Matthew's First Year Math

Area!

2009-05-11T11:22:00.000-04:00

More graphing!

2009-05-07T14:49:00.002-04:00

We started today with our green review sheet, and then checked our homework from last night -- only to begin another graphing Cartesian cartoon! Some finished this during class and others will want to work on it at home this evening for homework.

Graphing!

2009-05-06T12:48:00.002-04:00

We've started reviewing for our final (more on that soon) bit by bit during class time now, and we've moved from integers into graphing points on the coordinate plane! It's very, very exciting. Tonight your kids will come home with a "cartesian cartoon" - a graphing/drawing homework thing. The goal is to create a picture from connecting the dots together (correctly plotted dots, that is). It's called "Ben Franklin's Folly" and you should see it come out and be worked on tonight!

Mathematicians Quiz!

2009-05-04T14:55:00.001-04:00

Today the kids took their Mathematicians Quizzes and I checked their integer packets (that they worked on this weekend!). Tomorrow we'll graph, and then we'll move into a fast-paced geometry unit! No homework.

Practice, Practice, Practice!

2009-04-30T14:45:00.003-04:00

They kids were busy, busy, busy today practicing adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing integers. They finished the packet that they needed to work on for 20 minutes at home and then got another packet! (Good grief, Matthew! What were you thinking!)

I'll tell you what. The kids have tomorrow off, and then a weekend! We talked about how doing adding today, subtracting tomorrow, multiplying Saturday, and dividing Sunday might be a good plan.

They've also got their Mathematicians Are People, Too Quiz on Monday! They should be studying and memorizing their mathematicians!!

Subtracting Integers

2009-04-28T14:45:00.002-04:00

We saved subtracting until the very end! The kids have mastered multiplying and dividing, are getting there on adding, and today we completed the puzzle with subtracting integers. We worked through the four different kinds of subtracting integer problems (listed below) and talked through how to solve them. The two tricky things involved imagining a number line in our heads for normal subtracting, and then when we got into the minus a negative (ie. 3 - -9) that really means we're adding. I know! So confusing! Here's the four kinds:

-1 - 4 = -5
1 - 4 = -3
-1 - -4 = 3
1 - -4 = 5

Got it? Ha!

Tonight I did ask them to complete #s 1-11 on a Subtracting Integers Sheet... but here are the problems with the answers...

1. 5 - (-10) = 15
2. -4 - (-10) = 6
3. -4 - 1 = -5
4. 3 - (3) = 0
5. -7 - (-7) = 0
6. -5 - (-8) = 3
7. -7 - (-6) = -1
8. 7 - (-15) = 22
9. 8 - (-9) = 17
10. -6 - (-8) = 2
11. -1 - 8 = -9

If they don't seem to be getting it just yet, no worries. This is hard! And abstract! Tell them we'll figure it out. :)

Srinivasa Ramanujan

2009-04-27T17:44:00.003-04:00

Today was our final mathematician! That means that next Monday (5/4) will be our mathematicians quiz! :) Today the kids got a list of all of the mathematicians we have read about and they were to make sure that they had notes for all of them. Those that are missing notes will get copies of the stories that they are missing tomorrow.

Back to integers tomorrow!

Integers!

2009-04-21T14:38:00.002-04:00

Yesterday the kiddos got back their Decimals & Percents Tests after reading about Emmy Noether. Corrections can be made as we continue to move forward in our next unit... Integers! Today we started talking about those pesky signed numbers and how to compare them. And they even have a spot of homework on that -- a sheet, in fact. They'll know they have it for homework.

Emmy Noether

2009-04-20T14:30:00.000-04:00

Review for test!

2009-04-16T14:07:00.001-04:00

Tomorrow is our decimals & percents test! Whoohoo! Today we checked our homework answers and played a mini-review game in preparation for tomorrow's test. Onward!

Nearing the end of decimals and percents

2009-04-14T14:26:00.002-04:00

It seems as if we've been working with percents and decimals for such a long, long time! I guess we have, if you consider that before Christmas is when we started. :) They are such an important topic though, and worthy of the time spent on them.

This week, however, we draw to a close these two large units. After reading our story yesterday on Evariste Galois, today we began reviewing our decimal and percent skills using two practice tests -- one on decimals and the other on percents. The kids worked hard in our longer period today to finish the decimals practice test (for which they will earn stickers!) - and I'd like them to finish this work and have that done for Thursday's class (no class tomorrow). They also got a percent practice test that we started working on together in class. On that, I'd like them to finish solving #s 8-13 (the percent equation problems).

On Thursday, we'll have our review day and then Friday... test time! Check out the class docs for copies of both the decimals and percents practice tests.

Answers for Saturday, April 4 to Wednesday, April 8

2009-04-08T15:24:00.001-04:00

Saturday, April 4
504,686

Sunday, April 5
4.6 or 4 3/5 or 4 R27

Monday, April 6
92/15 or 6 2/15

Tuesday, April 7
111/20

Wednesday, April 8
11/24

Math Brain Munching Bugs!! AHH!

2009-04-07T19:29:00.002-04:00

Hello all! It has been over a week since I posted last. The week before Spring Break, well, you could tell that there wasn't a lot of time to blog about what was going on in First Year Math.

Anyways, I am enjoying my Spring Break immensely and I must not pander any longer -- there is serious work to be done. Your children may have mentioned the MBMB's, and now you must hear about them too. The note your children received prior to Spring Break:

Dear First Year Math Students & Parents—

To keep the Math Brain Munching Bugs away, one problem and one problem only must be done a day.

Think of a doctor’s orders to take a certain amount of medicine at certain times of the day. The Munching Bugs are just as severe.

Children have been known to return from Spring Break with only an empty frame of what their minds used to be!

These problems, done once a day, with their work and steps totally and completely shown and written down should significantly diminish the Munching Bugs’ effect.

Yours in the fight against MBMB ( or MB2 ) – matthew

Just in case (I know that nothing has happened to the MBMB sheet at your house), I have posted the sheets for First Year Math on our Class Docs here.

Look later this evening for answers up until today!

Happy de-bugging! :)

Getting ready for the next test!

2009-03-26T14:57:00.001-04:00

Check out our next skills sheet -- these are all of the things that will be on the next Decimals & Percents test that will happen sometime late next week! We worked on making this list today in class, and filling out the chart.

Percent equations a different way...

2009-03-25T14:49:00.002-04:00

We've been working on percent equations, and working at them by decoding and dividing. Today we talked about a new way of thinking about these things... through a chart! You can see our notes from today below, and I've asked them to work on the bottom half of the sheet they already have in their possession (see yesterday's post).

Way #1

2009-03-25T11:27:00.000-04:00

Way #2

2009-03-25T11:16:00.000-04:00

Way #3

2009-03-25T11:15:00.000-04:00

Playing with percents!

2009-03-24T14:55:00.002-04:00

We really talked about percent equations today, and got to practice decoding into equations AND solving them! Take a look at what the kids need to complete for homework--by tomorrow! (Here's a blank copy, here's the decoded copy, here's the answers...)

The Cool Webpage that does your homework FOR YOU!

2009-03-23T11:16:00.001-04:00

http://www.webmath.com/wppercents.html

2009-03-23T11:14:00.001-04:00

Sophie Germain

2009-03-22T19:37:00.001-04:00

Mathematicians are people, too: Sophie Germain

View more presentations from matthewross.

Percent Equations Completed!

2009-03-20T14:53:00.003-04:00

Today we finished telling the story of the percent equations! We even got to try out decoding some equations on our own... and you'll see our results below. You'll also see a most wonderful t-shirt that Elizabeth found and gave me from the recycling fair! :)

I would like the kids to TRY and finish the three problems from the board (below) -- try meaning they take a look at them with you and with their notes and see what they can figure out.

My shirt!!

2009-03-20T11:25:00.001-04:00

Close up of my shirt!

2009-03-20T11:24:00.001-04:00

HW

2009-03-20T11:21:00.000-04:00

Percent Equations

2009-03-19T14:33:00.003-04:00

We've been working with some pretty interesting stuff in First Year Math... percent equations! Today we continued our conversation from Tuesday, specifically with regards to decoding the words into math. We're still learning how to solve these problems though! And it's going to take us at least until tomorrow!

No homework!

Percent equations way #1

2009-03-19T11:33:00.001-04:00

Percent equations ways #2-3

2009-03-19T11:31:00.000-04:00

Into percent equations

2009-03-18T14:37:00.002-04:00

I know, been awhile!

We've been working (yesterday, but not today because of block schedule) on percent equations. These are things that look like not only

40% of 60 is...

but also

45 is 20% of what number...

AND

34 is what percent of 64...

To study these, I am using the metaphor of "decoding" -- we have to decode the english into math language in order to solve the problem. We just started this yesterday--and the reason why you didn't see any homework come home is because we hit a wall!

I'm hoping to remedy this tomorrow in class. :)

Discounts everywhere!

2009-03-12T14:15:00.002-04:00

After our warm up, we checked our homework and spent time working on the last three problems from their work yesterday during class/at home. These three problems couldn't be completed using the shortcut with 10% we talked about yesterday, they had to be done the multiplying way! Afterwards the kids got to make their own discount problems! They were quite interesting.... :)

The 10% Shortcut

2009-03-11T14:52:00.002-04:00

Today after our blast-from-the-past warm up, we learned about the 10% shortcut. (Simply, that you can find 10% of a number by moving the decimal once to the left.) We then used this awesome shortcut to find some discounts on problems. You can see the problems that they started in class and will need to finish for homework by clicking here. They only need to do #s 1-5 and the answers for those are available here.

We've had lots of kids in and out this week and I want to remind them and parents that class docs (look over on the right of this page for Class Docs) is where I post all assignments, notes, homework, etc. if I don't put a link directly to it in the blog post. Enjoy!

Conversions!

2009-03-10T14:41:00.001-04:00

Today after an interesting warm up (check the class docs to see what I mean!), we worked on a FDP chart (conversions chart). If kiddos didn't finish, they'll want to for homework. Click here for a copy of the worksheet. And here for answers! :)

Leonard Euler

2009-03-09T14:56:00.002-04:00

Today's story was about Leonard Euler! Check out the notes on him below.

The kiddos also got five problems for homework (check the pic below) -- just a review of the skills we've been working on!

Leonard Euler

2009-03-09T14:48:00.001-04:00

HW

2009-03-09T14:47:00.001-04:00

More FDPs

2009-03-06T15:16:00.002-05:00

Today we focused on FDP's and conversions. (Fraction/Decimals/Percents)

We made a huge chart today on the board and converted every which way we could on that chart! We even took notes on them. :)

Yesterday the kids worked on a sheet that helped them practice finding the percent of a number. We'll pick that one back up, along with conversions, and dividing decimals... next week!

Plus... I will be sending out ONE homework problem over email this weekend. (Probably tonight.) Feel free to embellish and add problems to practice at home with your child!

Practice problems

2009-03-06T11:51:00.001-05:00

On their own practice

2009-03-06T11:50:00.001-05:00

How to do conversions...

2009-03-06T11:49:00.000-05:00

FDP

2009-03-04T14:42:00.001-05:00

Fractions, Decimals, and Percents! Oh my!

Today I introduced the kids to the FDP chart. Conversion time! We talked the basics of converting back and forth and forth and back in the chart. Check out the class docs for the notes--practice time will be tomorrow evening!

Sir Isaac Newton

2009-03-03T14:32:00.002-05:00

Since we were all at home yesterday, we read our usual Monday story today! And, as you can see from the blogpost title, it was about Sir Isaac Newton! Check out the notes below.

We also got a chance to start talking about percents and finding the percent of a number at the end of class. Every child walked out of the room with a green post-it that had ONE homework percent of a number problem on it. Be on the lookout!

%s

2009-03-03T14:21:00.001-05:00

Sir Isaac Newton

2009-03-03T14:20:00.001-05:00

On Trimester 2 Evaluations

2009-03-02T17:13:00.000-05:00

I wanted to send out a note about how to read your child's second trimester math evaluation which you will be getting in the mail (along with your child's other reports) in the coming days.

You may have heard through the grapevine (in fact, you might have even heard through me!) that the Middle School Staff has been engaged in an Action Research Project on assessment and evaluation this year. (For more information on what exactly Action Research is, see this Wikipedia article.)

We've been asking ourselves many, many questions over the past few months. Among those are questions like:

* Who are evaluations for? Students? Parents? Future teachers (of the students)?

* What is the best way to convey how a child is "doing" in a class?

* How can we improve our process to meet the needs of all parties involved in the assessment/evaluation experience?

(Note: These are a summary of the questions that my brain has latched on to and mulls over before I fall asleep each night--not necessarily representative of the entire Middle School Staff's questions.)

And, as you can imagine, many of us have taken on the task of actively experimenting with how our evaluations look, what they say, and how they say it. Some of us have added rubrics. Some of us have focused more on project assessment.

For my second trimester evaluation, I decided to focus on truly involving the students in the assessment/evaluation process.

There are many overarching goals that teachers have. These are the goals, dreams, and visions for what students will take from their time spent with us beyond how to add fractions and diagram a sentence.

As you probably guessed, I have a whole slew of these. :) But the one that got tapped these past few weeks was this: Students (and successful human beings) should be able to accurately evaluate themselves on how they are doing according to a specific standard--whether internal or external. Put plainly, people should know whether they're good at something or bad at something and how to process that.

When you open up your child's second trimester evaluation packet and turn to their math evaluation, you're going to see what I'm talking about.

The week before evaluations were due in advisor's boxes, each one of my math classes took an online form/survey of their performance and experience in my class. On that day, we rolled out the Mobile Mac lab and I made a BIG deal about all that I've written to you so far. I explained myself, and walked them step-by-step through the survey, answering questions along the way.

Basically, the kids had to answer the following sentences with the choices of Never... Sometimes... Most of the time... Always. And they could only choose one of the four.

Take a look at the actual evaluation the kids filled out. (This is just a PDF copy, you can't make any more submissions--don't forget to scroll down!)

I explained to the kids that they were to fill out the evaluation and that they were essentially writing their own evaluations. I, of course, reserved the right to adjust and tweak where I saw fit, and I would make my own comments on their reports as always. But you would be surprised how little I actually had to go back and change.

As the kids filled out the evaluations, many questions arose that sounded like, "Matthew... What if I'm more towards Sometimes... or maybe Most of the time?... I don't know... Can I say in between?"

I encouraged them to think these things through, for it's in that conversation that I think the magic of this evaluation and assessment experiment lie. And this is what I want to encourage you to do as you sit down and process your child's evaluation.

For example, "My child put down 'Most of the time' for 'helps to create a productive learning environment.' That sounds pretty good to me. Good job!"

Or... "My child put down 'Most of the time' for 'helps to create a productive learning environment.' That sounds interesting. What was it that kept you from putting down 'Always' on that one?"

To add another layer to the process, I decided at the last minute to let the kids see their final evaluations before they were delivered to advisors. In this way, I hoped kids would be able to continue to be part of the conversation about how they were evaluated and assessed in math. This created the space for kids to ask me, "Matthew? Why did you move me from 'Most of the time' to 'Sometimes' on this one?" And what a great conversation we had then!

Take a look at what the second trimester evaluations look like.

So, Matthew. Why this long blog post/email?

There are a couple of reasons. One is to keep you in the loop. Another is to try and prepare you and go ahead and answer some of your questions about how to read your child's evaluation.

And finally, I want your feedback. :) Be on the lookout for a post or an email asking for your feedback soon!

Thanks for all that you do--I hope all of this makes sense and that it was an easy and straight-forward read. I appreciate your patience and kindness as well in this wonderful dance we're doing called education your children. :) Have a great day!

Sorry!

2009-02-27T14:50:00.002-05:00

I again want to apologize for the misunderstanding and lack of me sending an email with homework yesterday evening! I apologized profusely to the kids today--I hope they understood. :)

In class today we worked on an all-class problem. First we added together the some prices, then we found the tax, then we found the average cost of an item, and then we worked towards percents with a "60% off" sale.

We'll pick all of this back up on Monday! (No Homework... I promise you won't get an email with homework in it!)

Shopping!

2009-02-26T14:43:00.002-05:00

Today, after checking our homework, we took a virtual "shopping" trip at Target. We picked out a few items, priced them, and calculated our final bill... and that took most of our time today!

By the way, the correct answer to our homework problem from last night is posted below (I did it on the board and took a picture of it). Thank you again for helping us out... I hope it worked out alright for you!

And... you're going to get another email tonight! (I promise we won't do this every single day... I'm riding the wave of excitement they get from me saying they have to connect with you to get their homework!) Check in a few hours!

I'll also post the work we did today on the class docs... it was some hard math!!

HW from last night

2009-02-26T11:30:00.001-05:00

Taxes!

2009-02-25T15:51:00.003-05:00

It's that time again! Tax time!

Urg... I don't know about you, but I'm glad mine are done and filed!

But no, seriously, we worked today on learning about finding the tax (7% = 0.07).

AND... you should see their homework problem in your inbox! (That's why they'll be bugging you to check your email!)

Where are we at?

2009-02-24T14:18:00.002-05:00

Today we worked on a page that focused on dividing decimals, with a splash of adding/subtracting fractions and adding/subtracting decimals. I'll post a selection of these sheets on our Class Docs -- we worked on page 62 today. (Answers are at the last pages...)

Many finished, some will need to finish for homework. Please check in with your child on this! :)

Warm up

2009-02-24T13:00:00.001-05:00

Notes

2009-02-23T15:22:00.000-05:00

Benjamin Banneker

2009-02-23T14:59:00.002-05:00

Today we read about Benjamin Banneker, an influential African American mathematician & scientist. Tomorrow? Back to decimals!

The parts of a division problem

2009-02-17T11:58:00.001-05:00

Examples

2009-02-17T11:57:00.002-05:00

Steps for dividing decimals

2009-02-17T11:57:00.001-05:00

Blaise Pascal

2009-02-16T11:50:00.001-05:00

Evaluations!

2009-02-11T13:22:00.001-05:00

Today after our warm up, we used the mobile Mac Lab to literally <> our evaluations. I've been experimenting with GoogleDocs, and Forms in particular, and the kids used a form that I had created to help in the writing of their evaluations!

You'll here more about this later, when evals come home, but if you want to see what it looked like, click here for a pdf version. (Look under All Class Docs)

Back to MD

2009-02-10T15:35:00.001-05:00

After our warm up, we worked on the next adventure with Dennis and
multiplying decimals. About half finished during class, the rest
should finish tonight for homework.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Matthew Ross
ross.matthew@mac.com
mross@cfsnc.org
919/414-1983

Sent from my iPhone

Galileo

2009-02-09T14:41:00.001-05:00

Today's mathematician was Galileo Galilei! Check out more on him below... back to multiplying decimals tomorrow. :)

Galileo

2009-02-09T11:31:00.001-05:00

Multiplying!

2009-02-06T14:46:00.002-05:00

Instead of playing with our game again, they wanted to learn how to multiply decimals. So we did!

We even got to start with Dennis Decimal again! But, even as much as they want to, they aren't to have any homework this weekend. :)

Match those decimals!

2009-02-05T14:14:00.003-05:00

Today we played a game where (in theory) you were to match up the word version of a decimal with its number representation. Unfortunately, some of the pieces got mixed up! Ah!

So, tomorrow, we'll check all of the pieces and try again. :)

Dennis Strikes Again!

2009-02-04T13:29:00.002-05:00

We've been exploring decimals through Dennis the Decimal Snatcher! Today we checked the Adding Practice and today we worked on the Subtracting. They keep getting clues as to where Dennis is hiding... So far they should have...

IN A MONUMENT

and

FRENCH PRESENT

If they didn't finish the subtracting, they should do so for homework!

ASD

2009-02-03T20:16:00.003-05:00

ASD?

Adding and Subtracting Decimals!

After our warm up today, we took some notes on adding and subtracting decimals and starting on some practice problems with adding decimals. You may see it come home, but most were finished.

Be sure to check out the class docs!

Class Docs Link - NEW!

2009-02-02T21:06:00.001-05:00

Check out the LINKS section of our blog over there on the right. There's a new addition! A direct link to the docs for First Year Math! Check it regularly... for notes and copies of stuff from class.

What a coincidence!

2009-02-02T20:26:00.002-05:00

Hey! I hope this post finds you all well!

After Adolescent Issues Forum last Wednesday, we came back to our study of decimals. Mainly we focused on comparing, ordering, and naming decimals. We even had a little mini-spelling lesson to make sure we knew how to spell our numbers correctly! :)

And today we read a story about John Napier, who just so happened to have come up with the idea of using a decimal point to separate the whole part from the fractional part of a number. Coincidence??? ;)

There are a few class docs that have been added to the wikispace, so you'll definitely want to check those out. Plus, I've reorganized the wikispace because we started to get so many documents up there! Check it out!

http://cfsmatthew.wikispaces.com/classdocs

Reminder about Class Docs!

2009-01-27T22:40:00.001-05:00

Remember that you can now watch play-by-play with what happened during your child's math class when I use the tablet @ http://cfsmatthew.wikispaces.com/classdocs!

Decimals!

2009-01-27T22:35:00.003-05:00

It had been so long since we did a warm up! So we did a whopper--with three problems! It took us awhile, but we made it. :)

Today we started.... (drum roll....) DECIMALS! The kids were pumped, I was pumped, it was a good day. :) We made it to the ten-thousandths place before we had to go! But, we ran out of time before we could really get into the juicy stuff. :( No homework!

And an apology for such a late post. The latter part of my day was spent in my role as fourth year advisor on a mini-retreat with the fourth years. AND, First Year Math will not meet tomorrow due to Adolescent Issues Forum. Until Thursday!

Hypatia

2009-01-26T13:44:00.003-05:00

Today was about our first female mathematician... Hypatia. What a great story! But it stirred up a lot of questions. Why is she the first woman? Why was she more recent in history? Why was she murdered?!!?

For a copy of what we did today, see http://cfsmatthew.wikispaces.com/classdocs.

2009-01-23T17:11:00.001-05:00

Playing with Number Tiles!

2009-01-23T17:02:00.002-05:00

After getting everyone on the same page today (from yesterday's play practice) we worked on these really cool Number Tile things... I'll post a picture later this evening so you can see what I'm talking about. Basically you are given the digits 0-9 and you can use them once and only once in a variety of ways. Today we looked at fractions using these number tiles. Don't be thrown off or think that they are easy--They can be quite tricky!

No homework over the weekend!

Test Return Day

2009-01-22T14:37:00.002-05:00

Due to a scheduled play practice, some of our kiddos were out from third period today, so we focused on returning our tests, getting our corrections done, and cleaning out our folders! Those who were out today will do that tomorrow.

Our next unit? DECIMALS. :)

Archimedes

2009-01-21T13:35:00.001-05:00

Archimedes!

2009-01-21T13:34:00.002-05:00

What an interesting start back to the school week... on a Wednesday!

The kids bugged me to share how many stickers they had earned by completing their review problems, and they'll get those stickers before the end of the day. :)

And since today was the beginning of the week (technically), we read our story! It was on Archimedes... and you can see those notes below. :)

No homework!

Test Day!

2009-01-16T14:45:00.002-05:00

Today the kiddos took their Fractions test! And we took up their review work!

But that was about it... :) Have a great weekend!

Review!

2009-01-15T14:16:00.002-05:00

Today was just a final day of getting ready for the Fractions test tomorrow! We played a little review game... and it seems like everyone's quite solid on their skills!

Tomorrow's the day!

Block Day

2009-01-14T14:22:00.001-05:00

Block day - no class.

But Fractions test coming up on Friday!

Corn Husk Dolls & Fractions Tests!

2009-01-13T14:20:00.002-05:00

Today for our Block period (this only affects third and fourth period for first years) ALL of First Year Math went up to the Upper School Meeting Hall to participate in the Corn Husk Doll Making Art Project -- all gearing up for the MLK Jr Day Celebration next Monday. It was a BLAST! Take a look at the photos I snapped below! :)

Check out more about MLK Jr Day here: http://www.cfsnc.org/whats_new/index.htm

Yesterday, however, we read about PYTHAGORAS. The kids absolutely loved it! And you should have heard them coming home needing to find out more about a five pointed star... Hm... What was that?

A pentagram!

The biggest piece of news, however, is that our Fractions Test is THIS Friday!

This Friday?!!

Yup. And here's what your children should know how to do on this test:

• Identify the numerator and denominator of a fraction
• Shade (draw) a fraction, identify a fraction from a drawing
• Label a fraction proper, improper or mixed
• Add and subtract fractions with like denominators
• Reduce fractions to lowest terms
• Find equivalent fractions
• Add and subtract fractions with unlike denominators
• Compare fractions by finding common denominators
• Convert improper fractions to mixed number and mixed numbers to improper fractions
• Add/Subtract Mixed Numbers (including BORROWING!)
• Multiply & Divide Fractions
• Multiply & Divide Mixed Numbers
• Cross cancel (pre-reduce) where you can when multiplying & dividing

You should have seen last Friday TONS of Review sheets come home. As always, this is an opportunity for some great review, and to earn some stickers! Each correct problem? Sticker!

I would recommend taking a look at all of these skills (and those sheets) with your children. This test can be a doozy--nothing to be scared of, it's just kind of big. :)

Whew, what a post!

Your children will not see me tomorrow (Block Schedule) -- which is why I'm recommending that they look over their stuff with you guys tonight and tomorrow night and Thursday night. Onward!

Making dolls!

2009-01-13T11:09:00.001-05:00

MS Dolls

2009-01-13T11:08:00.001-05:00

Pythagoras!

2009-01-13T10:42:00.001-05:00

HW from Monday night from all math classes

2009-01-13T10:39:00.001-05:00

Review, Review, Review!

2009-01-09T15:16:00.001-05:00

We are just reviewing our butts off! And your children today were little math problem machines!

Today I filled in the gaps of the skills I left off. I promise to write more this weekend (in particular on the skills) on these sheets and our upcoming test next week.

What to note is that the kids can choose to do work over the weekend or not... I recommend choosing work! :)

A little late, I know...

2009-01-08T21:33:00.003-05:00

Well, this post is a little late for it to be of any use tonight!

Today the kiddos began their favorite time in First Year Math... Review Time! That means stickers!!

The kids could choose the skills that they reviewed today--the only ones that are missing right now are all operations with mixed numbers and multiplying/dividing fractions. Those they should be able to get their hands on tomorrow.

We seem to be good to go for our test next week! Yay!

Late posts

2009-01-08T15:22:00.001-05:00

Meetings took up most of my afternoon, so blog posts will come this
evening.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Matthew Ross
ross.matthew@mac.com
mross@cfsnc.org
919/414-1983

Sent from my iPhone

Warm up... Review needed!

2009-01-08T11:07:00.001-05:00

Wrapping up Thales

2009-01-07T16:05:00.002-05:00

We spent our time together wrapping up our discussion and story on Thales. And your kids did their homework beautifully! To read more about a "cubit" - check out just this one site.

Tomorrow... back to fractions! Expect a test in the near, near future! :)

Happy 2009!!

2009-01-06T14:43:00.002-05:00

Welcome back!

Instead of the traditional sharing after a long break, today we began another First Year Math tradition... Mathematicians Are People, Too. It's a book that introduces you to a variety of ancient (and not so ancient!) mathematicians and their ideas/theories via stories. We've started today, and it will continue at the beginning of each week from now... until we're done! I'll put up more information on the book and our process soon.

Today was Thales! (That's THAY-LEEEEZ!) ;) And we've only made it through part way of the story. We paused to have a talk about some of the concepts in the story... in particular the idea of a "cubit."

In fact, your child's homework tonight is to find out what a cubit is!

Thales of Miletus

2009-01-06T11:23:00.001-05:00

HW!!

2009-01-06T11:21:00.000-05:00

The Last Post of 2008!

2008-12-18T19:09:00.002-05:00

Today, as I suspected, it was incredibly hard to stay focused. The last day of math class for 2008!

Yesterday and today we continued to examine the differences between all of the operations with fractions and mixed numbers. It's a bit tricky to keep all those different steps straight in your head.

As a heads up, we'll come back from break, pick up where we left off with fractions and soon thereafter it will be test time. If the spirit so moves you, you can totally practice some fraction work over the break! Check out: http://www.cfsnc.org/units/MS/math/summer/

See you in 2009!

Warm up

2008-12-17T11:46:00.001-05:00

All the operations...

2008-12-17T11:45:00.001-05:00

Do it yourself...

2008-12-17T11:44:00.001-05:00

Where the heck is that sheet Matthew promised us?

2008-12-16T14:22:00.002-05:00

Well... I had this handy-dandy printer/scanner/copier thing... and it worked for about 5 minutes and then... I don't know--it got tired and stopped working. So one thing got scanned and here I am back at the drawing board! Anybody know where I can get a cheapo scanner???

Anyways, today we... you guessed it! Multiplied and divided fractions! Some more! The kiddos tackled four particularly harder ones today and some will be wrapping those up tonight for homework... or making corrections on ones missed.

Tomorrow we're going to have a conversation about all that we know about fractions. Some are getting all of the steps mixed up between the operations. :)

Warm up

2008-12-16T10:59:00.001-05:00

Answers to HW

2008-12-16T10:58:00.000-05:00

Dividing Fractions with Mixed Numbers

2008-12-15T14:30:00.001-05:00

More practice today with dividing fractions... plus some homework which I'm trying to scan as I type!! There were eight problems, multiplying and dividing mixed all up.

Matthew's First Year Math

Area!

More graphing!

Graphing!

Mathematicians Quiz!

Practice, Practice, Practice!

Subtracting Integers

Srinivasa Ramanujan

Integers!

Emmy Noether

Review for test!

Nearing the end of decimals and percents

Answers for Saturday, April 4 to Wednesday, April 8

Math Brain Munching Bugs!! AHH!

Getting ready for the next test!

Percent equations a different way...

Way #1

Way #2

Way #3

Playing with percents!

The Cool Webpage that does your homework FOR YOU!

Sophie Germain

Percent Equations Completed!

My shirt!!

Close up of my shirt!

HW

Percent Equations

Percent equations way #1

Percent equations ways #2-3

Into percent equations

Discounts everywhere!

The 10% Shortcut

Conversions!

Leonard Euler

Leonard Euler

HW

More FDPs

More practice problems

Practice problems

On their own practice

How to do conversions...

FDP

Sir Isaac Newton

%s

Sir Isaac Newton

On Trimester 2 Evaluations

Sorry!

Shopping!

HW from last night

Taxes!

Where are we at?

Warm up

Notes

Benjamin Banneker

The parts of a division problem

Examples

Steps for dividing decimals

Blaise Pascal

Evaluations!

Back to MD

Galileo

Galileo

Multiplying!

Match those decimals!

Dennis Strikes Again!

ASD

Class Docs Link - NEW!

What a coincidence!

Reminder about Class Docs!

Decimals!

Hypatia

Playing with Number Tiles!

Test Return Day

Archimedes

Archimedes!

Test Day!

Review!

Block Day

Corn Husk Dolls & Fractions Tests!

Making dolls!