Week of 2/22/10

Welcome back, everyone!

This week marks the beginning of a new unit and new grading period.

6th graders will be starting a unit on geometry.  We will be classifying angles (acute, obtuse, right, complementary, supplementary, vertical, and adjacent), measuring angles, and finding angle measures using algebra.

8th graders will further their study on quadratic equations by finding roots/x-intercepts/zeroes, completing the square, and discovering the quadratic equation.

Just a few additional announcements:

• Next Tuesday, there will be a writing test.  7th graders will be taking a state test and 6th and 8th graders will be taking a district assessment.  Be on the lookout for shortened classes and one long one for the test.
• I will not be in school on Monday and Tuesday next week.  Because of this, there will not be a quiz on Friday - it has been moved to Monday.  I will use Friday as an instructional day.  Thanks for your understanding!

Homework for the week is as follows.


6th Grade HW
Mon. (2/22): Angles worksheet
Tue. (2/23): Pg. 442 #1-10
Thu. (2/25): Quiz 16 Practice Problems
Fri. (2/26): Extra Credit WS (Quiz on Monday)

8th Grade HW
Mon. (2/22): Pg. 579 #13-22
Tue. (2/23): Pg. 585 # 1-10

Wed (2/24):  Pg. 595 #2-11

Thu. (2/25): Quiz 17 Practice Problems

Fri. (2/26): Extra Credit WS (Quiz on Monday)

Week of 2/8/10 - Unit 4 Test Results

On Friday, the 6th graders took their Unit 4 Test. Our goal was for each student to demonstrate at least 80% mastery. Since there were 25 questions, that means you had to get at least 20 correct. Congratulations to all students who met our Big Goal and demonstrated mastery of Unit 2!

There were several students who had outstanding performance.

Grant Cooperman and Noah Pierce answered 25 out of 25 questions correctly!

Gaby Rodriguez answered 24 out of 25 questions correctly!

In addition to the students mentioned already, the following students met our goal of 80% mastery:
Lindsay Cutler, Nick Escobedo, Colton Jack, Jackie Sealy, Gabe Yee, Kathy Chavez Alvarez, Cayla Antonio, Quentin Gambe, and Emily Renteria.

Great work, everyone!!

Below are class results of the Unit 4 Test.

Period	Average (Raw)	Average %	Students Above 80%	Total Students
4	13.4	54%	7	26
5	14.0	56%	2	27
6	14.3	57%	5	31

Test Corrections / Retakes:
I am reconsidering allowing test corrections and retakes.  My original intent was to give students a second chance at demonstrating mastery and correcting mistakes.  I wanted them to go back and see what they did wrong.  However, it has come to my attention that many students know that they have a second chance and therefore are not making the initial effort to study for the test and even try to do well on the test.  I noticed several students daydreaming during the test even after repeated reminders to get back on task.  Some students explained that they were just going to do the re-take anyway so this test didn't matter.

At this time, students may come in after school on Monday and Wednesday to do test corrections for half credit, but I will not be offering re-takes.  In the future, I may eliminate both test corrections and re-takes or only offer those opportunities to students who correctly answer at least 15 out of 25 questions.

6th Grade HW
This week we are having benchmarks on Tuesday and Wednesday and I will not be assigning any homework this week.


8th Grade HW
8th graders also have benchmarks, but they also have their Unit 4 Test on Friday.  Their homework will be to complete the Unit 4 Practice Problems packet.  This is due on Friday.  Below is our schedule.
Mon. (2/8): Review for test / work on packet in class

Tue. (2/9): Benchmark
Wed. (2/10): Benchmark
Thu. (2/11): Practice Test
Fri. (2/12): Unit 4 Test