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:
• User: 6math16 for 6th grade and prealgebra79 for Pre-Algebra
• Password: johnmuir (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)

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:

Monday (9/20): Subtraction Worksheet Part 1

Tuesday (9/21): Subtraction Worksheet Part 2

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:

Monday (9/20): WB Pg. 23 #11-15, WB Pg. 24 #4-8

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)

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)

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:

Tuesday (9/7): Unit 1 Study Guide Problems #1-10

Wednesday (9/8): Unit 1 Study Guide Problems #11-20

Thursday (9/9): Unit 1 Study Guide Problems #21-24

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

Thursday (9/9): Worksheet Chapter 1 Review

Friday (9/10): No HW (Quiz 3 today)

Week 3 - Clubs Start

This is our third week of school and we are starting to fall into routine.  Not only will we be following the regular schedule all week, but clubs begin meeting!  All after school activities including Homework Center, Math Lab, Hiking Club, Technology Club, and Ballroom Dance Club will be meeting this week.

Club	Location	Days	Time
Homework Center	Library	Mondays Wednesdays Thursdays	2:15pm - 4:15pm
Math Lab	Room 802	Wednesdays* Thursdays	2:15pm - 3:15pm

*I work in the Math Lab on Wednesdays

Homework Center is for all subjects and is staffed by teachers from all disciplines.

Math Lab is just for math and is staffed by math teachers.

Another reminder: Back to School night is Wednesday evening from 6pm - 8pm.  You will be following your child's schedule throughout the night to meet their teachers.  Children and families are all welcome to attend.  I hope to see you there!

6th Grade Announcements & Homework

This week, we will be studying expressions, exponents, and order of operations.  We try to avoid using the acronym PEMDAS because it leads students to believe incorrectly that multiplication always comes before division and addition always comes before subtractions.

Homework for the week is as follows:

Monday (8/30): WB 1-2 #1-19 odd

Tuesday (8/31): WB 1-3 left column problems (#1,4,7,10, 13, 16, 19, 22, 25, 26)

Wednesday (9/1): WB 1-5 #5-19 odd

Thursday (9/2): Quiz 2 Practice Problems

Friday (9/3): No HW (Quiz 2: Exponents, Expressions, & Order of Operations today)

Pre-Algebra Announcements & Homework

This week, we will be completing our review of integers by multiplying and dividing positive and negative integers and solving one-step equations with positive and negative integers.  We will have a quiz on Thursday that covers all of chapter 1.

Homework for the week is as follows:

Monday (8/30): TB Pg. 28 #26-38 even, TB Pg. 29 #46-49

Tuesday (8/31): TB Pg. 39 #33-42

Wednesday (9/1): Quiz 2 Practice Problems

Thursday (9/2): Quiz 1 Re-work

Friday (3/3): WB Pg. 6 #25-34

Benchmark Week

This week, all students will be taking district-mandated benchmarks.  Language Arts, Social Studies, Science, and Math will each be administering a test.  Electives, PE, and intervention classes (math lab, writing lab, etc.) will be having regular class.  The benchmark that the students will be taking in math class is a cumulative exam covering material that has not been taught yet.  It will be the exact same benchmark that the students will take in the spring to see how much growth the students have made from the beginning of the year and is an indicator of success on the CST (California Standards Test).  I will not be including the results of this benchmark in the student grade, but students should try to do their best.

This Wednesday (8/25) is Picture Day.
Next Wednesday (9/1) is Back to School Night.  Hope to see you there!

Because of the benchmarks, we will be having block scheduling on Tuesday and Thursday this week.  The schedule is below.

Tuesday:

7:35 - 9:30	Period 1
9:30 - 9:42	Break
9:47 - 11:42	Period 3
11:42-12:12	Lunch
12:17-2:12	Period 5

Thursday:

7:35 - 9:30	Period 2
9:30 - 9:42	Break
9:47 - 11:42	Period 4
11:42-12:12	Lunch
12:17-2:12	Period 6

Homework assigned on Monday will be graded on Wednesday and homework assigned on Wednesday will be graded on Friday.

6th Grade Announcements & Homework

This week, we will be continuing our study of one-step equations.  We will be solving them by adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing.  Textbooks (TB) and Workbooks (WB) will be distributed on Monday.  Homework will mostly be out of the WB or worksheets.  

Homework for the week is as follows:

Monday (8/23): WB 1-8 #1-7 odd, WB 1-9 #1-7 odd, WB 1-10 #10-16 even

Tuesday (8/24): No HW (Benchmark)

Wednesday (8/25): WB 1-11 #10-20 even, Quiz 1 Practice Problems

Thursday (8/26): No HW (Benchmark)

Friday (8/27): No HW (Quiz 1: One-Step Equations today)

Pre-Algebra Announcements & Homework

This week, we will be adding and subtracting integers.  

Homework for the week is as follows:

Monday (8/23): WB Pg. 4 #10-20 even

Tuesday (8/24): No HW (Benchmark)

Wednesday (8/25): TB Pg. 24 #22-31 (required), Quiz 1 Practice Problems (extra credit)

Thursday (8/26): No HW (Benchmark)

Friday (8/27): No HW (Quiz 1 today)

Welcome, everyone!

Welcome to the official website of Ms. Li's Room 504 Mathletes!  I am very excited to teach 6th grade math and Pre-Algebra this year.

I want to make sure that people that support my students (parents, older siblings, guardians, etc.) are kept up to date and have a place to see archived information regarding the classes.  On this website, I will be posting announcements, the topics being covered in class for the week, as well as homework for the week.  This year, I'm also trying something new: dropbox.  I'm planning to post worksheets and other important documents online so that you can have access to it to reprint if something gets lost.

Other important websites to bookmark:

John Muir School Website - http://www.sjusd.org/school/john_muir

This website has school-wide announcements and information

Parent Internet Viewer - https://sjusd.gradebook.net/Pinnacle/PIV

This website allows you to check grades for each class, missing assignments, tardies, and absences.  You will need a user name and password, which should be distributed in the next two weeks.  If you lose that information, you can request it by coming to the Main Office at school.

Textbook Website: http://my.hrw.com

This website has all of the textbook and workbook pages available as pdf downloads.  There are also extra quizzes and other helpful tools.  You need a username and password.  

6th Grade Username: 6math16

Pre-Algebra Username: prealgebra79

Password (for both): johnmuir

Textbooks (TB) and workbooks (WB) will be distributed this week.  Homework will be assigned from these two sources.  

Below is my current schedule for the 2010-2011 school year:

1st period: 6th Grade Math
2nd period: 6th Grade Math
3rd period: Pre-Algebra
4th period: Pre-Algebra (7th grade)
5th period: Prep
6th period: 6th Grade Math

Thank you to all of the 6th graders who attended the Summer Bridges program and took the math placement test.  There are still about 25 students who need to take the test and may need to change math classes following the results of the test.  If your child scored Advanced on the 5th grade math CST and you feel like they should be in the advanced 6th grade math section, please contact our Assistant Principal of Instruction Jen Long Bauer by calling (408) 535-2681 x263 to add them to the list of 6th graders who will be taking the placement test on Wednesday (8/18/10).

For the 6th graders in my Pre-Algebra section (period 3), please ignore the announcements I make to 6th Grade Math and reference the Pre-Algebra notes instead.

6th Grade Announcements & Homework

This week, we will be going over necessary materials, classroom procedures, classroom expectations, and setting our goals for the year.  We will also be learning the divisibility rules, which help us determine whether or not a number is divisible by 2, 5, and 10.

Homework for the week is as follows:

Monday (8/16): Syllabus Signature

Tuesday (8/17): Student Interest Survey

Wednesday (8/18): Big Goals, WB 1-7 #1-23 odd

Thursday (8/19): Quiz 0 Practice Problems

Friday (8/20): No HW (Quiz 0 today)

There will be assemblies during class on Friday, so those classes attending the assembly during math class will have a take-home quiz instead, which will be due on Monday.

Pre-Algebra Announcements & Homework

This week, we will be going over necessary materials, classroom procedures, classroom expectations, and setting our goals for the year.  We will also be reviewing how to evaluate expressions and exponents, write and translate algebraic expressions, and practice integer operations and absolute value.

Homework for the week is as follows:

Monday (8/16): Syllabus Signature

Tuesday (8/17): Student Interest Survey

Wednesday (8/18): WB Pg. 2 #1-13 odd

Thursday (8/19): Translating Expressions Worksheet #1-12

Friday (8/20): Integer Worksheet odd numbers only