Spring Break is Officially Here!

Because nearly half of the class was gone today, those present transferred their shrink art pictures onto plastic. They will complete the test we were going to take at home and mail it to me over the break. Most students turned in their Stretching and Shrinking books today.

Tonight's Homework: None, if you have all of your work turned in from the last two weeks. Enjoy your break from school. See you on April 2nd!

Shrinking Art in Math? Yep!

Students took the first part of the unit test over similarity in class today, even though our class time was shortened by 10 minutes because of locker clean out.

Tonight's Homework: Draw your picture for your shrink art project. Fill out the original picture measurements on the accompanying worksheet.

Reviewing for the Stretching and Shrinking Test

As we wind down for the break, students spent the period working with each other to ensure they are ready for the upcoming unit test. The test will be given over two days, as our class on Thursday will be shortened by locker clean out activities.

Tonight's Homework: Complete the 4 worksheets you started in class today. This sounds like a lot, but really, it's not, if you actually used your time in class efficiently.

Similar Figures, Revisited

Today's lesson was designed to help students develop more formal ideas about the meaning of similarity. The idea of scale factor was introduced, and we used the scale factor to predict the lengths, perimeters and areas of figures that are enlarged or reduced. Unfortunately, many students missed today's lesson, either because of absence or lack of attention. That's a shame :(

Tonight's Homework: ACE 2 ( 5 - 13 )

Pi Day, 2013

In honor of pi, students did math activities that emphasized the uniqueness of 3.14 (both the number and the date). First, students measured the radius and diameter of cookies and determined the circumference. Students calculated the area of the cookie before eating it. In the second activity, students used wedge-shaped pieces of a pizza to create a parallelogram. This activity helped students see the relationship between the area of a circle and its formula.

Tonight's Homework: Complete the Pi Day worksheet (both sides). ACE 2 (1 and 2).

Drawing a Wump?

Today, we used the notion of similarity to create a series of drawings on the coordinate plane. The figures we drew were called "wumps", and we looked to see if they were similar to each other. In essence, this activity helped drive home the point that in similar figures, the angle measures are preserved, and the side lengths are some constant factor (bigger or smaller) multiplied by the original length.

Tonight's Homework: Finish problem 2.1 (the one you started in class today).

Rubber Bands Help to Enlarge Pictures

Students used a rubber band chain to help them enlarge a series of figures. At first, students had some difficulty with the procedure, but with a little practice, most were able to create fairly accurate enlargements of the original pictures.

Tonight's Homework: ACE 1 (3, 4, 13, 15 - 18) in the Stretching and Shrinking book.

What Are Similar Figures?

Students received feedback about last Thursday's test and their final grades for winter trimester. Afterwards, they received copies of the "Stretching and Shrinking" book. We talked about what it means to be similar, and then learned about the symbol ~, which means "is similar to". For example, ∆ABC ~ ∆XYZ is read "Triangle ABC is similar to triangle XYZ".

Tonight's Homework: Students who get today's grade slip signed and returned tomorrow will earn double extra credit points. Complete the pink integer worksheet, and do ACE 1 (1, 2, 6 - 12).

Winter Trimester Ends Today

Students removed most math papers from their notebooks today, in preparation for the new trimester, which begins on Monday. After receiving feedback on how they did on yesterday's test, students finished the unit test on Shapes and Designs topics. Those present today turned in their books.

Tonight's Homework: Complete both sides of the worksheet you received in class today.

Part One of Angles Test Taken in Class Today

Students turned in their homework, and then took the first part of the unit test over polygons and angles. This part found students NOT using protractors. Tomorrow, the protractor part of the test will be given.

Tonight's Homework: Be ready to take the rest of the Shapes and Designs test tomorrow. We will be turning in our books, so be sure to bring yours to class.

Class Was How Long?

Class was only 21 minutes today, so we took time to go over homework and make sure everyone understood the problems that were assigned.

Tonight's Homework: Write a thank you note to one of Monroe's fabulous classified employees and bring it to school on Monday so we can celebrate Classified Employees' Appreciation Week in style.