Activity 1.1

The entire focus of Thursday and Friday is for the students to be able to do two things:

1. Determine which mathematical operation to use on each problem
2. Be able to divide multi-digit numbers

Today we talked about a few bar graphs and how math books pose questions.  There was some vocabulary discussion and refreshing of terms.  Here are some to ask your child about:

- operation
- prime
- composite
- x axis
- y axis

Finally, the best part is that we handed out Record and Practice Journals today.  They have them and should be bringing them to each class day.  Tomorrow we will do a mini-quiz and some practice problems after the mini-lesson. 

Another math day of seeing what you know!

Today we continued and finished part two of the course assessment, so just a few questions left tomorrow.  Then we're off to start the book and have some group conversations about bar graphs and other math concepts. 

We also introduced a site called todaysmeet and talked about how and when we might be able to use it.  They were excited to have a chat place and that it showed up on the screen in front of the class.  Finally, I invite you to ask your child about the gradecam program we are going to use, it's pretty cool. 

Pre-Test for 6th Grade Math

Greetings,
Today we started #1-20 on the 6th grade assessment, this is to see what students already know and provide a benchmark for how much they learn by mid-year and also at the conclusion of the school year.  We are using a cool thing called gradecam to score them and it allows students to see how they did right away.  Also, we are using another online tool called ILearn and it allows us to really use the laptops in a way that makes it easy to see the tasks we are completing for that day. 

Here's the schedule for the week:
Monday #1-20
Tuesday #21-43
Wednesday #44-56
Thursday Activity 1.1
Friday Lesson 1.1 with assignment! 

Be sure to keep it cool as the air conditioning at the school is still not working properly, hopefully it will cool down a bit tomorrow!  See you then.  Mr. Flaten

Week One complete, day one of math!

We had our first day of math today.  We did three things:

1. Talked about classroom expectations and how the class will operate.
2. Talked about getting the practice books next week.
3. Chromebook computers to do some activities on ILearn

Most of us got on pretty quickly and some struggled, but almost everyone is on, we'll get 100% next week.  We are looking at a pre-course test (not graded) to get a baseline of where students are on the 6th grade material next week and also starting in the big ideas books with activity and lesson 1.1.

If you want to keep up or follow along the link to the book is:

http://www.bigideasmath.com/students/?level=7.00

Just find lesson 1.1 on the left hand side.

Have a great weekend, it's been fun getting to know your children this week.  Thanks for the hard work at home it shows in their character and manners here at school.

Day One, Open House

It was fun getting to meet all of my Cares students and many math students who will be learning in my classroom.  As we talked today Wednesday and Thursday will not follow the regular schedule, but we will focus more on procedures and how middle school operates.

Also, we'll be getting out the Chromebooks on Thursday to see how they function and start using them a little bit.  Looking forward to day two.

Computers!

 Lucky us!  6th Grade Math students (both sides) will be participating in a 1:1 Technology Pilot this school year!  That means that when students are in my classroom, they will have daily access to technology, specifically a Samsung Chromebook.  We will be using these everyday to enhance our Math studies.  The two 6th Grade Language Arts classrooms will also be participating in the 1:1 pilot.

Although we are using them everyday we will not be exclusively using them, we have a great new book, and many other resources.  These will supplement our learning, not become the main source.  It's still sixth grade math, just like you learned.  

Setting up!

Hopefully you found this and bookmarked it, you'll want to keep up each day during the school year to keep up.

Wow, we have new book and I spent time hauling them down to the classroom.  I'm excited to see how much fun we can have going through them and also the new practice journals.  I will be updating this more frequently as school starts and keeping us up to date as we go.

I'm excited to meet you on the open house day next Tuesday!