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.