Weekly Class Summary: Sept. 10-14

SOLs Covered: 7.1e & 7.3a-b Integers
Math Dictionary Sections: (2) Intro to Integers; (3) Integer Addition; (4) Integer Subtraction; (5) Integer Multiplication & Division
Upcoming Assessments: Integers Quiz (Mon. 9/17); Order of Operations Quiz (Fri. 9/21)

It's been another great week, which started off with a quick quiz on exponents and roots that most students aced! For those wishing they'd done a little better, they have the option of completing an Error Analysis as explained in one of the letters sent home last week or even retaking it altogether using the Liberty Points they received Monday or the Lambie Points they have started earning. Any student who wants to improve him/herself and his/her grades is highly encouraged to seek out these opportunities in my class in order to be their best and live up to their potential.

After completing the quiz, we jumped into reviewing what everyone remember about Integers (positive and negative numbers). Students started creating their own little piece to the future classroom number line. I encourage any students wanting to express themselves artistically (and mathematically!) to make one or two more if they're up to the challenge; we have -15 through +15 covered, but extending past those points would be awesome! After a bit of a music/dance break (see The Number Line Dance video above), we started learning how to compute with integers: addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. We covered the rules/steps for each operation and worked examples with colored counters (Period 1/2 even got to use white and orange Cheez-Its® that were donated by Madison S... thanks Madison!) and the number line. The real fun began when we started competing in a few web games using the Promethean board! I was so incredibly happy with how "into it" all the kids got and I think we all had a lot of fun playing (while learning!) this week.


Friday wasn't quite as fun since we spent the time taking the MSM2 (aka Math 7) pre-assessment. Students will only be given a grade based on their effort/completion as this assessment will be used to gage their overall learning and growth throughout the school year, measured against a post-assessment they will take a the end of the year. Since the pre-assessment took pretty much the whole time, the integers quiz will be on Monday after a short review, so study over the weekend! Don't forget that studying can include playing some of the games we played in class, all of which can be found on the class Portaportal.

Students have been trickling into the Edmodo groups and I'll hopefully be able to sneak in a bit of computer time in the next week or two so we can try things out in class, but students are encouraged to start using it now. They can post questions about work, help answer others' questions, and share helpful math links, games, and videos with each other. Parents can even have their own access by getting their own special "Parent's Code" located on the right side of the screen towards the bottom once the student has logged into the site. There's even an App that can be downloaded to any smart phone/device with Internet access! Please feel free to email or message me with any questions that pop up while experimenting. I want us to have fun eLearning together this year!