Enlarging A Penny Takes A Group Effort

Students chose which part of a penny's "tail" they wanted to enlarge, and then picked up supplies (plastic grid, grid paper, magnifying lens, tape) to help them complete the task. Most of the class period was spent working on the enlargement. Students were encouraged to be precise, since their piece would be aligned with several others to create a large version of a penny.

Tonight's Homework: Work on the enlargement of your portion of the penny, and be ready to turn it in on Thursday.

Sub District Track Meet = Work Day in Math

Students who attended class today spent the day working on their "Transform Your Name" project. Some finished solving the puzzle page that was created by another student in the class, while others worked on rotating and dilating pieces for the new assignment.

Tonight's Homework: Continue working on the next parts of the "Transform Your Name" project.

Magic Squares and Algebraic Thinking

Students used their problem solving skills to solve magic square problems and algebraic sentences using fractions. Some students used class time to work on the next step of the "Transform Your Name" project.

Tonight's Homework: Finish the worksheet on fractions and magic squares. If you wish, you can start on the next step of your project by creating a new word that you will break into parts that will either be enlarged, reduced, or rotated.

Dalai Lama Field Trip Cuts Class Size in Half

Because half of our class was gone on a field trip today, we turned our class period into a work session. Students worked on the dilation and rotation worksheets or late assignments. Some students even started on part of next week's homework.

Tonight's Homework: Do something nice for your mother!

Work Day for Transforming Your Name Project

Today's class period was turned into a work day for students to work on one of two assignments: a. Transform Your Name project--students used class time to get clarification, work on, or finish the assignment that was made yesterday. b. Probability and Proportional Thinking worksheet--this was handed out in class today, and will be due on Thursday. Thank you to all for your hard work and respect during class time, as our guests were able to complete a large chunk of their work during our class time today. You rock!

Tonight's Homework: Complete both sides of the worksheet you started in class today. Work on your "Transform Your Name" project. Remember, it will be due by Friday, unless you are planning to be gone on Friday.

Transform Your Name!

To allow students a chance to creatively practice skills related to translating and reflecting objects, we started working on a project called "Transform Your Name". We reviewed the criteria and the scoring rubric for this project. Students had about 30 minutes of class time to working on the project.

Tonight's Homework: Continue working on the project you started in class today. It will be due on Friday, May 10th. If you are planning to miss class because of the field trip to see the Dalai Lama on Friday, plan on having it ready to turn in on Thursday, May 9th.

An Introduction to Transformations

Students were introduced to two of the major transformations today. The first one we looked at was related to reflections. Students found it relatively easy to reflect things across horizontal and vertical lines. Reflecting across a diagonal line proved to be a bit more challenging to some students, but by the end of the period, most students felt proficient in getting objects reflected across lines, regardless of its orientation. The second transformation we looked at was the translation. Once students understood that the top number refers to how the object is moved on the x-axis (side to side), and the bottom number tells how the object is moved along the y-axis (up or down), they were able to perform the slides with relative ease. To review, translations "slide" things and reflections "flip" things over a line.

Tonight's Homework: Complete the two worksheets you received in class today. One is on reflecting objects and the other is on translating objects. Both will create words if done correctly.