SOLs Covered: SOL 6.10 Coordinate Geometry (Perimeter & Area)
Math Dictionary Sections: (8) Coordinate Geometry
Upcoming Assessments: WWU Quiz 5 (Mon. 12/5); Coordinate Geometry Quiz (Tues. 12/6)
After returning from our 5-day break on Monday, students wrapped up their coordinate plane quizzes and turned in the Treasure Island assignment (without penalty) if they had not finished prior to the break. The assignment can still be turned in for those students that haven't yet, but there will be a two-point penalty for being late unless they spend their Liberty Points or Stingrays to "buy back" the loss.
From there, we jumped into exploring perimeter and area. Students are already familiar with the concepts from elementary school, however this is the first year most are being introduced to formulas. This can be very difficult for them to grasp since anytime we "throw letters into the mix" seems to through them for a loop. While this years 6th graders felt okay with things at first, the more work we did with formulas, the more the feelings of confusion seemed to rise. Because of this, we slowed the pace down for this unit dramatically and pushed the WWU Spiral Review Quiz to Monday and the unit quiz to Tuesday (possibly Wednesday) in order to give us more time to review everything. The document camera has come in handy (yet again!) for this review since I have been able to model for them exactly how they should "plug" everything into the formulas.
The students who follow along and copy down all the work I show them have started coming over to the MATH SIDE! However those students who fail to copy the work are still struggling, despite numerous reminders to write what I write. In the past, I've given my sample work paper away to one lucky student at the end of the block. Starting at the end of this week, I decided to change this up a little and create class Sample Work Folders that will stay in class with the Make-Up Folders. This will allow those students who are a little behind in copying to catch up and give yet another class resource for students to turn to for help. Please help me by encouraging them to copy the examples given in class as this should help them incredibly!
Students were made aware of a tutoring opportunity coming up next week (Thursday, Dec. 8). Students wishing to attend must get a bus pass from Ms. Lambert (not another teacher) in order to sign up. Passes are required for all students, including those being picked up and not riding the activity bus since the pass also acts as a permission slip to stay after school. Students should ask me for further details but should hurry, as space is filling up quickly.
Again I am requesting donations for a class activity planned for next week to accompany our circles unit. For this activity the only needed donation is Smarties® (by Tuesday, Dec. 7), but students will need to individual packages to complete the activity. As always, any donations are greatly appreciated.
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