December 6 - December 10

Students are receiving their graded CoWs today and tomorrow (staggered). Students who met or approached standards on the reasoning and communication portion will be exempt from the reasoning and communication portion until after the winter break. Students who need to revise their work will re-do CoW #13, and it will be due on Friday.

ALL students will work on ixl.com for 30 minutes per day.
6th Grade ixl.com topics are: L1, L2, L3, and L5.
7th Grade ixl.com topics are: G7 and G11 (required) I1 and Y1 can be completed for a challenge and a look ahead.

Students who did not turn in the CoW assignment will receive an advisor referral.

7th grade ABSOLUTE VALUE

The following links are helpful in understanding absolute value. Tomorrow, Cow #13 is due, and we will have an assessment on adding and subtracting negative and positive numbers.
Math Mastery - (includes a short video)

Math Goodies

Rainy Monday Morning!

This week, 7th grade is using the correct order of operations to evaluate expressions. Click on this link for some practice.

CoW #11 - Eliminate Possibilities

This week's cow has a new problem-solving strategy, Eliminate Possibilities. During the first week with this strategy, we will model this type of problem so that every student will have an example of how to use this strategy. Additionally, we will review each night's homework in class, so that students have a complete and correct solution by Friday (provided that they are taking notes during class). Click here for the reasoning and communication portion.


6th Grade ixl.com skills for this week's homework are:
I.1, Addition and Subtraction Practice
I.2, Addition and Subtraction - Word Problems
K.1, Multiply Whole Numbers
K.2, Multiply Whole Numbers -Word Problems
Students must reach a Smart Score of 90 for every category!

7th Grade ixl.com skills for this week's homework are:
U.1, Write Variable Expressions
U.2, Evaluate Single Variable Expressions I
U.3, Evaluate Single Variable Expressions II
D.2, Integers on Number Lines
Students must reach a Smart Score of 90 for every category!

CoW #9

Yeah! CoW published by Monday. I'm making progress.

6th Grade Knowledge

7th Grade Knowledge

6th and 7th Reasoning and Communication - This week's problem is a new type of problem-solving is systematic list.

This website may help. click here

7A - Indirect Proportion Website

Here's a great website for an indirect proportion review. click here

IXL at home

7th Grade- the following topics relate to what we are currently studying in math. If you want to work on ixl.com this weekend, please work on these topics first and work toward a scaled score of 80 or more.
J.6, J.7 do the ratios form a proportion?
X.1 - identify proportional relationships
X.2 find the constant of variation
X.3 does x,y satisfy the equation
X.4 evaluate a function
X.5 complete a function table
X.6 write a rule for a function table
X.7 find points on a function graph

6th Grade - at this point, you should have all of section R complete, as well as S.1, S.2, and S.3. We have not yet reviewed all the material for section S.4, but you can give it a try and read the explanations. See how well you can do independently.

7th - Direct and Inverse Proportion

7th Grade : Here's a good link to review inverse proportion. click here
For a direct proportion review, click here.

6th Grade: For a review of stem-and-leaf plots, click here.

CoW 8

7th grade - Wednesday's homework for knowledge has a misprint. The equation should be 2*(10-x) = y.

6th and 7th grade - Reasoning and Communication is optional this week. It is very challenging and I don't want you to be frustrated. Get as far as you can, and we'll solve it together on Friday.

CoW - Week 7

7th Graders - please remember to bring your 2-liter plastic bottle tomorrow for our science lab. I first requested this and posted this request to the blog last week, and we cannot do the lab without the bottles. - 6th Graders - you can donate a 2-liter bottle in return for a Wolf Biscuit!

CoW - Reasoning and Communication - grades 6 and 7 - click here

CoW - grade 7 - knowledge portion - click here

CoW - grade 6 - I am having some trouble uploading this file, and will get some help with it tomorrow.

Classroom needs

We need some 2 liter plastic bottles for our 7th grade class on Friday. If you have any empties at home, please bring them in. Thanks!

New Topics

In 7th Grade Math, we are studying Cartesian Grids. We are focusing on positive coordinates only at this time, which are in Quadrant I. For a review of the topic, click here. There is a game to play that goes with this game that can check your skills - give it a go! Hit the Coordinate Game

In 6th Grade Math, we are beginning to analyze line graphs. For a review and some practice, click here (http://www.mathgoodies.com/lessons/graphs/line.html).











In 7th Grade Science, we are beginning a unit on ecosystems. Look for great links later this week.

In 6th Grade Science, we just began a unit on geology, starting with the layers of the earth. Today, we compared the layers of the earth to peanut M&M's, and we saw a great Bill Nye the Science Guy movie. Tomorrow, we will be conducting more in-depth research regarding the layers of the earth.

Challenge of the Week (CoW #6)

Grade 7 CoW #6- Knowledge Portion

Grade 6 CoW #6 - Knowledge Portion

Grades 6 and 7 CoW #6 - Reasoning and Communication

Don't forget the 'Create a Graph' link to the right. Alia used it last week to go above and beyond the assignment. Great job Alia!

Math Dictionary - with examples

This is a great website of correct definitions of math terms, created by UGA.

UGA searchable math dictionary

CoW 5

Click on the links below for a copy of this week's Challenge of the Week.

Reasoning and Communication - 6th and 7th Grade

Knowledge 6th Grade

Knowledge 7th Grade

September 13

This week, we are starting to use our computer lab to practice fluency and recent math topics. Will will go for two one-hour sessions each week using 'Math Facts in a Flash' and www.ixl.com Each student in 6th grade has received a login id and password to these sites, and 7th grade students have received the login ids and passwords for the 'Math Facts in a Flash' site. Tomorrow, 7th grade students will get their information for the ixl.com site. They are both great sites, and students can use them at home. The sites report progress back to teachers, and we can target specific needs.

Project Week

I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend. This week, we will be finishing our Oil Spill project. Students all have rubrics for the required components, and will have (and have had) time to complete almost all of the work for this project in class. We will not have the reasoning/communication component of the CoW this week, we will just have a knowledge portion that fulfills one of the requirements for the Oil Spill Project. (Click here). Next week, we will take a step back and look at the CoWs and clarify what we expect and how it should be organized and presented each week. Presentations for the project will be on Friday in class.

COWs - Week 3

Yes, this week's reasoning problem is difficult, but there is a solution. Keep in mind, though, that students are graded on their attempt, reasoning, and communication of the attempt. It is not required that students find the solution. Students should reflect on what worked, and what gave them struggles. Clearly showing the givens, constraints, and relationships is a critical aspect. The COW is linked here for those students who may have misplaced the sheet. It may be helpful to use objects that represent the 6 people and objects that are trying to cross and actually move them back and forth. In the future, I will post the COW on Monday (I had some trouble uploading earlier).

COWs - Week 3

7th grade COWs were returned today with comments, and all 6th grade COWs will be returned tomorrow with comments. The new COW for Week 3 was assigned today. Notice that one of the constraints has to do with not only who can go in the boat at one time, but also what can go in the boat. Think tonight about how you will represent the who and what as they travel.


Fact Fluency - we are working to help students develop 'automaticity' with basic math facts. The four arithmetic operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division) with single digit numbers should be 'automatic', meaning a student just knows them without having to think about it. Without automaticity the development of higher-order skills - multi-digit addition, fractions, and problem solving, will be severely impacted. Think of it as freeing up brain space to work on problems rather than using it up on basic math facts. We will have timed 'mad minutes' for all four operations each day this week, and then calculate the mean of each operation. We will do this again periodically throughout the year to see our growth. For practice, you can go to MATH FACT PRACTICE.

7th Grade

Check out this website for interquartile range help.
box and whisker plot website

Challenge of the Week

Attached are copies of this week's COW for you use.

COW #2 7th Grade
COW #2 6th Grade

EXCITING OPPORTUNITY!

The Morehouse School of Medicine’s Ben Carson Saturday Science Academy has extended an invitation to the students at our school to participate in our science enrichment program from October 9-November 20 (Saturdays ONLY). The program runs from 9am-1:30 pm offering extensive hand-on science experiments which include dissections and also a robotics component. We also include parental workshops on various issues pertaining to children. The purpose of our program is to introduce students to the health sciences field. Students in 4th-8th grade can participate. Registration dates are from August 2-August 31 so please act fast!
Ben Carson Science Academy Link:

http://www.msm.edu/community_health/commhealth_trainingprograms/commhealth_trainingprograms_ben.aspx

COWs

This week's Challenge of the Week was assigned today, and each student received a 3-prong folder to complete the work in. Some helpful links for the knowledge portion may be found to the right.

Drilling for Oil

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend. On Monday, we will be introducing our first 'Unit of Study' looking at the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Click here to see a video about drilling for oil in general. After watching this video, please post a comment to the blog.

6th Graders - one area of our learning expectations in Science this year is geology. We started an experiment about fossil fuels on Thursday. We will look at the results on Monday. I posted a link to a video about fossil fuels on the previous blog. Please remember to post your comments to this video.

Fossil Fuels

In sixth grade today, we began an experiment to investigate fossil fuels. One of the concepts we explored is "What are fossil fuels?" The attached link has some great information - check it out!
http://videos.howstuffworks.com/hsw/6187-energy-what-are-fossil-fuels-video.htm

In seventh grade, we began a lab to explore the behavior of oil in water. We will continue the lab tomorrow. Students need to measure the area of a rectangle or a circle. We will continue with this lab tomorrow.

For both grades, we have had great progress for our Challenge of the Week (COW). It has been reviewed daily, and will be turned in tomorrow for a grade. I will be returning the graded COWs next week.

We will also be celebrating our first 'Success Day' tomorrow during the last hour of the day. Students who have completed the Math, Reading, Writing, and Research portions of their Summer Activity Journals will participate.

Organization Day

On Monday, we will wrap up a few loose ends from last week, review materials, and get organized. We will outline our expectations for notebook organization and contents. All students should come prepared with their 1-1/2" 3-ring binder and a pencil (as was explained in the MST syllabus). We will provide a composition notebook to every student, as well as a 1-sheet monthly calendar to use for noting assignments. If you are unable to provide a 3-ring notebook, please email me.
I have enjoyed reading the goals, potential challenges, and expectations reflections that students completed on Friday afternoon, and look forward to helping our students reach their full potential this year.

Reminder - we are a chewing gum-free school :)

Another Great Day

In seventh grade today, students made graphs of some quick in-class surveys that we conducted today. Overall, they did an excellent job.
In sixth grade, each group made arguments to persuade the class that their assigned musician was the best, citing evidence from articles that were then sorted into either quantitative or qualitative data.

Remember that you will be assessed tomorrow on the following:
- quantitative vs. qualitative
- arguments, claims, and evidence
- using graphs to present information

Quantitative Data vs. Qualitative Data

Today, we explored the ideas of qualitative versus quantitative data. I was very impressed with how quickly our students demonstrated understanding and could create qualitative or quantitative descriptors of our class. To review these concepts at home, you can visit a related website by clicking here (http://www.regentsprep.org/Regents/math/ALGEBRA/AD1/qualquant.htm)
Keep up the great work, and don't forget to answer the survey to the right!

First Day Reflection - Tuesday morning

I was so pleased to meet all of our new students yesterday! We had a great day, and the students did an excellent job diving right into problem solving. Each student received his or her MST syllabus (which should be signed and returned today). We have some great activities planned for this week which introduce the approach we will be taking towards learning in MST. Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns. Lastly, don't forget to complete the simple survey to the right.

Welcome Back / Welcome to ACMS

Orientation is tomorrow, Friday, August 6! I look forward to meeting each of you. I have met some of you when you were much younger at NCS, and I can't wait to see how you've grown and changed. New students, come at 8:30 and meet in the library. Returning students, drop in anytime between 2:00 and 4:00 for an open-house format meet and greet.