Sunday, March 18, 2012

Haven't posted in a while...Keeping up with a blog is a lot of work!!   So proud of those teachers who really keep up with it!

Well to catch you all up...We have now completed an angle project in 7th grade math.  This project was called "What's your angle?" and required the students to take original pictures of various angles in nature.  Students had 13 terms and had to find them all in the natural world.  They had the option of making a book, PowerPoint, or display.  I had some AMAZING projects.  One student had a PowerPoint quiz, another student had a great display with grass, rocks, and various pictures.  Really impressive stuff.  Students struggled in the beginning but many said once they got started they started seeing geometry everywhere. Great project and kids have already asked me with excitement when our next project will be coming up.

If you are teaching common core in middle grades, I wonder what types of issues you are having.  For instance, I have found the 7th grade geometry and probability standards a bit crazy!  Compound probability in the 7th grade?!?! Really?!?! If anyone has any ideas on teaching this, please le tme know!!!  Just crazy in my book!

Algebra 1 is on the fast track we are working on systems of equations now and I am wanting to be finished with quadratics by the end of April, I don't know if that will happen but I am sure working on it.

I am so excited for this summer!!  I  have a great plan.  I am going to spend the summer creating units for next year 7th and 8th grade.  This year has been a lot of getting to know the new standards and I teach by the standards on a daily basis.  This summer I  am going to create units based around those standards and have everything ready to go for next year.  Kind of making my own textbook if you will.  I am not a fan of using textbooks, I feel very restricted when I do.  I like to color outside the lines!

I will purchase a binder for 7th and 8th grade for each unit we cover (Number sense, expressions and equations, geometry, probability, statistics).  In each find I will have a tab for each standard and resources that fit that standard.  I have made all my own assessment this year and am planning on organizing them this summer.  I do a weekly learning check so I figure that if I make a set of learning check questions for each I can statement and put in my binder it should be very easy to pull those and put them together for a weekly learning check. So excited to get this project started.  6th grade and Algebra 1 have textbooks to go by so I do not need to spend time working on units for those classes.  As my units unfold i will share my resources.

That is all for this Sunday, now to find nets for next week lessons!!!

Have a great week all!

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Another week almost down!!

I began my review unit this week.  I will be reviewing using I can statements from old learning checks each Wednesday.  This is so I can still cover my content and still have students prepared for the KPREP test.

All my standards are new this year and I am super nervous! However, we are covering our standards and I am constantly communicating with other teachers so I feel fairly confident about our scores, but we shall see.

We have completed the candy bar projects!!! YAY!!! I will try and post pictures on my next post, they are truly amazing! We have another project due Monday called "What's my angle?!" where students find angles in nature.

Geometry is going well, it is a truly fun unit.

I have begun a new organization system for units.  I now have a folder but every unit.  Within that folder is a separate folder for every standard.  Within that folder I have all my materials to meet that specific standard and I label all those files by the I can statements they cover. This system will take a while to perfect but we are getting there.


Friday, March 2, 2012

WOW!!  Crazy week!!

Two tornado scares during school this week.  Kentucky weather is wild. 

My new find this week is edmodo.com!! If you haven't used it, you need too.  My students love it, and so do I!!  We use it almost daily in class! You can upload assignments, quizzes, and  polls.  My Algebra 1 students completed their homework online this week! It looks like facebook so students are automatically intersted in it. Please check it out!

Also, we worked a great deal with functions this week in 8th grade.  I used a flow chart to help students see the four views of a function.  I also used a matching activity for students to match the four views. Next year I hope to make a large wall display with 4 huge pieces of paper, 4 arrows and real world representations for each four views of a function.  I am already excited to do this next year!!

We have just about finished our scale drawings of candy bars and are starting on our geometry unit.  We have a project aht involves nature for angles.  Students must create a book, PowerPoint, or display of varius angle terms that they find in the real world. This is a great way to bring in science and to connect math to real life!

6th grade started on integers this week.  We used a variation of the card game speed.  In speed, two players split their deck in half and sit the decks side by side.  Flip the top card of each stack over and then just start drawing cards from the pile to your right.  You either go up one or down one on the cards that are face up.  The first one out of cards wins.  We made the black cards positive and the red cards negative and then went up one down one.  It was a blast and the kids LOVED it!!!  Great way to talk about how integers work a little differently.

I do have some of my materials on teacherspayteachers.com please check out my store.  I will occasionally post free items to my blog for you to follow and give me feedback on.

Have a great night,

Teachers pay teachers store!

Monday, February 27, 2012

Monday down, 4 more days to go until the weekend. 

I tutor after school every Monday.  We usually complete our homework during this time but today my 6th grade students did not have homework because they had  a test today and we will start a new topic on negative numbers tomorrow.  So I decided to go ahead and preview the lesson for them.  We discussed negative numbers using the number line, money, and a thermometer. 

I then decided to break out the playing cards and play the game speed.  If you aren't familar with speed I'll up date you.  Place the cards in two even stacks side by side take the top card of each pile and turn over face up, side by side between the two stacks of cards.  Each player will get a stack (only two players!) they will then go either up one or down one card value from the cards that are face up.  Goal is to empty your stack of cards before your partner. 

We played this with negative numbers by making black cards positive and red cards negative. It was a lot of fun!  I  have done this before with my 7th grade students and they seemed to enjoy it, but 6th grade really had a good time.  We will play this game again tomorrow during class. 

Angle time....

Angle books are on their way to creation!  When I was student teaching my cooperating teacher created angle books for her students using the frayer model and they took notes in their angle books regarding all types of angles.  We will begin this tomorrow in 7th grade.  We will have also have an angle project, "Angles in nature"  Students will create either a book, PowerPoint, or diagram of angles that occur naturally.  What a great spring project!  Very excited to get all these things started. 

Edmodo madness...

Today I started using edmodo in my algebra 1 class.  I am going to try and get the laptops everyday during this class and post quiz questions to this page and various links.  This will make completing geogebra assignments very easy!! 

Tomorrow we are going to the gym to run at different distances in order to complete the an activity for writing equations of linear graphs. 

should be an exciting week, as it usually is in middle school! 

Come see us sometime at the end of hall!!  You will definitely burn calories to see us! 

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Thought I might post some pictures of my classroom!

These are all photos of my classroom this summer when I was first hired. Big and lots of potential!





My room after i got a hold of it!!!  Now this was in the very beginning of the year and a lot has changed since this picture was taken.  My background was taken last week in my room so you can see what all has gone down since the beginning of the year.  But I love my classroom and I enjoy spending time there! 








Good Sunday evening All!! I am up planning lessons for the upcoming week and working on an upcoming geometry unit. 

Super excited about geometry!  I love the subject and can't wait to share my enthusiasm with my students! Should be a lot of fun. 

We are completing our scale figures this week by presenting our scale model of candy bars. 

I am attaching the rubric I used for this project so you can see what all I was looking for.  They look great and hit every part of standard 7.G.1 for the common core. 



We will not be working with classifying and constructing angles.  I am anxious to begin this unit, as well.  We will be creating angle books based upon the frayer model.  I am also having students create a book, PowerPoint, scarp book, or collection of various angles in the natural world around us.  This will be a cross curriculum project with the science teacher. 

 

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Good afternoon all,

let me introduce myself, I am a first year middle school math teacher at a very small school district.  I create many of things I use in my classroom.  We do projects and lots of hands on!  I am anxious to share my materials and get your feedback. 

I will be posting some materials soon.

I teach 6th, 7th, and 8th grade math.  As well as an algebra 1 course for accelerated 8th grade students.

Currently in 7th grade we are working on reproducing scale models.  This is going so well!!!!  It is possibly one of the most exciting things we have done in math class so far this year!! i am loving it and so are the kids!  I will have pictures up for you very soon to check out!