Friday, April 29, 2011

Weekly Class Summary: Apr. 25-29

SOLs Covered: 6.13, 7.9&10 (New 6.13) Angles, Triangles, and Quadrilaterals
Math Dictionary Sections: (27) Angles; (28) Triangles; (29) Quadrilaterals
Upcoming Assessments: 2-D Geometry Classification Test (Thurs. 5/5/11); "You Can Do It" SOL Review Quiz 3 (Fri. 5/6/11)
SOL Review Section: Computation & Estimation

Despite a malfunctioning fire alarm this week, I believe everyone enjoyed the return of geometry, especially since the topics are all ones they are familiar with from elementary school: angles, triangles, and quadrilaterals. With angles, students had to classify (acute, right, obtuse or straight) and measure angles. Nearly all students perfectly rememberd the proper classifications for angles, however quite a few have had a little trouble with the measurements. In elementary school, most students used angle rulers for measuring instead of the traditional protractor. While I also prefer the angle ruler due to its ease of use, students need to know how to use the protractor as that is the only angle measuring tool available on the computerized version of the SOL test. In conjunction with the "real protractor," students were taught how to make an "estimation protractor" by folding a piece of paper in a manner similar to how a basic paper airplane is made, which leaves them with the "key" angle measures of 45°, 90°, 135°, and 180° at the fold lines.

Our work with angles merged directly into our work with triangles since one of the ways to classify triangles is by their angles. We reviewed both classification methods angles and sides) as well as introducing the new concept that the sum of a triangles measures is 180° and how to use this information to find an unknown angle when given the other two angles. For the quiz on angles and triangles, I yet again walked through the quiz with them using the document camera to help them learn how to properly show their work in preparation for the SOL tests that are fast approaching. After the quiz, we jumped right into quadrilaterals, which will be wrapped up next week since most of Friday was taken up with the second SOL review quiz.







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