Chapter 7: Writing expressions and equations

Today we started Chapter 7, you will notice that there will be more effort put in by students to keep track of how well they are doing on each assignment.  As always, I am available to help each and every lunch period and also after school on Mondays and Wednesdays from 3:00 to 3:30.

I will also be more active on the blog here to keep you in the loop.  Email me or call with any math questions you may have.

As I told the kids today we basically have about 50 hours of 6th grade math left.  The quarter ends on April 2nd.  Then there will only be one quarter left.  Wow!

Chapter 6 Areas and Circles

Alright, here we go.

This next chapter is all about circumference, radius, diameter, perimeter, and area.  Some of this should be review, other stuff will be newer.

Also, starting this chapter we're trying out a little bit different class format.  I will be teaching about ten students at a time, while ten work independently, and ten play math games that involve the same concepts.

This will allow me more time to spend with each student to answer questions and really help them master the skills.

The schedule looks like this:

3/7 Section 6.1
3/8 Section 6.2
3/11 Section 6.3, no games, QUIZ ON 6.1 AND 6.2
3/12 Section 6.4
3/13 None, music in our schools day
3/14 Chapter review and a QUIZ ON 6.3 AND 6.4
3/15 Chapter Test!

Then Spring Break followed by Chapter 7 when we return.

Pre-test for Chapter 6 on Monday

Circles and Area pretest on Monday.  I'll be using that information to form smaller learning groups and teach the concepts to about ten students at a time, through a rotation, rather than whole group instruction.  It's a model called "math workshop" that some students have already done in elementary school. 

So, the schedule for the week looks like this:
Monday - Pretest and explain rotations
Tuesday - Dry run of rotations and teaching games for the games station
Wednesday -> Friday - Starting the chapter and rolling on

Also, if your child had a 1 on either standard on the test I will be giving them an opportunity to show their knowledge of the content through some practice sheets and also a small quiz when they complete those.  That one is not permanent, but they need to do the work to show mastery of the skill(s). 

Email me if you have questions.  Thanks.  

Enjoy Plinko while I grade and enter tests!

Plinko

Chapter 5 Test is on Friday!

Here we are, finally time for a test on Chapter 5.  It's all about ratios, mean, median, mode, and range.

You can find the review guide online at the www.bigideasmath.com site.  Click on students, go, pick the green book, then chapter 5.

Also, if anyone needs or wants help, I'll be in my room each day at lunch and after school on Wednesday for extra tutoring until 3:30 pm.

Here's a practice quiz, if the link works:  practice quiz

Median, Mode, and Range

Tomorrow we're starting to look at median (the middle number), mode (the number that occurs the most), and range (simply the highest minus the lowest.)

Also, I found a really cool Mario video I might show in class if there is time.  It will help us practice some math range skills.

Here's an example data set:

Mean (average) day 2

Second day of average.  It's basically this simple:

1. add up all of the data points (numbers)
2. divide the total by however many numbers there were.

Example:

Let's say Mr. Flaten sits at a stop light and times how long he waits each time.  Let's pretend there were five lights and the times (in seconds) were:  7, 13, 10, 5, and 15.

How long would I wait on average?

1. Add up the numbers, the total is: 50 seconds
2. Divide by the five stop lights, so 50 divided by 5.  The average time waiting at a light would be 10 seconds.

The second factor would be an outlier.  That's when there is a number or numbers that are way outside of the "normal" range of numbers in the set.  For example, if I have to wait at a stop light for 62 seconds because of a police vehicle, it would increase my average, but not really be a true representation of the mean.

Here's tonight's assignment: Section 5.4 Puzzle time sheet.

Found a youtube video that might help: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgxZfQDf4qY