Days 68-72, Dec. 5-9

Algebra 1 – We’ve been working on solving systems of equations using the elimination method for part of the week, then the lesson was on picking the most efficient way to solve a system based on the system. It was good because the kids had to say WHY they chose their method. On Thursday I gave the kids some puzzles I had saved. I really like the rectangle puzzle – but it was a little frustrating for period 2. They wanted to divide by 5. We talked about what the perimeter is of a rectangle, then labeled the sides with length or width. They got the first equation, then one group saw the second equation of comparing the sides and shared that with the class, so eventually everyone solved it.

The second problem was the problem with Ivan, Acrobats and Grandmas. It doesn’t need to be solved with systems, but it can be solved with systems. It’s just a fun problem.

Math 7 CP – We continued working on Barbie Proportions, calculating what Barbie’s measurements would be if she was the height of the person measured. Then we compared the person’s measurements to Barbie’s to see if Barbie would look “realistic” or not! It turns out her neck would be too long, and her feet would be too small – way too small! On Wednesday we went over the homework from Monday and Tuesday (the kids go up and explain how they did each problem and we need to make corrections sometimes but I think it’s totally worth it) and then I read them the poem “If You Were One Inch Tall” by Shel Silverstein. Their assignment was to write a similar poem, but using a different measurement with similar comparisons. Finishing the poem was their homework for 2 nights, I collected it today (Monday). On Thursday we did Double Clothesline Math by Andrew Stadel & Chris Shore. The kids worked on the questions then we talked about the different ways they solved them. We did several problems – I think it worked really well. On Friday I was out of town at a memorial for my Aunt in Virginia and the kids worked on solving proportions – they had to tell me if they used a relationship or cross-multiplied to solve them, and what the relationship was. Hopefully it made them think a little and not just be a robot!

Math 7 Accelerated – This was the final week of chapter 3, solving equations. I really wish we hadn’t done that big equations unit at the beginning of the year – it was really hard and this chapter was on equations…and it was well done and had great mixed practice homework so we didn’t want to skip it!  Next year we’ll change it to just starting with this book I think.

The class worked on figuring out how many solutions the equation would have, and wrote equations to solve problems. On Friday they did a review on showing an problem as a graph, tile pattern, table and the equation. Today I walked around and looked at their graphs – too many kids need to remember to use a ruler, use the space accurately – when should they make a 1 quadrant vs 4 quadrant graph, and to label!