Baking Your Dragon

Bake at 275 degrees for 15 minutes per 1/4 inch thickness. Do not microwave. Do not overbake. Baking should be completed in the company of an adult.

Bring your dragon back to school when we return from winger break.

If you want to buy more clay you can purchase this brand "sculpey bake shop" at Artist And Craftsman Supply on fourth avenue (google it).

Printable Graph Paper

Print Graph Paper, Click Here.

Extension Assignments Week 14 (Dec. 06 - Dec. 10)

Once you have earned more than 20 points the extra credit points are only worth half their original value.

• "Celtic Knots" math reading - read, discuss with family, 1 paragraph reflection explaining, what was most interesting to you about the article (5 pts.)
• Skills: Fractions Decimals and Percents (5 pts)
• Squares Problem (5 pts)
• Skills: Similarity and Ratios (5 pts)
• Additional ALEKs time (1/2 hour = 5 pts. You can earn a maximum of 10 extension points from playing ALEKs each week.)
• Additional Practice for Investigation 4 (10 points)
• Wood Working Problem (5 pts)

Oompah Loompah page 3

Oompah Loompah page 2

Oompah Loompah Page 1

Math Extension Assignments Week 13 (Nov. 29 to Dec. 3)

Once you have earned more than 20 points the extra credit points are only worth half their original value.

• "History of Morse" math reading - read, discuss with family, 1 paragraph reflection explaining, what was most interesting to you about the article (10 pts.)
• Dots (5 pts)
• Car Colors (5 pts)
• Additional ALEKs time (1/2 hour = 5 pts. You can earn a maximum of 10 extension points from playing ALEKs each week.)
• Off the Wall Problem: "How Big Was That Plate?" Problem (10 points)

Note taken on 11/16/10.

Extension Assignments Week 12 (Nov. 15 to Nov. 19)

Once you have earned more than 20 points the extra credit points are only worth half their original value.

• "On What Day Did It Happen?" math reading - read, discuss with family, 1 paragraph reflection explaining, what was most interesting to you about the article (10 pts.)
• The Garden Problem (5 pts)
• Lucky Leaf Lettuce Problem (5 pts)
• Additional ALEKs time (1/2 hour = 5 pts. You can earn a maximum of 10 extension points from playing ALEKs each week.)
• Off the Wall Problem: "What's Missing?" Problem (10 points)

Extension Assignments Week 11 (Nov. 8 to Nov. 10)

Once you have earned more than 20 points the extra credit points are only worth half their original value.

• "Going Places with Mathematics" math reading - read, discuss with family, 1 paragraph reflection explaining, what was most interesting to you about the article (10 pts.)
• Mug Making Marina (5 pts)
• Fluid Economics Problem (5 pts)
• Additional ALEKs time (1/2 hour = 5 pts. You can earn a maximum of 10 extension points from playing ALEKs each week.)
• Off the Wall Problem: "How do I cover thee? Let me count the ways." Problem(10 points)

SLC Preparation Worksheet

In case you were careless and lost your work, click here for the SLC Preparation Worksheet.

Converting Weight to Force *(weight is the force of gravity)

Sample Calculations Page

Cell Division Info

Here is a link to the power point explaining Mitosis.

Extension Assignments Week 10 (Nov. 1 to Nov. 5)

Once you have earned more than 20 points the extra credit points are only worth half their original value.

• "The Konigsberg Bridge Problem" math reading - read, discuss with family, 1 paragraph reflection explaining, what was most interesting to you about the article (10 pts.)
• Ice Cream Flavors Problem (5 pts)
• Planet Krayon Problem (5 pts)
• Additional ALEKs time (1/2 hour = 5 pts. You can earn a maximum of 10 extension points from playing ALEKs each week.)
• Off the Wall Problem: "Is the Statue of Liberty's Nose Too Big?" Problem(10 points)

Unit 2: Stretching and Shrinking: Similarity

The next unit in your child’s mathematics class this year is Stretching and Shrinking: Similarity. Its focus is geometry, and it develops understanding of and skill in the use of concepts of similarity.

UNIT GOALS

In this unit, your child will use properties of similar figures to explore reductions and enlargements such as those made on copy machines. Similarity will also be used to estimate the height of real objects (such as buildings and flagpoles) and the distance across large areas (such as ponds).

The problems are designed to help students begin to reason proportionally by scaling in geometry situations. By the end of this unit, your child will know how to create similar figures, how to determine whether two figures are similar, and how to predict the relationship between lengths and areas for two similar figures. The next unit, Comparing and Scaling, continues to develop proportional ideas in numerical, rather than geometric, contexts.

List of Class Readings/Resources (organized by date)

Investigation 1: Enlarging and Reducing Shapes

• Notebook
• ACE Questions
• Text 1.1 (Tuesday - 11/02)
• Text 1.2 (Wednesday - 11/03)
• Text 1.3 (Thursday - 11/04)

Investigation 2: Similar Figures

• Notebook
• ACE Questions
• Text 2.1 (Monday - 11/08)
• Text. 2.2 (Tuesday - 11/09)
• Text 2.3 (Wednesday - 11/10)

Investigation 3: Similar Polygons

• Notebook
• ACE Questions
• Text 3.1 (Monday - 11/15 and Tuesday 11/16)
• Text. 2.2 (Wednesday - 11/17)
• Text 2.3 (Thursday - 11/18)

Investigation 4: Similarity and Ratios

• Notebook
• ACE Questions
• Text 4.1 (Monday - 11/29 and Tuesday 11/30)
• Text. 4.2 (Wednesday - 12/01)
• Text 4.3 (Thursday - 12/02)

Investigation 5: Using Similar Triangles and Rectangle

• Notebook
• ACE Questions
• Text 4.1 (Monday - 12/06 and Tuesday 12/07)
• Text. 4.2 (Wednesday - 12/08)
• Text 4.3 (Thursday - 12/09)

End of Unit Project: Shrinking or Enlarging Pictures

Week 9 Extension Assignments (Oct. 25 - Oct.29)

Once you have earned more than 20 points the extra credit points are only worth half their original value.

• "All Is Number" math reading - read, discuss with family, 1 paragraph reflection explaining, what was most interesting to you about the article (10 pts.)
• A Batty Diet Problem (5 pts)
• Additional ALEKs time (1/2 hour = 5 pts. You can earn a maximum of 10 extension points from playing ALEKs each week.)
• Off the Wall Problem: "How Much is Your Time Worth" Problem (10 points)

Using Spreadsheets to Do Calculations

Click here to access my google spreadsheet.

Mobile Experiment Free-Body Diagram

Week 8 Extension Assignments (Oct. 18 - 21)

Once you have earned more than 20 points the extra credit points are only worth half their original value.

• "History of Measurement" math reading - read, discuss with family, 1 paragraph reflection explaining, what was most interesting to you about the article (10 pts.)
• The Island Problem (5 pts)
• Lunar Leaper (5 pts.)
• Additional ALEKs time (1/2 hour = 5 pts. You can earn a maximum of 10 extension points from playing ALEKs each week.)
• Off the Wall Problem: "Animal Ages" Problem (10 points)

Solving See-Saw Problems on 10/14/10.

Note taken on 10/13/10.

Note taken on 10/13/10.

Note taken on 10/13/10.

Note taken on 10/8/10.

Note taken on 10/8/10.

Note taken on 10/8/10.

Week 7 Extension Assignments (Oct. 11 to Oct. 15)

Once you have earned more than 20 points the extra credit points are only worth half their original value.

• "Eclipses of the Sun" math reading - read, discuss with family, 1 paragraph reflection explaining, what was most interesting to you about the article (10 pts.)
• Confetti Problem (5 pts)
• Equal Equations Problem (5 pts.)
• Additional ALEKs time (1/2 hour = 5 pts. You can earn a maximum of 10 extension points from playing ALEKs each week.)
• Off the Wall Problem: "Gone Fishin'" (10 points)

Note taken on 10/6/10.

Sample Mobiles

Mobile Samples

Grand Canyon Problem (Map of Distance Intervals)

Grand Canyon Problem (Sample Data Table and Graph)

Math Extensions Week 6 (Oct 03 - Oct 08)

Once you have earned more than 20 points the extra credit points are only worth half their original value.

• "On Time?" math reading - read, discuss with family, 1 paragraph reflection explaining, what was most interesting to you about the article (10 pts.)
• Mystery Mobile Problem (10 pts)
• Additional ALEKs time (1/2 hour = 5 pts. You can earn a maximum of 10 extension points from playing ALEKs each week.)
• Off the Wall Problem: "Who Runs Faster?" (10 points)

Note taken on 9/28/10.

Note taken on 9/28/10.

What is Life Experiment Results

Basic Operations with Fractions Notes

Note taken on 9/21/10.

Note taken on 9/20/10.

Note taken on 9/20/10.

Math Extensions Week 5

Once you have earned more than 20 points the extra credit points are only worth half their original value.

• "Palindromes" math reading - read, discuss with family, 1 paragraph reflection explaining, what was most interesting to you about the article (10 pts.)
• Skills Practice: Interpreting Graphs (10 pts.)
• Additional Practice: There are 6 problems, each problem is worth 5 points.
• Additional ALEKs time (1/2 hour = 5 pts. You can earn a maximum of 10 extension points from playing ALEKs each week.)
• Off the Wall Problem: "Smiles and Frowns" (10 points)

Math Extension Assignments Week 4

Once you have earned more than 20 points the extra credit points are only worth half their original value.

• "Mathematical Symbols" math reading - read, discuss with family, 1 paragraph reflection explaining, what was most interesting to you about the article (10 pts.)
• Additional Practice: There are 3 problems, each problem is worth 5 points.
• Additional ALEKs time (1/2 hour = 5 pts. You can earn a maximum of 10 extension points from playing ALEKs each week.)
• Off the Wall Problem: "How Can You Use Old Stamps?" (10 points)

Note taken on 9/13/10.

Note taken on 9/15/10.

Note taken on 9/14/10.

Evidence of Life Produced by Cookie Monsters (draft)

Evidence of Life Produced by Snuffleupagus (draft)

Note taken on 9/13/10.

Weekly Math Point Tracker

Semester 1

• Week 1 (Aug 30 - Sept 03)
• Week 2 (Sept 06 - Sept 10)
• Week 3 (Sept 13 - Sept 17)
• Week 4 (Sept 20 - Sept 24)
• Week 5 (Sept 27 - Oct 01)
• Week 6 (Oct 04 - Oct 08)
• Week 7 (Oct 11 - Oct 15)
• Week 8 (Oct 18 - Oct 21)
• Week 9 (Oct 25 - Oct 29)
• Week 10 (Nov 01 - Nov o5)
• Week 11 (Nov 08 - Nov 10)
• Week 12 (Nov 15 - Nov 19)
• Week 13 (Nov 29 - Dec 03)
• Week 14 (Dec 06 - Dec 10)
• Week 15 (Dec 13 - Dec 17)
• Week 16 (Jan 03 - Dec 07)
• Week 17 (Dec 11 - Dec 15)

Semester 2

• Week 1 (Jan 25 - Jan 28)
• Week 2 (Jan 31 - Feb 04)
• Week 3 (Feb 07 - Feb 11)
• Week 4 (Feb 14 - Feb 18)
• Week 5 (Feb 22 - Feb 25)
• Week 6 (Feb 28 - Mar 04)

Math Extensions Week 3

Once you have earned more than 20 points the extra credit points are only worth half their original value.

• "Calendars" math reading - read, discuss with family, 1 paragraph reflection explaining, what was most interesting to you about the article (10 pts.)
• Skills Practice: Interpreting Graphs (10 pts.)
• Additional Practice: There are 6 problems, each problem is worth 5 points.
• Additional ALEKs time (1/2 hour = 5 pts. You can earn a maximum of 10 extension points from playing ALEKs each week.)
• Off the Wall Problem: "How Far Can You Fly?" (10 points)

Note taken on 9/9/10.

Note taken on 9/8/10.

Unit 1: Variables and Patterns: Introducing Algebra

The first unit in your child’s mathematics class this year is Variables and Patterns: Introducing Algebra.

UNIT GOALS

This unit’s focus is on ways to describe situations that change. In the first part of the unit, students explore three ways of representing a changing situation: with a description in words, with a data table, and with a graph. These representations are compared to one another to elicit the strengths of each presentation.

Students learn to write symbolic expressions as a shorter, quicker way to give a summary of the relationship between two variables.

List of Class Readings/Resources (organized by date)

Investigation 1: Variables, Tables and Coordinate Graphs

• Notebook
• ACE Questions
• Text 1.1 (Tuesday - 9/07)
• Text 1.2 (Wednesday - 9/08)
• Text 1.3 (Thursday - 9/09)
• Text 1.4 (Friday - 9/10)
• Text 1.5 (Monday - 9/13)

Investigation 2: Analyzing Graphs and Tables

• Notebook
• ACE Questions
• Text 2.1 (Tuesday - 9/14)
• Text 2.2 (Monday - 9/20)
• Text 2.3 (Tues 9/20 and Weds 9/21)

Investigation 3: Rules and Equations

• Notebook
• ACE Questions
• Text 3.1 (Monday 9/27 and Tues. 9/28)
• Text 3.2 (Wednesday 9/29)
• Text 3.3 (Thursday 9/30)

Variables and Patterns Project

• Metric Conversion and Unit Conversion Practice (Mon. 10/04)
• Grand Canyon Problem (Tues 10/05) For Distance Interval Trail Map Click Here and for Sample of Data Table and Graph Comparing Distance and Elevation Against Time Click Here.
• My Me Mobile Project Notebook (Wednesday 10/06 through 10/15 . . . possibly longer)
• Click Here to View Slideshow of Some Awesome Mobiles.
• Sample of how to convert weight to force.
• Sample Calculations Page

Note taken on 9/7/10.

Note taken on 9/2/10.

ALEKS Info.

Each student will have access to a great online learning tool called ALEKS.

The main login page can be found at http://www.aleks.com/

Having trouble accessing ALEKs from home? Follow this link.

Assessment and LEarning in Knowledge Spaces is a Web-based, artificially intelligent assessment and learning system. ALEKS uses adaptive questioning to quickly and accurately determine exactly what a student knows and doesn't know in a course. ALEKS then instructs the student on the topics she is most ready to learn. As a student works through a course, ALEKS periodically reassesses the student to ensure that topics learned are also retained. ALEKS courses are very complete in their topic coverage and ALEKS avoids multiple-choice questions. A student who shows a high level of mastery of an ALEKS course will be successful in the actual course she is taking.

ALEKS also provides the advantages of one-on-one instruction, 24/7, from virtually any Web-based computer for a fraction of the cost of a human tutor.

For a detailed scientific paper explaining the advantages of using ALEKS read, The Assessment of Knowledge in Theory and Practice.

Note taken on 9/1/10.

Weekly Math Point Tracker Explanation

Each week you will receive a "Weekly Math Point Tracker Sheet" which you will use to record the points you earn in math class each week.

You will earn 100 points each week:

• 40 points from mini quizzes (10 points per quiz, 4 quizzes a week, generally only one question relating to work done in the previous day).
• 10 points for the Practice Work you do, usually started in class and completed at home. 10 points for 2 hours of ALEX study (ALEX is a computer program that every student will have access to this year. One hour of work time will be provided for students during class, and the remaining hour will need to be completed outside of class (before/after school or at home).
• 20 points for Notes and Math Journal (Students will complete open-ended problems in math journals and take notes regularly).
• 20 points for Extension Options (Students will have a choice in how to earn these 20 points. Students can earn more than 20 points, but these extra points are only worth half of the original value. For example if a student does assignments worth a total of 30 extension points 20 of the points will go toward their extension grade and the remaining 10 points are halved, adding 5 extra credit points to their overall score, out of 100.) Extension options can be found by clicking here. I will print preview the available options at the beginning of each week and print out handouts if students sign up to have them printed.

Note taken on 8/31/10.

Note taken on 8/30/10.

Unit 4: Accentuate the Negative: Positive and Negative Thinking

The next unit in your child’s course of study in mathematics class this year is Accentuate the Negative: Positive and Negative Numbers. Although students have intuitively used operations on integers to make sense of some situations in their everyday world, this unit looks at formal ways to compute with these numbers.

UNIT GOALS

In this unit, the focus is on understanding and developing systematic ways to add, subtract, multiply, and divide positive and negative numbers. Students will develop algorithms for computations and will use the order of operations, the Commutative Property, and the Distributive Property to solve problems.

The Journey of Education

Definitions of Philosophy

• (originally) the pursuit of wisdom
• any personal belief about how to live or how to deal with a situation
• the rational investigation of questions about existence and knowledge and ethics

Music and Life - Alan Watts

• Video
• Transcript (w/ reflection)

Reflection due Friday.

Math Extension Options Week 2

Once you have earned more than 20 points the extra credit points are only worth half their original value.

• "Clever Carl" math reading - read, discuss with family, 1 paragraph reflection explaining, what was most interesting to you about the article (10 pts.)
• Skills Practice: Tables and Graphs (10 pts.)
• Additional Practice: There are 6 problems, each problem is worth 5 points.
• Additional ALEKs time (1/2 hour = 5 pts. You can earn a maximum of 10 extension points from playing ALEKs each week.)
• Off the Wall Problem: "Bet I can Guess Your Color" (10 points)

Math Extension Options Week 1

This week you are free to earn up to 30 points through extension activities.

• "The Moving Planets" math reading - read, discuss with family, 1 paragraph reflection explaining, what was most interesting to you about the article (20 pts.)
• Off the Wall Problem: What's Your Index? (20 points)
• "A Surprising Square" Problem . . . In case you cannot read the text it says, "Why is the square of 111,111,111 so surprising? In other words, "what is surprising about multiplying 111,111,111 by 111,111,111?" (20 points)

Unit 6: Filling and Wrapping: Three Dimensional Measurement

The next unit in your child’s mathematics class this year is Filling and Wrapping: Three-Dimensional Measurement. Its focus is volume (filling) and surface area (wrapping) of objects, especially rectangular prisms, cylinders, cones, and spheres. In addition, students extend their understanding of similarity and scale factors to three-dimensional figures.

UNIT GOALS

Students develop strategies for measuring the surface area and volume. Their strategies are discussed and used to formulate rules for finding the surface area and volume of rectangular prisms and cylinders. They also investigate other solids—including cones and spheres—to develop volume relationships.

Ideas from previous units will be revisited and extended in this unit. For example, from the Stretching and Shrinking unit, the connection of how changing the scale of a box affects its surface area and volume will be studied.

Unit 7: What Do You Expect? Probability and Expected Value

The next unit in your child’s mathematics class this year is What Do You Expect?: Probability and Expected Value. This unit is about the concepts of probability and will help students understand common ideas that they read or hear about every day. They will explore long-range expectations in probability situations and learn how to make better predictions.

UNIT GOALS

Students will learn to find probabilities in two ways: by conducting trials and collecting experimental data, also by analyzing situations to determine theoretical probabilities. As they work, students will be using fractions, decimals, and percents to describe how likely events are.

Unit 8:Data Distributions: Describing Variability and Comparing Groups

The next unit in your child’s mathematics class this year is Data Distributions: Describing Variability and Comparing Groups. Students will learn to choose among a variety of representations to display distributions and will analyze, describe, and compare sets of data.

UNIT GOALS

Exploring statistics as a process of data investigation involves a set of four interrelated components (Graham, 1987).

• Posing the question: formulating the key question(s) to explore and deciding what data to collect to address the question(s);

• Collecting the data: deciding how to collect the data as well as actually collecting it;

• Analyzing the data: organizing, representing, summarizing, and describing the data and looking for patterns in the data; and

• Interpreting the results: predicting, comparing, and identifying relationships and using the results from the analyses to make decisions about the original question(s).

This dynamic process often involves moving back and forth among the four components.