Here is a recent photo I took when I was in Duluth. What do you see? You can write a summary of any math that you see, along with an explanation (in your own words) and receive some extra credit.
Something to Think About!
Later,
Mr C
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
A Picture is Worth...
I consider myself an amateur photographer even though my wife and I actually earn some money from what we do. I love taking pictures and I often feel that I take too many. I have started to gather photos of architecture, design, nature, and just about anything else that in one way or another shows how MATHEMATICS surrounds us. I want to share many of these and use them in classroom discussions. I am also extending an open invitation to all math students to join me in taking "Snapshots of Math".
Here is a recent photo I took when I was in Duluth. What do you see? You can write a summary of any math that you see, along with an explanation (in your own words) and receive some extra credit.
Here is a recent photo I took when I was in Duluth. What do you see? You can write a summary of any math that you see, along with an explanation (in your own words) and receive some extra credit.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
What is a Formula?
Today's Algebra 2 discussion was about formulas. What are they? What are examples that we use? and How do we work with them? I was easy on my students as I only gave them about 9 problems to do for tomorrow.
Enriched Geometry students tackled the Midpoint formulas today and did a heck of a job. Next up is the DISTANCE FORMULA! Anyone good a rapping? Maybe we can come up with a rhyme and some rhythm to help us remember it. I'm gonna need a lot of help because my musical abilities are quite limited.
Onward
Mr C
Enriched Geometry students tackled the Midpoint formulas today and did a heck of a job. Next up is the DISTANCE FORMULA! Anyone good a rapping? Maybe we can come up with a rhyme and some rhythm to help us remember it. I'm gonna need a lot of help because my musical abilities are quite limited.
Onward
Mr C
Monday Scorcher
It was plenty warm in my room today...we are not used to the warm weather and the air conditioning was not functioning in a lot of the building. We still managed to be productive.
Algebra 2 spent another day reviewing linear equations and looked at solving when we have fractions and decimals. We also looked at the situations where our solution to the equation is ALL REAL NUMBERS or NO SOLUTION. We then worked out of our textbooks. CH 1.3 #33 - 60 every 3rd, 63, 65, and 72.
Enriched Geometry students were introduced to their first POSTULATES today. The biggest one being the segment addition postulate. There are a lot of notations and symbols that students have to get used to. My two classes are pretty sharp and they are picking up on things quickly. The assignment for today was out of the textbook for Ch 1.2 page #12
We're moving right along!
On to Tuesday
Mr C
Algebra 2 spent another day reviewing linear equations and looked at solving when we have fractions and decimals. We also looked at the situations where our solution to the equation is ALL REAL NUMBERS or NO SOLUTION. We then worked out of our textbooks. CH 1.3 #33 - 60 every 3rd, 63, 65, and 72.
Enriched Geometry students were introduced to their first POSTULATES today. The biggest one being the segment addition postulate. There are a lot of notations and symbols that students have to get used to. My two classes are pretty sharp and they are picking up on things quickly. The assignment for today was out of the textbook for Ch 1.2 page #12
We're moving right along!
On to Tuesday
Mr C
Friday, September 11, 2009
The First of Many Friday's
Week #1 was a success!
All if my classes did a great job of transitioning back into "student" mode. We had some rally great discussions in each class and students in my Algebra 2 classes are showing off their linear algebra skills. Solving equations is "old hat" these days and we can move on to bigger and better things. Next up...problem solving techniques.
Enriched Geometry students took it easy today by working on the "Who I Am" activity. It's always fun to find out uniques/interesting things about my students, for example one of them absolutely loves to eat lutefisk while another thinks chocolate milk and laffy taffy are food groups.
Have a Great Weekend and I will see you MONDAY!
Mr C
All if my classes did a great job of transitioning back into "student" mode. We had some rally great discussions in each class and students in my Algebra 2 classes are showing off their linear algebra skills. Solving equations is "old hat" these days and we can move on to bigger and better things. Next up...problem solving techniques.
Enriched Geometry students took it easy today by working on the "Who I Am" activity. It's always fun to find out uniques/interesting things about my students, for example one of them absolutely loves to eat lutefisk while another thinks chocolate milk and laffy taffy are food groups.
Have a Great Weekend and I will see you MONDAY!
Mr C
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Tomorrow is our First Friday of the Year...
We made it through picture day at NBAHS. Despite the interupptions of students coming and going we were able to be productive.
Algebra 2 took time for some Q/A on the Ch 1.1 assignment. Unit conversions seemed to be the trickiest part. Students need to complete and make corrections for that assignment as itr is due tomorrow. We then went through some expamples of powers, algebraic expressions, and following the order of operations. Remember PEMDAS? One student remembers it by Purple Elephants Munching Down Appple Sauce or something like that...For an assignment we broke out our workbooks and did Page 3 #2 - 18 evens.
Enriched Geometry started with a review of yesterdays lesson. Numerous students in each class got the opportunity to tell the class what they learned about points, lines, and planes. Tremendous job done by all!
We then continued with the lesson and took some time to talk about COLLINEAR and COPLANAR POINTS. Sometimes the spatial visualization aspects of geometry is frustrating for students. Some even struggle sketching a cube to make it look 3-d on thier papers. Plenty of practice will help. Another point of emphasis today was the idea of intersect/intersection of points, lines, and planes. Homework for today was in your workbooks, pages 1 - 3 (all 29 problems).
I'm still working on the names and faces. I always make it a challenge to know all students by the time we take our first test.
Until Tomorrow,
Mr C
Algebra 2 took time for some Q/A on the Ch 1.1 assignment. Unit conversions seemed to be the trickiest part. Students need to complete and make corrections for that assignment as itr is due tomorrow. We then went through some expamples of powers, algebraic expressions, and following the order of operations. Remember PEMDAS? One student remembers it by Purple Elephants Munching Down Appple Sauce or something like that...For an assignment we broke out our workbooks and did Page 3 #2 - 18 evens.
Enriched Geometry started with a review of yesterdays lesson. Numerous students in each class got the opportunity to tell the class what they learned about points, lines, and planes. Tremendous job done by all!
We then continued with the lesson and took some time to talk about COLLINEAR and COPLANAR POINTS. Sometimes the spatial visualization aspects of geometry is frustrating for students. Some even struggle sketching a cube to make it look 3-d on thier papers. Plenty of practice will help. Another point of emphasis today was the idea of intersect/intersection of points, lines, and planes. Homework for today was in your workbooks, pages 1 - 3 (all 29 problems).
I'm still working on the names and faces. I always make it a challenge to know all students by the time we take our first test.
Until Tomorrow,
Mr C
Wednesday's Review
How big is 1 trillion? How many millions are in a trillion? This was our class opening discussion. Only about 1 in 5 adults can answer this correctly. How did your parent's answer it?
My classes got their textbooks today! I could tell they were totally thrilled. I even gave my Algebra 2 classes some homework to do. To top that I made my Enriched Geometry students take notes.
OK, so here is what we talked about. In EG we looked at the essentials of Geometry which include trhee undefined terms, POINT, LINE, and PLANE. We had very good class discussions and many students offered their inputs and ideas...GREAT WORK!
Algebra 2 students did a quick review discussion on number sense including the system of real numbers.
My classes got their textbooks today! I could tell they were totally thrilled. I even gave my Algebra 2 classes some homework to do. To top that I made my Enriched Geometry students take notes.
OK, so here is what we talked about. In EG we looked at the essentials of Geometry which include trhee undefined terms, POINT, LINE, and PLANE. We had very good class discussions and many students offered their inputs and ideas...GREAT WORK!
Algebra 2 students did a quick review discussion on number sense including the system of real numbers.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Day 1 is done...it's GREAT to be BACK!
It was great seeing everyone today. We got through some of the general first day stuff and even got our brains back in to gear.
Remember...Be on Time, Be Prepared, Be Respectful...Be Responsible for your own learning!
Tomorrow we will look a little closer at our expectations for this year and probably even had out textbooks.
Here is a recap of some of the things we looked at today:
We looked at a few pictures and discussed what we saw...one was an optical illusion and the other was a diagram with some numbers(shown below).
Can you find at least three methods for solving this?
The class discussions were awesome for the first day of school. I can't wait to really see what my students can do with math.
Until tomorrow,
Mr C
Remember...Be on Time, Be Prepared, Be Respectful...Be Responsible for your own learning!
Tomorrow we will look a little closer at our expectations for this year and probably even had out textbooks.
Here is a recap of some of the things we looked at today:
We looked at a few pictures and discussed what we saw...one was an optical illusion and the other was a diagram with some numbers(shown below).
What Can You Do With This
My Algebra 2 classes were presented with this problem that I found on MathNotations
After 4 tests, Barry's average score was 5 points higher than Michelle's. After the 5th test, Michelle's overall average was 5 points higher than Barry's. Michelle's score on the 5th test was how many points higher than Barry's?
Can you find at least three methods for solving this?
The class discussions were awesome for the first day of school. I can't wait to really see what my students can do with math.
Until tomorrow,
Mr C
Sunday, September 6, 2009
The excitement and anticipation is getting to me...
Tuesday will be here soon and I can't wait to get a good start on the new school year. This year we will operate under a simple but powerful slogan..."LEARN". We will spend a lot of time in discussions about what it means to learn math and how do we really know when we have achieved true learning.
Get ready...make sure you are set to go...we will be starting on Tuesday with our journey of learning math. It will be a challenge that I encourage each and everyone of you to take. There is a lot at stake for you as students. I hope all of you have some pretty high expectations and bring with you some lofty goals for both your education and your personal life. Get ready and excited for the 2009-2010 school year.
See You on Tuesday!
Mr C
Get ready...make sure you are set to go...we will be starting on Tuesday with our journey of learning math. It will be a challenge that I encourage each and everyone of you to take. There is a lot at stake for you as students. I hope all of you have some pretty high expectations and bring with you some lofty goals for both your education and your personal life. Get ready and excited for the 2009-2010 school year.
See You on Tuesday!
Mr C
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)