Sunday, September 26, 2010

Week 7 - Furlough is next week

Substitute on Tuesday
This Tuesday, September 28, there is a mandatory textbook training for 6th grade and Pre-Algebra at the District Office.  I will not be on campus and there will be a substitute teacher.  Students will be working on a worksheet during class.  Homework assigned on Monday and Tuesday will be due on Wednesday.  I expect all students to respect the teacher and work quietly.

Email Registration
It has come to my attention that some of you have been trying to email me, but I have not received them.  In the past, if I sent an email out, you would be able to respond and get through the firewall, but it seems that this is not always the case.  I'm quite responsive on email and if you don't receive a reply within 24 hours, please call me at 535-2681 x 504 or send a note through your child.  And if you haven't done so already, please register your email by completing this form.

Textbook Resource: Video Tutorials
Did you know that our textbook as video tutorials of every single lesson in the book?  The instructor won teacher of the year and is pretty animated.  Below are instructions on how to find the video tutorials.
  • Navigate to the textbook website:  http://my.hrw.com
  • Sign in:
    • User6math16 for 6th grade and prealgebra79 for Pre-Algebra
    • Passwordjohnmuir (for both)
  • Click on the link that says Go to the Online Textbook.
  • Click on the tab at the top that says Videos and Activities.
  • From the drop-down menu at the top, choose the chapter and lesson you want to see and click Go.
  • A list of lesson examples should load and you can watch the videos.
Furlough
I will be unavailable during furlough week.  Emails and voicemails left during the week will be returned on Oct. 11.








6th Grade Announcements & Homework
This week, we will be completing our study of integers with multiplying and dividing positive and negative integers. As you know, next week is furlough, so there will be no instruction.  When we return from furlough, the next unit test will be given on Friday.  I am not planning to give the study guide out until after we return, but I will be giving an optional (but highly recommended) project that should prepare the students for the test.

Homework for the week is as follows:








Monday (9/27)WB 2-4 #9-27 odd
Tuesday (9/28): WB 2-4 #10-28 even
Wednesday (9/29): WB 2-5 16 #13-23
Thursday (9/30): Quiz 5 Practice Problems
Friday (10/1): Making Faces Project (Quiz 5 today)

Pre-Algebra Announcements & Homework
This week, we will be focusing our study of multi-step equations.  We will be studying the distributive property with variables and combining like terms.  Most of the problems this week will be just integers (few, if any, fractions and decimals).  I want to make sure the students understand the concepts before throwing in another level of complexity.  I will be putting together an extra credit review packet for students to optionally complete over the furlough.

Homework for the week is as follows:








Monday (9/27): Properties W.S.
Tuesday (9/28): Facing Math Worksheet (Two-Step Equations)
Wednesday (9/29): WB Pg. 19 #8-17
Thursday (9/30): WB Pg. 20 #1-10
Friday (10/1): Unit 2 Furlough Packet (Unit 2 Quiz 2)

Friday, September 17, 2010

Week 6 - New Grading Period

Last Friday, the Pre-Algebra students took their first Unit Test on Integers and Rational Numbers.  There were several outstanding performances from students that I would like to recognize.

There were 4 students who answered all 25 questions correctly: Grant Cooperman, Carla Juarez, Maddie MacDonald, and Karim Richani.

There were 6 students who were near perfect, answering 24 out of 25 questions correctly: Emerald Doan, Colton Jack, Darnell Pascua, Sean Rooney, Emily Summers, and Ashlynne Yap.

In addition to those mentioned above, the following 6th grade students met their Big Goal of achieving 90% mastery, answering 23 out of 25 questions correctly: Hope Laborin, Alden Martinez, Mackenzie Meyer, Matthew Morazan, and Aaron Nguyen.

In addition to those mentioned above, the following 7th grade students met their Big Goal of achieving 80% mastery, answering 23 out of 25 questions correctly: Ana Cano Garcia, Katie Lawson-Gill, Melissa Murphy, Danny Perina, Dalton Roseman, and Vy Truong.

Congratulations to all of our hard-working students!

Below are some brief statistics by class period.

Period
# Students 
who met the Big Goal
# Total 
students
Average 
score
3
12
30
87%
4
10
31
62%

I will be returning the tests on Monday and students will have a chance to re-work the problems that they got wrong (as practice and review) and will be able to re-take the test (for full credit).  Students needing assistance can get help in the homework center and math lab.  The re-take will take place in the Math Lab on Wednesdays or by appointment.


6th Grade Announcements & Homework
This week, we will continue our study of integers (positive and negative whole numbers).  I had an overwhelming number of students make it into the 100 Club.  Subtraction usually seems to be an area of struggle, so we'll be breaking it down into 3 different types: Borrowing Money (e.g. 5 - 8 = -3), Scuba Diving (-5 - 8 = -13), and Neighbor Negative (5 - - 8 = 13).

Homework for the week is as follows:


Wednesday (9/22): WB 2-3 #3-21 odd
Thursday (9/23): Quiz 4 Practice Problems
Friday (9/24): No HW (Quiz 4 today)

Pre-Algebra Announcements & Homework
This week, we will begin a new unit of study: Multi-Step Equations and Inequalities.  Since we have covered one-step equations, we'll build on that with one-step inequalities.  We'll progress to two-step equations and close the week with properties (commutative, associative, and identity).

Homework for the week is as follows:


Tuesday (9/21): WB Pg. 17 #3-12
Wednesday (9/22): TB Pg. 102 #6-10, 18-22
Thursday (9/23): WB Pg. 18 #1-6
Friday (9/24): No HW (Quiz 4 today)

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Week 5 - End of Grading Period 1

This Friday, September 17, marks the end of the first grading period.  Work completed by this Friday will be included on the first grade report.

Last Friday, the 6th grade students took their first Unit Test on Equations and Expressions.  Our Big Goal was for each student to demonstrate at least 80% mastery of the objectives.  There were several outstanding performances from students that I would like to recognize.

There were 5 students who answered all 25 questions correctly: Karly Brooks, Angel Cruz, Briana Evangelista, Kristin Madruga, and Adrianna Ng.

There were 11 students who were near perfect, answering 24 out of 25 questions correctly: Aidan Corral, Rafael Diaz, Emily Egermeier, Mako Goldston, Emily Jackson, Angela Kurysh, Daniel Martinez Buenrostro, Alex Moreno, Karen Pulido, Adin Sabanovic, and Catherine Salazar.

And the following students also achieved the Big Goal of 80% mastery, answering at least 20 questions correctly: Ivon Maribel Aguilera, Gisselle Calderon Munoz, Matthew Canepa, Ray Carrera-Marquez, Valeria Cerros, Ryan Clark, Samantha Cortez Cuellar, Ernesto Cruz Rosendo, Braden Dalit, Melissa Davalos, Zobeida Delgadillo Valenzuel, Balsharan Dhillon, Mindy Dinh, Eliel Garcia Gonzalez, Isaiah Guzman, Chelsea Lara, Jose Lazaro, Jairus Lewis, Taylor Lovell, Nate McCauley, Ayranny Medina, Pauline Nguyen, Aleyda Recio Rivera, Diana Rendler, Lucero Rios, Adrian Rom, Cierra Rucker, Roman Sanchez, Pedro Tellez Miranda, Ariel Telly, Anny Tran, Alex Valencia, and Alexis Vaughn.

Congratulations to all of our hard-working students!

Below are some brief statistics by class period.

Period
# Students 
who earned at least 80%
# Total 
students
Average 
score
1
17
24
79%
2
16
21
84%
6
16
28
77%

I will be returning the tests on Monday and students will have a chance to re-work the problems that they got wrong (as practice and review) and will be able to re-take the test (for full credit).  Students needing assistance can get help in the homework center and math lab.  The re-take will take place in the Math Lab on Wednesdays or by appointment.

New Grading Policy
I've noticed that an increasing number of students have not been completing or even attempting their homework, perhaps due to my policy of accepting late work.  Additionally, we are losing instructional time during class due to the transition between the warm-up and grading the homework.  Homework, math journals, and warm-up worksheets should be on the desk before the bell rings, but many students choose to socialize instead of prepare for class.  Because of these two trends, I've decided to give "effort" points.  During the warm-up, if students have their homework on their desk I will give them 5 effort points.  Even if all of the answers are wrong, if they made an attempt on the assignment the night it was due and it's on their desk at the beginning of class, they will earn all 5 points.  It's that easy.  Hopefully, this will encourage students to try their homework when it's due and begin class prepared to maximize our class time.




6th Grade Announcements & Homework
This week, we will be beginning a new unit on integers.  We will be adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing positive and negative whole numbers and using them in real-world situations / word problems.  If you want to mark your calendars, the second unit test will be on Friday, October 15, 2010 (the first Friday we return from furlough week).  The 6th grade math team is trying something a little bit different this week.  We will have notes, practice, and homework Monday - Wednesday and have our quiz on Thursday (instead of the usual Friday).  The reason for doing this is because on Friday, we will be switching students.  We will be reviewing the results of Friday's test and re-grouping the students for a special re-teaching lesson.  That way, students who struggled with the same concepts, regardless of who their teacher was, will be grouped together.

Homework for the week is as follows:



Monday (9/13)WB 2-1 # 1-10
Tuesday (9/14): Adding Integers WS
Wednesday (9/15): Quiz 3 Practice Problems
Thursday (9/16): No HW (Quiz 3 today)
Friday (9/17): Unit Test 1 Re-work

Pre-Algebra Announcements & Homework
This week, we will be  finishing our unit on Integers and Rational Numbers.  We will be adding and subtracting fractions (and mixed numbers) with like and unlike denominators and completing one-step equations with fractions and decimals.  Our first Unit Test will be on this Friday.  

Homework for the week is as follows:



Monday (9/13)WB Pg. 12 #2-18 even
Tuesday (9/14): TB Pg. 90 #18-22,30,32-34
Wednesday (9/15): WB Pg. 16 #1-17 odd
Thursday (9/16): Unit 1 Study Guide
Friday (9/17): No HW (Unit 1 Test today)

Monday, September 6, 2010

Week 4 - Unit Test (6th grade)

Thank you to all of the parents and families that came to Back to School night.  I believe I have contacted everyone who requested follow-up meetings.  Now that you have access to the Parent Internet Viewer, I have a feeling that more would like to meet or communicate, so please do so by calling me at (408) 535-2681 x504 or sending me an email at Amy_Li@sjusd.org.

The biggest resource I wanted to tout at Back to School night was the textbook website.  Remember, you can use this website to view and download textbook (TB) and workbook (WB) pages as well as other practice worksheets and play interactive quiz games.  The textbook information is here again:

Site: http://my.hrw.com
Username: 6math16 (6th grade)
Username: prealgebra79 (Pre-Algebra)
Password: johnmuir (both)

Also, quiz retakes can be done this Wednesday after school in the Math Lab (Room 802) from 2:15pm - 3:15pm.


6th Grade Announcements & Homework
This week, we will be finishing up our first unit of study and taking our first unit test.  Our Big Goal is for every student to demonstrate at least 80% mastery on the test.  This means that out of 25 questions, they can only miss 5 questions.  On Wednesday, we will take a practice test where students may use their math journals (but not each other).  On Thursday, we will review the the answers and work in teams to correct them.  The unit test will be on Friday.  

Homework for the week is as follows:

Friday (9/10): No HW (Unit Test 1 today)

Pre-Algebra Announcements & Homework
This week, we will be delving deeper into rational numbers (i.e. numbers that can be expressed as a quotient of two numbers).  Quiz 3 will be on this Friday.  Next Friday will be our first unit test.

Homework for the week is as follows:
Tuesday (9/7): TB Pg. 68 #30-48 even
Wednesday (9/8): TB Pg. 80 #14-18, 20-24
Friday (9/10): No HW (Quiz 3 today)