Weekly Class Summary: Nov. 4-8

SOLs Covered:  SOL 7.13 Verbal Expressions
Math Dictionary Sections:  19 Algebraic Concepts
Upcoming Assessments:  Verbal Expressions Test (Tues. 11/12)

Since this was a short-and-sweet week for the students (my nieces were happy to rub in the fact they got to sleep in on Monday and Tuesday while Aunt Kimmie got to come to work), I'll keep this WCS on the short-and-sweet side (especially when you add in the fact that it's just after 5 PM and I'm still at school as it gets dark outside!).  We started the week off on Wednesday with a review of the real number system and doing a walk-through of the quiz.  Like the preview of the last test, I walked through each question with the students to point out some of the "SOL tricks" along with the problems that require more detailed work, using our new classroom expression "WIO!" (Work It Out!).  I finished grading the quizzes this afternoon, so students will get them back on Monday and can begin their corrections and Error Analysis then.

Once students finished up the quiz, they got the first part of their algebra notes.  We'll be working on algebraic concepts for the next few weeks, so we'll be building on this section along the way.  To start, we're simply working on translating from English to Mathish (as I like to call it) and vice versa.  I was really impressed with how much students remembered from last year, especially some of the trickier phrasing (ex. less vs. less than vs. is less than).  We wrapped up the week with a "translation walk" that had the students collaborating in small groups to translate various verbal expressions to algebraic expressions and matching them up with posters placed around the room.  We'll go over the activity on Monday to make sure everyone had the correct translations and get started on the test after that if there's time; otherwise the test will be on Tuesday.

Algebraic Expressions Millionaire on Math-Play.com

Also just a heads up to be on the lookout for a permission slip of sorts.  I usually do a food activity for solving equations and will send home a form to make sure it's safe for all students to participate; I'll come up with an alternative if this is the case for any student.  If the activity will work out, any donations to help with the supplies would be greatly appreciated!  Look for more details next week!