Wall-E
For students who chose the movie ticket prize, I will be showing Wall-E in my classroom during lunch. Bring your lunch and I'll supply the popcorn!
End of Grading Period 2
This Friday marks the close of the second grading period. All work must be submitted by Friday in order for me to grade the work and enter it by the Tuesday teacher grade submission deadline.
This Week
This week, we will be beginning our next unit of study: Ratios, Rates, Proportions, and Percents. We will begin with simple ratios (e.g. 3 blue cars to 4 white cars can be written as 3 to 4, 3:4, or the fraction 3/4), rates (e.g. 60 miles per hour, 4 bananas for $2 = $0.50/banana), and proportions.
Homework for the week is as follows:
Monday (10/24) - WB 5-1 #1, 10, 18-20
Tuesday (10/25) - WB 5-2 #1, 7, 11
Wednesday (10/26) - WB 5-3 #1, 9, 13, 14
Thursday (10/27) - Unit 3 Quiz 1 Practice Problems
Friday (10/28) - Problem of the Week #9 (Game Show)
Training on Tuesday
I will be at the Santa Clara County office on Tuesday with all of the other 8th grade math intervention teachers attending a training. Mrs. Carol Myers, a retired math teacher and former board of education member, will be the substitute. Students will be working on the second day of a project.
Unit 2 Test Results
Last Friday, students took their second unit test on Equations and Inequalities. The results are in Infinite Campus and I will share individual scores with each student, but I will return the test booklets and answer documents on Wednesday (there are still a few students who were absent and still need to make up the test).
I offered incentives for 4 different categories:
- Scoring 100%
- Scoring an A (90%)
- Improving from the last test (any amount of improvement)
- Showing the most work (1 winner per class period)
Congratulations to all of our hard-working students. Below are some class statistics that I have for the students who took the test.
| Period | # Students > 90% | Total students | Average |
| 1 | 14 | 28 | 86% |
| 5 | 10 | 20 | 87% |
| 6 | 18 | 29 | 89% |
Students will have a chance to earn half credit back by completing test corrections on a separate sheet of binder paper (I do not need the original test back). Students must copy the original problem and show all work for credit.
This Week
This week, we will be spending time on two-step equation word problem projects and analyzing data. On Monday, students will work on solving various two-step equation word problems and on Tuesday, they will have time in class to work on putting them on posters. On Wednesday, we will learn how to use plot data using Box-and-Whiskers. This will involve new vocabulary including maximum, minimum, upper quartile, lower quartile, and range. On Thursday, we will review Box-and-Whiskers as well as Stem-and-Leaf from the beginning of Unit 2. Our quiz this week will be on the two data plots (Box-and-Whiskers and Stem-and-Leaf) as well as the two-step equation word problems.
Homework for the week is as follows:
Monday (10/17) - Two-Step Equation Word Problems (solve all)
Tuesday (10/18) - Two-Step Equations Poster (put 2 on a poster)
Wednesday (10/19) - WB 11-3 all
Thursday (10/20) - Data Quiz Practice Problems
Friday (10/21) - Problem of the Week #8 (Binary)
Next Week
Next week will be a little bit unusual because I will be out of the classroom for two days. Additionally, the second unit test will be administered on Friday of next week. Below is a schedule so that you and your child can know what to expect.
Monday (10/10) - I will be out of the classroom. Students will work on reviewing a worksheet that reviews Unit 2 skills.
Tuesday (10/11) - We will practice one-step and two-step inequalities together.
Wednesday (10/12) - All John Muir Pre-Algebra teachers will be in a planning workshop. Students will take the Unit 2 Practice Test. They may use the notes from their math journal.
Thursday (10/13) - We will review the Practice Test together and play a review game because...
Friday (10/14) - Students will take Unit Test #2.
Pre-Algebra Announcements & Homework
This week, we will be applying the lessons from the last two weeks on two-step equations (2x + 3 = 5), combining like terms (5x + 8x + 7 = 13x + 7), and the distributive property (3[x - 5] = 3x - 15) together in multi-step equations that involve combining like terms and applying the distributive property (7x - 4[x - 5] + 12 = 35).
Homework for the week is as follows:
Monday (10/3): TB Pg. 126 #12-18 even
Tuesday (10/4): Distributive Property Equations Practice
Wednesday (10/5): TB Pg. 132 #14-20 even
Thursday (10/6): Unit 2 Quiz 3 Practice Problems
Friday (10/7): Problem of the Week #7
