Unit Project Information

I have attached the guidelines for the unit project that I have handed out to students today. Here is the timeline:

Wednesday, December 1, 2010 - 2 choices from the sheet are due
If the free choice option (under 50 points) is chosen the proposal must be approved by Dec. 1, 2010

Wednesday, December 15, 2010 - All projects are due

Week of December 13th - appointments can be made to share the project with me, either before or after school. The students will also have the option of presenting to the class. This will be scheduled during this week. (Please note: this is for 80 point projects)

Please feel free to contact me with any questions.



Upcoming dates to remember:

DMCT for 8th grade students - December 9th and 10th (only for students that did not pass in 7th grade)

Last day of the quarter/semester - December 21st


Happy Thanksgiving!
Mrs. Anderson

Homework

I have attached a copy of pg. 11 from the book, What Do You Expect? The two problems on this page are the homework due on Monday, November 22nd.

Next week the students will take a practice test in the computer lab on Monday. On Tuesday we will go over the unit test and play bingo. I will not assign homework for the Thanksgiving Break.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Mrs. Anderson

This and That

The students took the unit test today. Tomorrow we will be starting out new unit on Probability. I have told the students that we only have a classroom set of this book, so they will need to be more diligent about taking notes during class. If I assign work from the book I will give a copy of the page and they will need to rely on their notes to work the problems. They also have the option of doing their homework in my classroom before or after school to have access to the book.
 As we move into the new unit I have told the students any missing work or corrections from Samples and Populations must be turned in by Friday at 3:45pm. Please check their grades in PowerSchool and have them correct any assignments with less than a 70%.

Feel free to contact me with any questions! Thank you!

New Unit - What Do You Expect?

On Tuesday we are starting a new unit called What Do You Expect?
The following link is a parent guide explaining what we will cover in this unit and how you can help your child with homework.
http://www.teachervision.fen.com/tv/printables/CMP2/pg_Expect.pdf

Please let me know if you have any questions. Probability can be a difficult concept, but our curriculum makes it a lot of fun!

Also, instead of a traditional unit test the students will create a game using probability.

Week of October 25th

This week we are working on Investigation 1 of Samples and Populations. We will have a quiz over Investigation 1 on Friday, as well as a bellwork quiz.
Homework this week:
Assigned Monday due Wednesday  pg. 22 #27 a,b,c

Assigned Wednesday due Friday pg. 18-19 #7,8,9,10,11,12,13

Assigned Friday due Monday (Nov. 1) - Integers Worksheet 1.4.k2a (this will be posted later this week)

Please contact me if you have any questions!
Have a great week!

Links

I have added links to the other 8th grade teachers' blogs. They are listed at the bottom of the page.

Test Grades

The test grades are posted in PowerSchool under the 2nd quarter. I handed back the tests today and the students were able to ask questions. I do keep the tests, so your child will not be able to show it to you. If you would like to go over their test, please feel free to contact me and we can set up a time for you to come in.
I was very pleased with the scores for our first big test. We are now moving into a book called Samples and Populations. With the exception of 5th hour, I handed the new books out to all the students today.

REMINDER: There is no school on Thursday and Friday. Wamego Middle School will have parent-teacher-student conferences from 8am to 5pm with a lunch break from 12 - 12:45. If you came to conferences in September you do not need to attend again unless you need to speak to us.

Have a great week!
Mrs. Anderson

Unit Test Information

After having a substitute for 3 days last week I decided to move our Moving Straight Ahead Unit Test to Wednesday, October 13th. This will give us more time in class for review. The study guide handed out last Tuesday will be due the day of the test and is 10% of the test grade. The students can use the study guide, their notes, and their books on the test. There are no corrections on unit tests.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Week of October 4th

I will be attending the NCTM Regional Conference in Denver the rest of this week. Mr. Blackburn will be my substitute. He has math experience and will go through 4.2 and 4.3 with the students.

The students have been given a study guide for our Unit Test on October 12th. They will have time to work in class on Friday on the study guide. On Monday when I return we will go over the study guide and any questions they have about the book Moving Straight Ahead. The study guide needs to be turned in on Tuesday with the Unit Test and will be 10% of the overall test grade.

If your son/daughter is struggling with solving equations I posted an answer key to help them practice. It is called Math Equations Key and is listed under the Math Homework section at the top of this page.

This Week

This week we are continuing to practice solving equations. Today we worked on problem 3.4 in Moving Straight Ahead - pg.53-54. The students did not have a homework assignment yesterday, but they do have an assignment for tomorrow that will be due Friday - pg.59 #14.

On Wednesday and Thursday we will work on problem 3.5. We will finish Investigation 3 on Thursday and have a short quiz on Friday to check their skills.

*****If you are helping them solve equations please remind them that I am looking for the steps required to find "x". The answer is not as important as the process.*****

On Friday I will give the students a worksheet similar to last Friday's to practice solving equations. This will be due on Monday, October 4th.

Have a great week!

UPDATE

This week we are learning how to solve equations. The students will receive a worksheet today that is developing the concept of plugging a variable into an equation to find the answer for another variable (we are using x and y). This practice is important as we learn how to solve linear equations.

I have posted the worksheet here if you need another copy.

Reminder

Tomorrow the students are taking two quizzes.

The first quiz is over our bellwork for the past two weeks. This includes addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of fractions, negative integers, metric conversions, and identifying the y-intercept and coefficient in equations.

The 2nd quiz is over Investigation 2 in Moving Straight Ahead. This involves writing equations from the given information, creating a table, and creating a graph.

The assignment pg. 37 #11,12,13,14 for MSA is also due tomorrow.

The students will have a properties worksheet over the weekend. This is a fun worksheet that should only take about 10 minutes.

Update for September 15th

Because of MAPS testing and our early dismissal on Friday, 7th hour is 2 days behind the other classes. We are working to get caught up and will be ready to take the Investigation 2 quiz on Friday. Today we are working on 2.3 and some classes are starting 2.4. Tomorrow we will work on 2.4. This is from our book - Moving Straight Ahead.

Homework this week: due today - pg. 31 #1 and pg. 33 #4 (this was originally assigned last week - I changed the due date because of testing)

Due Friday - pg. 37 #11,12,13,14. For each of these questions the students need to answer parts a,b,c, &d.

Update for September 9, 2010

MAPS testing went well yesterday. All classes, except 7th hour are finished with Math testing. 7th hour will finish today.

I have extended the due date for the Properties Worksheet. It is now due on Monday, September 13th. We will go over some of the questions in class today.

Tomorrow we will finish problem 2.1 and start problem 2.2 in Moving Straight Ahead. The assignment from the book pg. 31 #1 and pg. 33 #4 will be due on Tuesday, September 14th.

Week of September 7th

Next week we will have MAPS testing in the computer lab on Wednesday, September 8th. 7th hour may also test on Thursday, September 9th if additional time is needed. Please contact me if you have any questions about testing.

The students took their quiz over Investigation 1 in Moving Straight Ahead on Thursday, September 2nd. I was very pleased with their results. Please remind them they can make corrections for 1/2 credit on quizzes and if their score was below 70% they are required to make corrections.

We will start Investigation 2 in Moving Straight Ahead this week.

Updates for the week of August 30th

Our work in Moving Straight Ahead, Investigation 1 problems 1.3. and 1.4 is going more slowly then I expected. I have moved our quizzes from Wednesday to Thursday. Homework due dates are still the same.


The homework due tomorrow is pg. 14 #6 - all parts (this is practice for problem 1.3)


The homework due on Friday is pg. 14 #7 (more practice for 1.3)
                                       and    pg. 16 #12 ( practice for 1.4)

On Friday, we will go over the quizzes and start on Investigation 2

Reminder

Homework is due on Monday, August 30th. In Moving Straight Ahead, pg.12 #3 a,b,c only and pg. 18 #22 a OR b.



School pictures are on Tuesday, August 31st. Picture packets (for sports also) are due back on Monday.

Welcome Back!

I can't believe the first week and a half of school is completed! I am really enjoying getting to know my students. I'm looking forward to a great year.
Please feel free to comment or send me an email about the blog. Let me know what would be useful for you!