to create a graph which compares length of the rectangle to the area of the rectangle and answer some questions based on our findings from today. Hint: The perimeter formula will help a lot today.
Tuesday, February 14: Today we will be reviewing the material presented in Problem 1.2 from yesterday. We will make sure you have all of the notes copied down in the 1.2 notes packet provided to you in class yesterday. We will then lead into a discussion on graphing and create a graph which relates the side length of a rectangle to it's perimeter. We will then be taking a look at our Unit 1 Test and going over the retake procedure. You will have time during Technology class today to work with a partner to make corrections on the questions you got wrong on your Unit Test.
Monday, February 13: Students will be working on Problem 1.2 in class today. There are four videos I made for you to watch that walk you through the problem. The focus of today's problem is what if we want to keep the AREA of a rectangle fixed, meaning it's not changing, how many different rectangles can we come up with? You will realize that a property about numbers we learned earlier this year, dealing with factor pairs, will help you answer this question. There is also a video that reviews graphing with you as you will create a graph that compares the side length of a rectangle to the rectangle's perimeter. If the area cannot change, does this mean the perimeter cannot change? See the above tab, "COVERING & SURROUNDING 1.1-1.3" for today's labsheet.
Friday, February 10: Today we are going to begin our next unit titled, Covering and Surrounding. During this unit, I will be keeping the math books in my room at all times. If you know you are going to be absent, you are more than welcome to check out a book to use at home. Our first problem we will be investigating area and perimeter of rectangles. We are going to be doing some modeling with math tiles on our Chromebooks. Our problem today will focus on finding area and perimeters of "Bumper Car" tracks and we will be using Labsheet 1.1A and 1.1B. These can both be found in our COVERING & SURROUNDING 1.1-1.3 tab above.
Thursday, February 9: I am sorry everyone, but I am out sick today. Please make sure to be completing the assigned tasks for the day. You will be working on Khan Academy. This is a supplement to instruction that will help you further your understanding of adding and subtracting fractions with different denominators. You need to watch the videos and complete the practices that are posted at this link: https://www.khanacademy.org/math/arithmetic/fraction-arithmetic/arith-review-add-sub-fractions/v/visually-adding-fractions-with-unlike-denominators. Please make sure you are on task the whole hour. We will be talking about your progress on this site during class on Friday.
Wednesday, February 8: Early Release schedule today. Students who have not finished their Unit 3 Test will be given the opportunity to do so in class today. Those that are already finished will be expected to read silently on their own while others are testing. If everyone finishes, we will use the remainder of the class period to continue working on our Technology projects we started this week.
Reminder to parents: It is expected that your student come to see me if they are absent. I will provide them with notes and anything else they missed in class. Again, it is the responsibility of the student to do this. I will be sure to provide them with a hand out, especially if it is a graded assignment, but day to day work and notes are the responsibility of the student to make up and/or complete.
Tuesday, February 7: Students will be taking their Unit 3 test today. They will be receiving both pages of their test today, however, the expectation is that they will need some class time on Wednesday to finish it. If a student does finish tomorrow, they are to bring a book to read to silent read on their own. Students will not be permitted to play or read on their Chromebooks. Students need to remember they can use all notes, previous Check-Ups and Partner Quizzes from this unit on their test. Some students have elected to leave their materials here in the room, these will be available to them tomorrow and Wednesday if needed.
Monday, February 6: This is Jeopardy! Today we will be playing a Jeopardy review game to prepare for our Unit Test tomorrow. Students will be put into groups. Each group will submit an answer via a sheet of paper and all correct responses will receive points. Just as a reminder, our Unit 3 Test will be tomorrow.
Friday, February 3: There will be a sub in class today as I will be traveling to Ferris State University with the 8th graders to compete at the MathCounts competition. Students will be working on ACE problems starting on page 73 in their Let's Be Rational books. Students will be provided with an ACE sheet in class. They are to watch videos of sample problems and do the corresponding problems on their ACE sheet. They need to be working on problems: 1, 7, 11, 23, 27, 30, 32, 38, 39. If you finish early: (Extension Problems- 47, 48, 49, 50, 52, 53, 54, 55). They need to turn their ACE Sheets in to the tray by the end of class so we can over these problems on Monday.
Thursday, February 2: Today we are going to be doing some group problem solving work in class. We are going to be presented with several story problems and students are going to be tasked with figuring out what operations they need to be using to solve the problems. Groups will present their problems and solutions to the class. The problems we will be working on are taken directly from Problem 4.3 in our math book. Students will also receive back all Check-Ups and Partner Quizzes from this unit to use to study and prepare for their Unit Test next Tuesday. Reminder that parent letters are due back by Monday, February 6 if students wish to receive an extra credit point on their test.
Wednesday, February 1: Welcome to February! Today in class we will be continuing our exploration of fact families and will be looking specifically at fact families which involve division and multiplication of fractions. We will also continue solving equations for an unknown variable. Students will also have a chance to work with a partner to complete problems on page 69 in their book. Students will also have a chance to make quiz corrections during Tech time today to improve their Check Up 2 quiz scores from Monday. A parent letter was sent with students today. If signed and returned by Monday, February 6, students will receive an extra credit point on their test.
Tuesday, January 31: We are going to begin class today with a Number Talk about dice! We are then going to be starting our fourth and final investigation of our "Let's Be Rational" unit. Today we are going to be taking a look at fact families for addition and subtraction. Students will be introduced into solving two step equations which involve an unknown variable. Students will also come to a realization (hopefully as a review) that addition and subtraction are inverse operations, in that they "undo" one another.
Monday, January 30: We will begin class today with a quick homework check and a Quizizz to review our KFC method of dividing fractions. Students will then be taking Check-Up 2 for this unit. There will be an extra credit opportunity for students to work on when they are finished with their Check-Up and they are then to read silently for the remainder of the hour.
Friday, January 27: Happy Friday! Today in class, students will begin with a challenging warm up problem they should be able to solve with the skills, rules and strategies we have developed this week when dividing fractions. We will then spend the majority of the hour working on problems from Problem 3.4 and the ACE problems at the end of the chapter. I have compiled the problems I would like the students to be working on on a worksheet. The worksheet can be found under the "LET'S BE RATIONAL 3.1-3.4" tab above. Depending on time, we will end class with a Kahoot to review dividing fractions. Students need to complete TWO problems from number 19-25 on their worksheet we worked on in class today. I will be taking a homework check grade on Monday.
Thursday, January 26: Today we will begin with a few warm up problems that will help us review the material we have learned in Problems 3.1 and 3.2 this week. We are then going to push forward into problem 3.3. Our goal for today will be to develop strategies to divide a fraction by a whole number. We will find out if we can still use our same rules of KFC (or KCF) to do this. We are also going to review the idea of what a reciprocal is and how reciprocals help us do various operations in mathematics. If time allows, we are going to do a Kahoot together as a class that will provide further practice on the material we have covered this week.
Wednesday, January 25: We will begin class with a quick quiz reviewing the material that was covered in the videos and notes from yesterday. We are then going to continue by starting Investigation 3.2. We are going to be using string as a manipulative today to help us determine what it means to divide a whole number by a fraction. We are going to start with a 14 inch piece of string and mark off 3/4 inch segments. We are then going to cut our string into these 3/4 inch segments to see if we get more than 14 pieces or less than 14 pieces. We will further develop our strategy for dividing by a fraction: Keep, Flip, Change -or- Keep, Change, Flip.
Tuesday, January 24: There will be a sub in my room today and we reviewed the expectations and plans for the day yesterday in class. The class will be watching a total of 3 videos on Problem 3.1. The videos were created of me teaching the lesson just as if I was there giving the lesson. The videos will be posted on our Google Classroom page. Students are expected to be taking notes on the first two videos. Then students are expected to be working on questions A and B on pg. 49 in their book. Students will then be watching a third video to review the problems for today. The big idea of today's lesson is KFC! It's a method we will be learning and utilizing to divide a fraction by another fraction. (Keep, Flip, Change).
Monday, January 23: Today, students will be spending the class period taking their mid-year NWEA Assessment. If students are able to meet or exceed end of year 6th grade assessment standards, they will not have to take the test a third time later this school year. When students are finished, they need to be silent reading.
Friday, January 20: (Exam Schedule 1:00 release. Only 4th Hour Today) As a warm up today, students will be answering questions C3 and C4 from pg. 31 Problem 2.1 from yesterday. They will be turning this bell work in. We will then be spending the rest of the hour developing strategies to multiply whole numbers, fractions and mixed numbers. We will also be looking at how to diagram situations of multiplication that involve fractions and mixed numbers. The Partner Quiz will be given during our Tech Exam time. We will be doing this quiz together as a class.
Thursday, January 19: (Exam Schedule 1:00 release. Only 3rd Hour Today) As a warm up today, students will be answering questions C3 and C4 from pg. 31 Problem 2.1 from yesterday. They will be turning this bell work in. We will then be spending the rest of the hour developing strategies to multiply whole numbers, fractions and mixed numbers. We will also be looking at how to diagram situations of multiplication that involve fractions and mixed numbers. The Partner Quiz will be given during our Tech Exam time. We will be doing this quiz together as a class.
Wednesday, January 18: SNOW DAY.
Tuesday, January 17: SNOW DAY. Students should be aware that there will be a Partner Quiz on Thursday or Friday (depending on what day they are in my class during the exam schedule).
Monday, January 16: Today, we are going to begin Investigation 2 of "Let's Be Rational." Today's problem we will be taking a look at brownie pans and figuring out how much of the pan people purchased by multiplying fractions. An example is: if 2/3 of the pan was left and they bought 1/4 of that, how much of the original pan did they buy? We will be working on Labsheet 2.1 which can be found in the "LET'S BE RATIONAL 2.1-2.3" tab above. Students will be provided with two different colored pencils in class to help them determine the answer to the questions we will be looking at today.
Friday, January 13: Today, students will be taking Investigation 1 Check Up. This Check Up will be over the material we learned before break and the material that we have been reviewing last week and yesterday. Students are able to use all notes including the review that we completed together in class on Monday. We will do a short Kahoot review game to review adding rational numbers. When students are finished taking their Check Up, they will be finishing up their Technology Timeline projects, completing more math practice, and/or working on a Domino Math worksheet that provides further practice on subtracting fractions.
Thursday, January 12: Snow Day.
Wednesday, January 11: Snow Day.
Tuesday, January 10: Snow Day.
Monday, January 9: Class will be a little different today. Students will need to bring a pair of headphones or use a pair of mine in the classroom. Students will begin class by watching Review Video #1, then answering questions 1 and 2 on their review sheet. Students will then be watching Review Video #2, then answering question #3. Students will then be watching Review Video #3 and answering question 4 and 5. There is one additional video titled, Review Video #4 that will review subtracting mixed numbers and what happens when one fraction is larger than another and need to borrow from the whole number. This review will be for their Check Up that they will be taking tomorrow in class.
Friday, January 6: We will begin class today by taking a mini quiz over the material we covered in class yesterday on the Fraction Review Packet. Students were provided with answers yesterday and they will be able to use their packet on their quiz. Students will then be working on ACE problems on pg. 18 #'s:7,9,16,23,33,34,40,53,55. We will go over these questions and answers before class ends. Please be aware that their will be a Check Up on Tuesday, 1/10.
Thursday, January 5: Today we will be doing quite a bit of review on adding fractions, subtracting fractions, adding mixed numbers reducing fractions and finding two fractions that add together to be a sum of 1. Students will be working with a partner of their choosing and will be required to correct their responses when we go over the packet. We will also have time for questions. Our hope is that by the end of class today, students will have a good grasp on adding and subtracting fractions and being able to reduce fractions. The worksheets we will be using in class today are posted under the "Let's Be Rational 1.1-1.4" tab above.
Wednesday, January 4: Welcome to 2017! Today in class we are going to continue on with Investigation 1 and look at Problem 1.4. Today's problem will introduce adding and subtracting mixed numbers. We will look at some useful strategies when adding and subtracting strategies by using recipe cards that have a mixed number for each element. Students will also be using their skills to solve one step equations. A labsheet for today's problem can be found under the "Let's Be Rational 1.1-1.4" tab above.
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Tuesday, December 20: Today we are going to be continuing our review Kahoot game that we started in class yesterday. Students will just need their Chromebook in class today. I wish you all a wonderful Holiday Break. I will see you all in 2017!
Monday, December 19: Welcome to the last "School Day" Monday this year! Today we are going to be playing a partner Kahoot. Students will need to find a partner and each partner pair will need one Chromebook device. Students will be going to kahoot.it to compete in our "Holiday Break Review" Kahoot! The questions that will be on the Kahoot are from all units that we have covered in class so far this year. Students have seen these questions before. Each problem will have a 60 second time and students will not be able to post their answer until 30 seconds has passed.
Friday, December 16: We are going to continue using estimation today, but using a real world application. Today students will be presented with the challenge of determining what fraction of a land section certain people own. Then they will be presented with questions which ask them to add land sections together. Questions will consist of asking students to determine certain acreage, how much land someone would have to buy to own a certain amount of land and what owners own a total section of land if you were to combine their individual land sections together. The labsheet we will be using today is under the "Let's Be Rational 1.1-1.4" tab above.
Thursday, December 15: Today we are going to be working on Problem 1.2. Students will be taking notes as we continue to review what it means to estimate the sums and now the difference of rational numbers. Today we are going to introduce the idea of overestimation and underestimation depending on certain problems we face. We are going to go through a few real-world problems together as a class. For each problem, students will need to: 1. Decide if they will need to overestimate or underestimate for the given situation. 2. Estimate the sum or difference. 3. Describe strategies of how they know whether to overestimate or underestimate.
Wednesday, December 14: Today in class we are going to be summarizing Problem 1.1 that we started in class yesterday. Students will be answering questions C and D on pg. 10 with a partner as their Bell Work. We are going to summarize estimating sums of rational numbers and work on some problems that ask us to estimate the sum of rational numbers to the nearest whole number. Students will also be able to take a look at their Unit 2 test scores. Students who wish to retake the test must do so before the end of the day next Tuesday before break begins. Most students did very well on this test. :)
Tuesday, December 13: Today we will begin our new unit titled, "Let's Be Rational." At least for the start of this unit, students will just be grabbing a math book everyday when they come to class. We will begin today with doing estimations of sums of rational numbers. Students will be playing a game called, "Getting Close." Each group will receive a collection of fraction and decimal cards. Each student will also receive game cards with 0,1,2, and 3 printed on them. Two random cards are pulled and students will each need to decide if they think the sum of the two rational numbers is closest to 0, 1, 2 or 3. Whoever guesses correctly wins that round. Groups will then be calculating the exact sum of the two rational numbers.
Monday, December 12: SNOW DAY!
Friday, December 9: Students will be finishing their Unit 2 Tests today. I will have an activity for students to work on in class once they are completed. Students need to also make sure to return all math books to me today. We will be starting a new Unit on Monday.
Thursday, December 8: Unit 2 Test today. Students will be given the entire hour to complete as much of their Unit 2 test as possible. As a reminder, students can use all notes, worksheets, ACE Sheets and any other material I provided to them during this unit while taking their test. I will have instructions ready in class if students finish their test before the end of the hour.
Wednesday, December 7: Today's class will serve solely as a review for the Unit Test we will be starting in class tomorrow. I have two review videos prepared for students to watch and take notes on. I made these videos based on the questions that students have been asking in class and based on questions missed on previous quizzes from this unit. The videos also correspond to a review packet the students will be completing tomorrow. We will go over this before class ends. This tool can be used on Thursday's test along with all notes and quizzes from this unit. See the "Bits & Pieces 4.1-4.3" link above for the review packet link.
Tuesday, December 6: Today we will begin class with a Bell Work problem similar to the Genetics Problem we tackled in class yesterday. Students will then be given an ACE SHEET (see the sheet in the "Bits & Pieces 4.1-4.3" tab above). They will be working on #2,4,6,8,10,20,32 starting on pg. 103. There will also be two extension problems: #21 and 44 for them to work on if they finish early. We will go over answers and discuss any questions students have on the ACE SHEET.
Monday, December 5: Today we will be continuing our discussion of percents in class. We will be collecting data in class about common genetic traits (widow's peak, attached earlobes, dimples, straight vs. curly hair). We will decide what percentage of our class has each trait and then try to make an estimate of how many people at Vestaburg Community School has these certain traits using our small sample. The labsheet we will be using to collect data is located in the "Bits & Pieces 4.1-4.3" tab above. Students will be getting back all Unit 2 quizzes today to use as a resource to study from for their test this week on Thursday and Friday. A reminder: students can use all notes and quizzes on the Unit 2 test. They will also need to return their math books to school no later than the end of the day on Friday, December 9.
Friday, December 2: To start class, we will be doing an equivalent fraction challenge. Students will need to place all equivalent fractions in the correct place before time runs out. Today we will begin our last Investigation in "Comparing Bits and Pieces." This investigation will introduce percents and how we can represent both fractions and decimals as percents. We will be looking at free-throw averages (very fitting from our field trip yesterday), to decide which team had the better percent of free-throws made during the game. Students will be seeing how we can represent rational numbers in three different forms: fractions, decimals and percents and how we change between the three. Students will be receiving Progress Reports during their 7th hour today and I will also be sending home a short parent letter. I will attach both the Labsheet and the Parent Letter that will be handed out in class tomorrow under the "Bits and Pieces 4.1-4.3" tab above.
Thursday, December 1: There will only be 3rd hour math today and we are going to be working on our tech project. We will begin our new project. Students are going to be creating an Autobiographical Timeline. They will start off this week by creating a paper version of their timeline on a large sheet of paper. They must include 30 events that have occurred in their lifetime. The complete details can be found on our Google Classroom page.
Wednesday, November 30: Today, students will be starting class by watching a 10 minute review video of Investigation 3. They will then be taking Check Up 2 which covers all material from Investigation 3. Students are able to use their notes and ACE problems we worked on yesterday in class.
Tuesday, November 29: Today in class, we will begin by doing a quick review of comparing decimals to see if they are <,>, or = to one another. We will also review how to turn fractions into decimals and also take a look at repeated decimals and we write them. Students will then be working on ACE problems from Investigation 3 starting on pg. 82. They are to complete the following problems: 2,5,9,13,23,31,39,51,56,58,60 and 62. If they finish, they need to be also working on problems 7,11,and 38. Together as a class we will look at Problem 3.5 Question A and wrap up class with a quick Number Talk.
Monday, November 28: I hope you all had a great and relaxing weekend! Today we will be finishing up Problem 3.3 by having students work on the problems as Bell Work. We will go over the problems and then begin Problem 3.4. We will be using what we know about fractions to estimate and compare decimals. We will be using Labsheet 3.4 (see the document above in the Bits and Pieces 3.1-3.4 link). We will see where decimals are on a number line and how they relate to one another.
Wednesday, November 23: Remember, today is Pajama Day! Pay .50 to your first hour teacher and you can wear your PJ's all day! Today in math we will start class by doing a number talk. We will then be reviewing our Check Up 1 from last week. Students are expected to take notes on the answers and as we relearn concepts they did not understand.
Tuesday, November 22: Today we will be exploring decimals and how what we have learned about fractions so far can help us solve problems involving decimals. Our problem today focuses on cutting a huge pan of lasagna into 100 pieces and seeing just how we can split this up evenly in different scenarios. We will review tens, hundredths, thousandths, etc. decimal place values and use this knowledge to write fractions as decimals. Students were given Labsheet 3.3A, 3.3B and 3.3C in class today to help them solve various problems and examples.
PARENTS and STUDENTS: Vestaburg School is collecting Toys for Tots Donations and Non-perishable food for a Food Drive. Donations for the Food Drive will be accepted up until the end of the day, Tuesday, November 22. Donations can also be made in a monetary way. $1=9 pounds of food!!! Wednesday, November 23 will be Pajama Day! Students can pay $.50 to their first hour teacher to wear PJ's for the day. The money collected will go towards the Food Drive collection. Toys for Tots donations can be made up until Tuesday, December 2. Please think about helping a local family that may be in need this holiday season. Thank you for your generosity!
Monday, November 21: Happy Monday! Today in class we are going to be taking a look at how we can decide if fractions are closer to 0, 1/2, or 1. We are going to introduce the term "benchmarks" for the reason of deciding if each fraction is in fact closer to the benchmarks: 0, 1/2, or 1...and the opposite of these benchmarks (0, -1/2 and -1). Students will be able to compare positive and negative rational numbers and be able to identify where each of them is located on a number line.
Friday, November 18: Today in class we will be finishing up Problem 3.1 by working on Questions A1, A2, B1, B2, C1-C3, and D1-D3. Students will also be challenged to work on Question E and see how real life applications of "Absolute Value" work. We will finish class by doing a game of Kahoots! to review absolute value, improper fractions and mixed numbers.
Thursday, November 17: We will begin class today with a brief number talk. We are then going to begin Chapter 3 of our book. Looking at extending the number line to include rational numbers and negative numbers. We will discuss absolute value today and how this plays a role in a number's distance from 0 on the number line. Students will be able to identify where numbers and their "opposites" are located on a number line.
Wednesday, November 16: Students will begin class by watching a short review video and they will be taking notes as they are watching. A link to this video will be posted on our Google Classroom page. Once they have completed the video, they will be taking "Check-Up 1." When they are finished with their quiz, there are instructions posted on our Google Classroom page for them to visit.
Tuesday, November 15: No school today!
Monday, November 14: Today we will begin class by doing a "Number Talk." Students will need to come up with discuss different ways to solve simple arithmetic problems. We will then do a short review of what the students worked on during class on Friday and finish the class by working on ACE problems: pg. 50 # 1, 7, 23, 24.
Friday, November 11: Today there will be a sub in my room. Students have a bell work mini quiz to take that is posted on our Google Classroom page titled, "Friday Math Bell Work." Students will then need to pick up a packet in class and copy down notes and examples. Students will also be completing problems A, B & C from pg. 49 in their math book.
Thursday, November 10: Today we will begin by doing a problem together that reviews what students worked on yesterday. We will review what a Unit Rate is and then move into our next investigation talking about sharing unequally. We will do an example together which shows that a person's age depends on how many segments of the fruit worm they receive. Students will then be working together to solve problems to find equivalent fractions and ratios.
Wednesday, November 9: There will be a sub in my room today. Students will be taking notes in a packet that they will be given in class. A completed version is posted on our Google Classroom page and students will use this to copy down the notes and work on the problems on the sheet. The link to the notes sheet can be found here: drive.google.com/open?id=0B8odIMMekIpeWE84ek5ULXc1RVk
Tuesday, November 8: Today in class, we will begin with a quick Bell Work problem where students need to place the number "1" on a given number line that is already labeled with certain fraction values. Students will then be partnered up and will be taking a Partner Quiz for Investigation 1.
Monday, November 7: Happy Monday! Today in class students will be working on several problems to review equivalent fractions, comparing fractions to see which is greater or lesser than the other, and working with cardboard pizzas to model fractions and equivalent fractions. They will also be asked a few challenging questions where they need to decide which pizza would have the most left-overs if certain fractional amounts were removed. The packet can be found on the BITS AND PIECES 1.1-1.3 link above.
Friday, November 4: Today students will be working ACE Problems #2,5,6,10,12-15,27 starting on pg. 27 in their math book.
Thursday, November 3: Today is a shortened class due to an 11:00a.m. release time. We will be taking our ideas from yesterday when we were using the online fraction tiles to decide where certain fractions belong on a number line. We will do this by creating a whole class number line where we place fractions on a number line between 0 and 1. Students will then be able to see where certain fractions lie on the number line, what fractions are equivalent, and also the distance between fractions.
Wednesday, November 2: Today in class we will be thinking about how we can represent a fraction as a number on the number line. We will be working with equivalent fractions and an online Fraction Tiles site which can be found on our Google Classroom page. Students will be answering Question A and Question B on page 16 in their student book. We will then lead into a class discussion about equivalent fractions, how the fraction tiles have helped us find equivalent fractions and why the fraction "1/2" is used A LOT.
ATTENTION PARENTS: Parent Teacher Conferences are being held this week, Wednesday, November 2 from 5:00p.m.-7:30p.m. and on Thursday, November 3 from 1:00p.m.-4:00p.m. and 5:30p.m.-7:30p.m.
Please also see the below link for a quick Parent Survey. Thanks!
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________IIn an effort to improve system practices, Vestaburg Community Schools is conducting a Parent Survey. We value your opinion and ask that you take the time to complete this survey.
In order to complete the survey, please go to:
http://eprovesurveys.advanc-ed.org/surveys/#/action/11561/p420
Please be assured that your responses to this survey will be anonymous. Your honest opinion is appreciated.
Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.
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Tuesday, November 1: Welcome to November! Today in class, we will be moving forward to Comparing Pits and Pieces 1.2 "Fundraising Thermometers, Comparing Ratios." We will begin with a quick launch video that will ask students to consider who's fundraiser was more successful. We are going to be taking a look at pg. 12 in their books and introducing the idea of fundraising thermometers to compare the rate of change for each fundraiser we looked at in class yesterday. As a class, we will be labeling blank thermometers that we can use to track the progress of these fundraisers. This sheet can be found on the BITS & PIECES 1.1-1.3 link above, tilted, "1.2 Fundraising Thermometers." Students will then be working in groups to answer questions B and C on pg. 13. We will summarize this problem by answering question D together.
Monday, October 31: Today in class we will be beginning our new unit "Comparing Bits & Pieces." We will start today by comparing fundraising goals and introducing comparing fractions. We will be taking notes in class to review fractions, the notes sheet can be found on the BITS & PIECES 1.1-1.3 link above, titled, "Investigation 1.1 Cheat Sheet." We will then be deciding if certain claims are true or false and making our own claims about the three fundraising goals we are comparing. The claims can be found on the BITS & PIECES 1.1-1.3 link above, titled, "Bits and Pieces 1.1 Fundraising Strips."
Friday, October 28: It's Friday again! Today in class we are going to take some time as a class to go through the Unit 1 Test. Students will be handed back their test, they will not be allowed to write on their test, but will be allowed to take notes on the problems we work on in class. Students will have 2 weeks from today to come in during lunch to make corrections on their test. Half credit can be earned back by making corrections, full credit can be earned by retaking the entire test again. We will be filling out Student Led Conference Sheets during class today for students to put in their folders that will be shared with parent's during conferences next week.
Thursday, October 27: Happy Thursday! Today in class student's will be given the third page of their Unit 1 Test. When they are finished with page 3, they need to be working on the links that are posted on our Google Classroom page.
Wednesday, October 26: Early Release Day! Today in class, students will be given an introductory fractions assignment to work on if they are finished with page 1 and 2 of their Unit Test. We will continue the third page of the Unit Test tomorrow. We will also be using this time today to get students caught up who were absent the last two days so they can begin working on their test.
Tuesday, October 25: Students will be continuing to take their Unit Test 1. They will need to be finished with page 2 by today. When they are finished with page 2 today, they need to be working on the math practice games posted on our Google Classroom page.
Monday, October 24: Students will be taking their Unit Test 1 today and tomorrow. The test covers all material from PRIME TIME 1.1-4.4 which have been covering in class since the start of school. Students are able to use all notes taken in class, all note packets I provided to them and all of their old quizzes and Check-Up's from this unit. Students received these back from me on Friday.
Friday, October 21: This is Jeopardy! Today in class we will be doing a quick Chapter Summary and then playing a Jeopardy review game for the rest of the hour. The problems on the Jeopardy game are review for the Unit 1 Test on Monday. The link to the game can be found here: jeopardylabs.com/play/prime-time-unit-test-review-nadeau.
Thursday, October 20: Class today will be a work day where students will apply everything they have learned in PRIME TIME 4.1-4.4. Students will have the option to work alone or with a partner on Problems A or E, B, and C on page 74. They will then be working on ACE problems 13,32,43-46 starting on page 76.
Wednesday, October 19: Today in class we will continue our discussion of PEMDAS and do some practice problems in class. We will also be playing Order of Operations BINGO. This BINGO game has problems for students to solve using the Order of Operations to try and get a BINGO!
Tuesday, October 18: We are going to be wrapping up 4.2 at the start of class. I will be posting that answer key to the packet that students were working on in class yesterday. We are then going to begin Prime Time 4.3 Order of Operations. Students will take notes on the Order of Operations, which we will learn as the acronym PEMDAS (Parenthesis, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, and Subtraction).
Monday, October 17: Today in class, we will be using a worksheet to review and extend what we learned in class on Friday: How we relate the Distributive Property of the area of rectangles. The worksheet can be found in the PRIME TIME 4.1-4.4 link above.
Friday, October 14: Today in class we will be relating the area of a rectangle to the distributive property. We will use lots of models of rectangles in class today and students will be working in groups to help solve some real world problems. We will take a look at whether an expression of the sort: 2(4)+2(20) is equal to 2(24). Students will have an exit ticket in class today where they need to pick two problems from the options of problem 7, 8, and/or 9 from their book on page 75.
Thursday, October 13: Today in class we will beginning Prime Time 4.1 "Reasoning With Even and Odd Numbers." We our going to do our first "Number Talk" in class where students will need to respond to a question and then explain their reasoning behind it. We will define an even number and define an odd number. Our investigation today will allow us to create a rule to find all even numbers and all odd numbers.
Wednesday, October 12: (Early Release) Today in class we will be working on correcting our Check-Ups from Monday. Students will need to take notes on these corrections and turn their quiz into me at the end of the hour.
Tuesday, October 11: Today there will be a sub in my room. Students know and understand the classroom expectations while there is a sub in the room. They will be given a worksheet they need to complete in class. Parts of the sheet are to be done with a partner. Once the student gets the worksheet in class, they need to login to our Google Classroom page and do the 4 activities under the "Tuesday Activities" post. The worksheet gives specific instructions of what they need to do with each activity.
Monday, October 10: Students will be taking Check-Up 2 today. This is an on your quiz that students can use any notes and worksheets that we have worked on for PRIME TIME 3.1-3.4. There will be an extra credit sheet for students to work on following the Check-Up.
Friday, October 7: Today in class we will do a quick homework check, and then we are going to launch one of the biggest problems we have worked on this year: THE LOCKER PROBLEM! I have 30 lockers hung up around my room and we have to figure out which lockers will be open after 30 students go around the room and open and close the lockers. We will extend this thinking to a problem of 1,000 lockers! Students will receive their ACE problems back from this week. Reminder to students that their is Check Up 2 on Monday! Make sure they bring their notes, worksheets and ACE Problems to class. They can use them all on the quiz!
Thursday, October 6: The students will continue practicing using factor trees to help find the Greatest Common Factor of two numbers and the Least Common Multiple of two numbers. A practice quiz will be given in class. We will work through the first two problems together and students will need to work on the last two problems on their own. The handout can be found in the PRIME TIME 3.1-3.4 link above. This sheet is homework for any student who did not get it finished.
Wednesday, October 5: In class we will be working on stations today that will review material from 3.1 and 3.2 and that will introduce new material from 3.3. Students will investigate two ways to find the Greatest Common Factor of two numbers and the Least Common Multiple of two numbers.
Tuesday, October 4: Today students will be working on ACE Problems by themselves. These problems will be due at the end of class. Students need to work on numbers: 5, 7, 9, 14 (doing #14 for 5 and 7), 15, 20, and 31. At the end of class, I will ask students to place a check mark next to the number on the board they need help on. Students will need to turn their problems in at the end of class.
Monday, October 3:We will spend the class period today digging in to Prime Time 3.2, "Finding the Longest Factor String." A notes sheet will be provided to students and can be found in the PRIME TIME 3.1-3.4 Link Above.
Friday, September 30: As an opening activity, students are going to have to reteach each other the lesson that we went over yesterday in class. They need to make sure their partners have their notes completely filled in. We will spend the rest of the class period reviewing factorization using this website: http://www.math-play.com/Spinner-Game-Prime-Factorization/Spinner-Game-Prime-Factorization.html.
Thursday, September 29: Today in class we will beginning Prime Time Chapter 3. We are working on 3.1 The Product Puzzle and Factor Strings. Instead of doing the Product Puzzle presented in the student book, we will be working on constructing factor trees. These factor trees will help us in future lessons figure out the prime factorization of numbers. A handout was provided in class. The handout can be found in the PRIME TIME 3.1-3.4 Link above.
Wednesday, September 28: We have a shortened class today due to Early Release. Students will be taking notes on all of the Quiz Questions from the Partner Quiz. If they take good notes and turn them in at the end of class, they will receive full credit on their quiz.
Tuesday, September 27: Students will be given back their Partner Quiz that they started yesterday. Questions they have wrong are marked wrong and they need to work on fixing them up. When students finish, they need to pick up a multiplication and division review worksheet.
Monday, September 26: Students will be taking their Investigation 2 (2.1-2.3) Partner Quiz today. Students are to work with their partner, only communicate with their partner and turn their quiz in when they are done. If they finish before the end of class, they are to work on kizi.com. Students will be given the quiz back tomorrow to make corrections and finish working on it with their partner.
Friday, September 23: Game Day!
Thursday, September 22: Today in class, students will be given back their Check Up 1 from last week. We are going to go over each problem as a class. Students are to take notes on each problem, regardless if they missed it or not. This will allow for more practice and revisiting the material for another quiz on Monday next week. We will then be using the rest of class to work on ACE problems found on pg. 34. We will be doing numbers: 1,8,10,21,24,31.
Wednesday, September 21: Today we will be working on problems that deal with having to find common factors. Students will use models in class to help them figure out how to divide up a certain number of snack packs to a group of students so that everyone gets the same amount of each item.
Tuesday, September 20: Today in class, we will be working on problems where we need to decide if we will use Common Factors or Common Multiples to solve. We will specifically be looking at Cicada rhythms and when they will be born again at the same time if one group is born every 13 years and another groups is born every 17 years.
Monday, September 19: Welcome to Homecoming Week! Today, we will be starting Prime Time Unit 2. Students will be learning about Common Multiples and Common Factors. We will be using a human Ferris Wheel to model these vocabulary words.
Friday, September 16: Today in class, students will have the whole hour to work on Check-Up 1. They are able to use any notes or worksheets that we have done in class during this time. When they are finished, students are to be working on kizi.com. We will review this Check-Up on Monday.
Thursday, September 15: Crazy Stations. Students will be reviewing all of the material that we have worked on so far this year in preparation for their first Check Up tomorrow. Stations were set up around the room for them to work on problems similar to what we have worked on in class and also similar to those questions that will be on tomorrow's assessment.
Wednesday, September 14: ACE DAY. Students will be working on problems 16,19,21,27, & 30 in class starting on page 20 in their math book. Students will be given time to work on these in class and we will check them as a class. If students feel they need more practice at home, they are welcome to work on problems 23,26, & 28. Students will be having their first Check Up on Friday this week.
Tuesday, September 13: Today, students will be working on Prime Time 1.4 and building models with blocks to help represent what we have talked about in this unit. It will be important for them to understand how they can pair factors to build rectangles and we will investigate what makes a square number so special, both mathematically and with models.
Monday, September 12: Welcome to the start of another awesome week! Today, students will be working on Prime Time 1.3: The Product Game. Last week we looked at factors of numbers, now today, we are turning it around and asking, "what are the products of two factors?" We will investigate pg. 14 and use the following link to help us understand the product of two numbers: media.pearsoncmg.com/curriculum/math/cmp3/activities/A82386/index.html
Friday, September 9: ACE DAY. Students will be working in groups on problems 1-7,13,28,35,41, & 44 from their math books beginning on page 17.
Thursday, September 8: Students will be spending the whole class period NWEA testing. When they are done with the testing, they are only to be working on the following site: http://kizi.com/
Wednesday, September 7: Today we will be working on 1.2 Playing to Win: Prime and Composite Numbers. Students will understand the difference between a prime number and a composite number. The class will be filling out a chart of factors. Click on the Prime Time 1.1-1.4 link above to find this worksheet. We will answer all questions on pg. 11 in their student workbook.
Tuesday, September 6: Welcome back to school! Today we begin our first mathematics unit. Students received their math books last Wednesday. We will be working on 1.1 Playing the Factor Game. By the end of today, students will be able to identify all the factors of a number. We will be answering all questions on pg. 9&10 of their student workbooks. Students will be playing the Factor Game which can be found at the following link: http://media.pearsoncmg.com/curriculum/math/cmp3/activities/A82384/index.html
Monday, September 5: Happy Labor Day!
Wednesday, August 31: What happens if we have 31 students in the class. Can we have even teams? Hand out math books.
Tuesday, August 30: Classroom Expectations, Note card activity for Mr. Nadeau to get to know you. First story problem to launch our unit on factors. How do you divide up a class of 30 students into even teams?
Monday, August 29: Introduction Activity-take as much toilet paper as you think you will need. We will be finishing up this activity tomorrow in class.