Thanks for a Great Year!

As the end of the school year nears, I just wanted to thank everyone for all of your hard work and effort you've made to learn your math lessons this year. I have enjoyed working with each and every one of you, and you've enriched my life by sharing your smiles, your funny senses of humor and your great stories with me. The theme for the next 12 weeks will be "Enjoying Summer". I look forward to seeing you in the fall.

Tonight's Homework: None!! Have a great summer!

Basketball for Astronauts?

Students used their problem solving skills to create a scale drawing of a basketball court that would be suitable for the toy astronaut they were given. All math used to convert real dimensions of a basketball court must be shown, and the drawing must be neatly drawn and labeled.

Tonight's Homework: Finish working on the scale model of your basketball court for the mini astronaut.

Area of Triangles and Trapezoids

Using pictures of geoboards, students drew a series of different shapes and sizes of triangles and trapezoids. They calculated the area of each figure drawn, and looked for a pattern that could be stated in an equation so one could determine the area of any triangle or trapezoid, if certain dimensions were known.

Tonight's Homework: Finish the green worksheets you started in class today. If you attended the WEB training today, be sure to pick these up on Thursday, and get them done as soon as possible. You are behind! (Thanks to Katie and Danette, who did check in with me after the training.)

Mixed Measurements

Weekly grade slips were distributed today, even though today is Tuesday. The theme for the week is solar energy. Students were asked to carefully measure 20 different objects, using both inches and centimeters. These measurements were recorded in a data table. The information will be used later in the week to help us better understand the notion of slope and where it shows up on the graph and the data table.

Tonight's Homework: Graph your measurement data as precisely and accurately as you can. If you are missing assignments, please plan to get those done and turned in as soon as you can. All late and missing work is due by Wednesday, June 5th. Don't delay, do it today!!!

Solving Problems Through Pattern Finding

After putting a few more pieces of the penny together, we worked on a variety of problems that dealt with discovering patterns today. Students used calculators to solve problems, learned how to use an abacus to represent different types of numbers, and then looked for patterns in groups of numbers. All in all, we worked hard and were successful!

Tonight's Homework: Nothing new. If you have missing assignments, it might be a great time to work on them over the long weekend and bring them in on Tuesday. Enjoy the holiday!

Rectangular Patterns

After putting most of the pieces of our enlarged penny together, we looked at a variety of rectangles to see if there was a pattern between the length and the width of the rectangle. Students sorted the rectangles into piles of similar type, and then recorded length and width data in a table.

Tonight's Homework: Make a line graph of your rectangle data, using different colors for each of your groups of rectangles. Is your penny piece turned in? If not, please finish it.

District Track Meet Wipes Out Our Class

Students who attended class today were given a work day to complete their projects. Some worked on the penny enlargement grid, while others worked on the Transform Your Name or Word puzzles. Most students were able to complete at least one thing, which reduced the amount of homework they had.

Tonight's Homework: Be ready to submit your part of the enlarged penny to me on Thursday.