Eighth Grade Math.  I will provide some time at the beginning of the class to finish the percent test from last week for those who need it.  Otherwise the curriculum returns to the subject we started the year with: algebraic manipulation of equations.  As I have stated here before, as students move into high school where algebra 1, geometry and algebra II might be a requirement for a high school diploma, this section is critical to your student's high school success.  We will do many of the things we did at the beginning of the year with a slight increase in complexity.  There are two basic concepts, the idea of "additive inverse" and the idea of "multiplicative inverse," and if a student truly understands these concepts and how to organize their use around the equal sign algebra becomes very simple.

Algebra.  I want to get one more major test in for this grading period.  Essentially it would include the three forms of linear equations covered in the last quiz, problems with direct variation, and finally writing equations that are parallel the graph of an original equation but which goes through a third set of coordinates.  Students have to be able to see the logic that that implies equations of the same slope with different y intercepts.  Likewise, we will write equations that are perpendicular to an original line (slopes are the negative inverse of each other).  Our work will be from page 78 of the workbook.

Monday, Nov. 10

8th Grade Math.

As hopefully you already know, the grades on our percentage test were not good.  Actually there were a lot of good grades and a lot of failing grades, not enough in the middle.  We spent the days we were in school last week going over the problems.  Today I am giving a shortened version of the test with some of the most difficult problems removed.  I will improve the previous grades for students who make a marked improvement this time around.  Wednesday we will be in the computer lab all day with all classes preparing for the spread sheet portion of the computer test.

Algebra.

We have moved pretty quickly through all three forms of linear equations, and in general I feel very positive about how students are doing in both classes.  A special case of linear equations is something called direct variation which simply a linear equation that passes through eh origin.  However, there is some special language used in the way these problems are presented which seems to be causing some confusion.  Today we will work on a worksheet of word problems.  Wednesday we will be in the computer lab all day with all classes preparing for the spread sheet portion of the computer test.

Thurs., Oct. 30th

Eighth Grade Math.  Major test on percent.

Algebra. Last night after watching our football team bring home a decisive victory, I wondered about the intelligence of somebody who give a quiz in which there are multiple correct answers, multiple ways to express the answer and still be right, and multiple parts to five of the questions.  The result: I am sure I won't have these graded until after the long weekend.

Today's lesson will be on "direct variation" (simply linear equations that go through the origin thus allowing for the slope, or the constant of variation, to be simply the ratio of the dependent variable over the independent variable for any  point on the graph.

Wed., Oct. 29th

Eighth Grade Math.  For the last three days I've put together handouts that are made  up of word problems in which the student has to recognize the type of percentage problem it represents and finds the answer.  We have tried giving students time to work the problems in class followed by my explaining and working the problems on the board.  We have tried getting the students in groups in which, hopefully the students with a more solid understanding of the problem would help other students.

Tomorrow I will be giving a test (not a quiz), and every question will be taken directly from those handouts.  My concern is the number I find on the floor and in the hall, and when I collect them as homework, the number of students who don't turn them in.  Granted homework is only 10% of the grade, but tests are 45% and test almost always come directly from the homework.

Algebra.

Students will be finishing their quiz on getting linear equations in three different forms.

Tuesday, Oct. 28th

Eighth Grade Math.  We will divide into groups and solve some word problems involving percentages.  No homework.

Algebra.

Basically we are retaking the same quiz that was intended as a pop quiz last Friday.  Time permitting we will take the 3rd Blue Diamond test today as well.

Monday, Oct. 27th

Eighth Grade Math.

I prepared three pages of word problems involving percentages over the weekend.  We will work on them during class today. 

Algebra.

Why do I like pop-quizzes so well?  They help discover the times we're kidding ourselves.  I came to class Friday with a pop-quiz prepared.  About half way through the period it was apparent that enough students were having significant trouble that clearly they didn't understand what we were doing as well as they thought they did.  At that point I turned the quiz into homework. 

We now have three forms for linear equations: y-intercept, standard and point/slope.  It is absolutely imperative that students be able to take pairs of ordered pairs, a table of data or a linear equation that isn't initially in any of those three forms and write it in a form as directed.  That is what the pop-quiz was about.  We'll review at least today, possibly tomorrow as well and then have another quiz very similar to the one we took Friday.

Fri., Oct. 24th

Eighth Grade Math.  The units have moved from proportionality to finding percent.  We will do a two page worksheet in class today on simply finding what percent one number is of another and finding a given percent of some number.

Algebra.  We'll have a little ten question pop-quiz on getting equations into standard form and finding x and y intercepts as well as writing equations in point/slope form from pairs of coordinates.

Thurs., Oct. 23

Eight Grade Math.  The main message today is that I've graded and returned the proportionality test.  They were returned to your student today.   Tests comprise 45% of the grade and in general there will be two tests a trimester.  Obviously this is an important grade.

Algebra.  We will continue to manipulate linear equations using the point slope form from yesterday's assignment.  The work will center on yesterday's homework: the first 28 problems on page 76 of the workbook.

Wed., Oct. 22

Eighth Grade Math.

Most students finished their test on proportionality yesterday.  Those who need it will have extra time to finish the test today.  The rest of the students will complete a little exercise I am using to introduce our review of percentages.  It involved a discussion of how that residential real estate business works and we will examine the final commission earned by both buyer's and seller's agents when a referral fee is being paid.

Algebra.

We have moved quite rapidly through slope, graphing equations and both the Standard Form and y-intercept forms of linear equations.  My impression is that about 80% of the class is pretty comfortable with those concepts.  Yesterday I introduced the last of the three forms of linear equations, the "point/slope" form.  At least for the next couple of days we sill be moving between all three forms.  Homework will be the first 28 problems on page 76 of the workbook.  I expect that assignment to take us through Friday.

Tues., Oct. 21

I will hand out the first two pages of a four page test today on the concept of proportionality.  I will review, answer questions and work problems as long as students have questions today before handing out the test.  The intention is that they will use at least half the period to ask questions.  They will have at least all day tomorrow to finish the entire test.  They are welcome and encouraged to study and talk to their friends about the questions over night.  My experience is that it provides a learning opportunity.  Also, tomorrow I will answer any questions before handing out the test.

Algebra.

We introduced getting linear equations into Standard Form yesterday and graphing them by finding the x and y intercepts.  We will spend most of today reviewing those operations.  There will be no additional assignment.

Monday, Oct. 20th.

Eighth Grade Math.

Thursday I handed out a worksheet on converting units.  Usually homework is only graded as to whether or not it got turned in.  However, I was clear that this would be graded.  I will allowed those to be turned in today for those who didn't get them in Friday.  Another worksheet that will be graded is calculating the dimensions of an actual building given a scale drawing.  Sixth period class received that handout Friday.  My third period class will get those today.

Algebra. 

Friday I handed a little six problem quiz on find the slope given a pair of ordered pairs back to the 5th period class.  Seventh period will get there's back today.  It is imperative that every student be able to quickly and confidently calculate the slope of a linear function from various forms: ordered pairs, table of data or examining a graph.  Confidence with calculating and understanding the implications of the concept of slope will from the backbone of much of what we do for the next three to four weeks.

Friday students did problems 1 through 20 on page 74 of the workbook in class.  Students had to put an equation in y-intercept from and graph it from knowing the y-intercept and the slope.  Today I will introduce graphing from what is called "Standard Form" from which we will find the intercepts of the x and y axis.

Wednesday, Oct. 15th.

Eighth Grade Math.

Quizzes on proportionality were returned yesterday.  We had an unacceptable number of failing grades.  Today we will do a graded worksheet on converting units (one of the major categories on the quiz).  I'll do another graded worksheet on reading scale drawings tomorrow and either late this week or early next week we will have a test on the same material.  Note that quizzes comprise 35% of the grade while tests comprise 45%.

Algebra.

Yesterday we did some pretty elaborate exercises with the graphing calculators.  If you plan to buy your student TI-83 Plus or a TI-84 I would suggest that now is the time.  And I can promise that that calculator will serve them right though their undergraduate life in college.  I will return the quiz on domain, range and whether or not a relationship is a function today.  Again most of the grades are quite good.  This was one of the easiest quizzes I'll give this year.  But of course you had to understand the definitions.

Monday, Oct. 13th.

Eighth Grade Math.  Primarily we'll be finishing the quiz we started Friday.  Time permitting we will discuss the process of dilating geographical shapes.

Algebra.  We'll take a short quiz on some recently introduced definitions: domain, range, whether or not a relation is a function and dependent and independent variables.  I'll review briefly before the quiz so I'm expecting a lot of 100's.  Homework involves calculating the slope of a function based on either two sets of coordinates or from a graph of a function.  Homework will be all the problems on page 70.

Tues., Oct. 7th.

Eighth Grade Math.  We have gone through a series of problems which involved the concept of proportionality.  The last of which has been to convert a number in one set of units to a different set of units.  For example, most of the boys in my classes know what good speeds are for the 40 yard dash, but if I ask them how fast that person is running they can't really say.  So when I multiply that number by a system of "conversion factors" and they find the person is running at about 14.5 miles per hour for those 40 yds they become more interested.  Those are the problems we worked on yesterday and will continue to work on today.  Ideally they will recognize that it is always a matter of multiplying by a ratio in which the two quantizes are equal to each other, i.e. 3 ft. = 1 yd. or 5280 ft. = 1 mile.  So to convert miles to feet I would multiply by the ratio 5280 ft. : 1 mile.

Algebra.

Today we will talk about some terminology: independent and dependent variables, domain and range of relationships and the formal definition.  We will also so some review graphing of functions.  I expect all the work to get done in class, but the work will come from page 60 of the workbook and page 62 of the workbook.

Monday, Oct. 6thEighth Grade Math.  We will continue to work with Practice 7-6 worksheets involving changing units of measure.

Algebra.

We took a hard quiz late last week which I graded over the weekend.  Between the two classes we had 50 papers.  I had 12 perfect scores, 4 who missed one-half a point and another 9 who only missed one.  Half the classes missed no more then one problem.  Six more only missed one and a half so 31 students received a 95 or better based on the way I graded the papers.  EXCELLENT!!  On the other side I've got a few 60’s and students who made an 80 or an 85 who shouldn't be satisfied.  The concept is tricky and involves a higher level of abstract thinking to really understand why we solve these problems the way we do.  PLEASE ASK TO SEE YOUR STUDENT'S TEST.  I will be contacting the parents of the students who received the failing grades.

Friday, Oct. 3

8th Grade Math.  Today we will talk about converting on from of units to another.  The example the kids get into is if their favorite football player can run the 40 yard dash in 4.8 seconds how many miles an hour is he running?  Notice the conversion from yards per second to miles per hour.  We will consider several examples of converting by multiplying by a ratio which is a conversion factor.

Algebra.

The majority of the day will be spent finishing the quiz they started tomorrow.  Time permitting we will return to our discussion of slope.

Thurs., Oct. 2

8th Grade Math.  I will go over last night's homework fairly carefully.  Time permitting we will go on to a discussion of "units" as a ration.  For example, when we say a car gets 24 miles per gallon mathematically we're talking about a ratio of miles to gallons.

Algebra.

I have an eleven problem quiz on inequalities with absolute value expressions.  Time permitting we will go on with our discussion of slope.

Wed., Oct. 1

Eighth Grade Math.

Homework will be Practice 7-7, Scale Drawings both  B and C.  It will be sent home as a handout and they need to finish both sides.

Algebra.

For some reason I seem to have quite a wide disparity between my 5th and 7th period algebra classes when it comes to solving inequalities that contain absolute value expressions.  I had planned to go on to talking about functions, and this would be the first time we consider linear equations.  However, before we get started today I will have both classes solve problems 13 through 20 on page 44 of the workbook in class as sort of a pre-quiz.

Tuesday, Sept. 30

Eighth Grade Math.  For several days now we have been solving problems with the concept of proportionality using the idea that if two ratios are proportional their cross products are proportional.  Initial examples would be if a cake requires 3 eggs and 2 cups of flour how many cups of flour would we need to use a dozen eggs?  From there we expanded the concept to similar figures.   And today we used the same concept to talk about scale drawings:  if the scale is 3/4 in. = 2 ft. how many feet does 5.5 inches on the drawing represent.  We have had work sheets on all these concepts but most students are getting them completed in class.

Algebra.

This should be the last day to consider inequalities that contain absolute value expressions.  I anticipate giving a quiz on this material either Thurs. or Friday.  The problems are on page 44 of the workbook.

Tuesday, Sept. 23

Eighth Grade Math.  We will have a major test tomorrow, Wednesday.  It will be based on the material covered by the last quiz, applying the rules of exponents, taking square roots and cube roots.  I expect most of today to be dedicated to review.

Algebra.  As expected most of the class finished the homework from page 42 yesterday (compound inequality problems).  Today we will talk about equations with absolute value expressions.  The homework will be problems 21 through 28 on page 44.  Time permitting I will expand that discussion to inequalities that include absolute expressions.

Monday, Sept. 22

Eighth Grade Math.  I'll return last week's quizzes today.  We will have a major test Wednesday, and it will look very much this quiz with the addition of problems involving the laws of exponents.  I will carefully go over the quiz today as a review for the test, and as long as students have questions on that material I won't introduce anything new.

When I no longer have questions I'll introduce our new section: similar figures.  Homework will involve similar figures and applying the concept of proportionality to find the missing dimensions.  If we get to it homework will be Practice 7-6 B&C.

Algebra.  New material today: compound inequalities.  Homework will be from page 42 in the workbook, problems 23 through 38.

Thurs., Sept. 19.

8th Grade Math.  I graded algebra tests all night last night so I'll get the quiz grades from yesterday returned Monday.  Today we'll talk about proportion and we'll do a work sheet in class.

Algebra.  The algebra tests are graded.  I've got a lot of great grades, and I've got several concerns. PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU ASK YOUR STUDENT TO SEE THEIR TEST.  Again, this seemed like a lot of material, but other then the matrix problems and the two story problems every thing else was based on the student's ability to do the basic manipulations to solve a simple equation in one unknown.

Thurs., Sept. 18.

I'm not sure what is going on here.  I know I posted notes for the last two days and yet this is showing my last update having been last Monday.

Eighth Grade Math.

I am giving a pop-quiz today which will cover solving equations with integer coefficients as well as rational coefficients.  I consider the quiz as something of a warm-up/review for a test I'll give early next week that will cover basically the same material.

Algebra. 

I still have some students finishing my test.  As students finish I'll administer the Blue Diamond test scheduled for the current unit.

Monday, Sept. 15

8th Grade Math.  The fancy word for fractions as we grow more mathematically sophisticated is "rational numbers."  And today we are going to talk about operations with rational numbers.  Everybody knows they need a common denominator sometimes when they work with rational numbers (fractions), but many have gotten to the 8th grade and still don't know why or when.  Also if I ask the class how to find three fourths of say 84 at least half the class will reply that they divide by three fourths.  So the next few days will focus on recognizing when to use what operations when working with rational numbers.

Alagebra.  Tues. will be our first major test.  For students who are still undecided as to whether they are in the right class or not, this test will be the final determinant.  There are 34 questions which include solving equations with the variable on both sides of the equal sign, solving a formula for a given variable, operations with matrices, solving and graphing inequalities and finally two story problems involving Rate x Time = Distance.  I reviewed for the test Friday, and I'll review again today.  By review I mean I'll go over what kinds of questions are in the test and answer questions.  If one of the sections exhausts their questions we will go ahead and start the test today.  I try not to make time a major factor in how well people do on tests.  I imagine a number of students will need additional time Friday.  It is perfectly legal (in fact I recommend it) for students to use that night between test sessions to review what they didn't know on the test.

Thurs., Sept 11. I look forward to meeting as many parents as possible tonight at open house.

Eighth Grade Math.  I have a couple of in-class exercises for eighth grade math today.  After reviewing the subject again yesterday I am going to give the class another chance to improve grades on identifying the categories within the real number system.  I also have a handout for homework that is a series of inequality problems that they are they are to solve and graph the solutions.

Algebra.

I'll continue to answer questions regarding the story problems on page 28, but we will move on to something I think everybody will find to be a lot easier: inequalities.  Again, this should be review from last year.  I'm assigning problems 26 through 45 on page 38 of the workbook.  There is still a fair number of students who feel that faced with one of the Rate x time = distance problems by themselves they basically lock up and do not find a way to get started.  Without saying it too loudly I want to make sure that students don’t feel that mastering these problems is a requisite for doing well in the class.  However, they do need to recognize that life does not come at us in the form of equations.  It’s the art of translating the verbal world in which we find ourselves into precise equations that makes mathematics as powerful as it is.

Wed. Sept. 10.

8th Grade Math.  Yesterday we took a fairly substantial pop-quiz on the categories of real numbers, the laws of exponents and solving equations.  For some reason the 6th period class got done sooner then the 3rd period class and I graded most of their papers last night.  In general students did very well applying the laws of exponents, and they retained their ability to solve equations from our work during the first ten days.  However, categorizing real numbers was basically a disaster.  We will spend today going over that material again.

Algebra.  We sent yesterday going over the "rate x time= distance" on page 28 of the workbook.  Frequently this is the student's first experience with fairly complex story problems.  The assignment is all the problems on page 28 and we will go over them again today.

Monday (ahh, a little more adult looking font), Sept. 8.

Please mark your calendars for the Open House this coming Thursday evening.  I look forward to meeting as many parents as possible.

8th Grade Math.  The last two days of last week we went over the classification of the real number system and the laws of exponents.  The classification of real numbers is definitely a bit tedious, but it's simply a matter of memorization and there are only six possible classifications and many of them collapse into each other.  The application of the laws of exponents is extremely important as they will be applied in their high school algebra classes.  I'll be sending a two sided handout home as homework.

Algebra.  Students had so many questions from our problems involving solving a formula for a specified variable (i.e. algebra problems in which almost all the terms are variables) that I didn't get to the rate/time/distance problems. 

The classification system of real numbers is also a part of the algebra colloquium and I will present it today.  It will not involve any homework.

In algebra we introduce some simple manipulation of matrices.  Those of you with technical backgrounds know that the manipulation of large matrices forms the cornerstone of many large mathematical models.  In our case all we do is add, subtract and perform scalar multiplication.  Again, once students are shown the basic concept they find this to be one of the easiest items in the curriculum.  We will go over this material today, and again it will not be necessary to assign any homework.

 It appears that my posing from Wed. didn't make it for some reason.

Fri., Sept. 5th

8th Grade Math.  We took another short five question quiz Wednesday and in general the grades were good.  Over the next few days I'll be taking a break from solving simple algebraic equations and we'll learn something about how the real number system is broken down, as well as introducing the laws of exponents.  The first homework on that material will be Monday.

Algebra.

Algebra also had another quiz on Wednesday, and I am happy to report that most students who had trouble on the first quiz showed a marked improvement.  Over the last two days we have worked on solving formulas for a specified variable.  And today I'll introduce the somewhat infamous algebra story problems of the following type:  if on train leaves the station at 10:00 a.m. going 60mph and another train leaves at noon going the same direction going 85mph at what time will the trains catch each other (lets assume they are on parallel tracks:-).  These are great problems for students to see how easily they can tease out fairly non-intuitive answers by applying their algebra skills.  I won't assign the homework until Monday (I'm not a big fan of homework over the weekend) but homework will be all the problems on page 28 of the workbook.

Tues. Sept. 2

8th Grade Math.

We took a quiz consisting of 15 problems last Friday.  The good news is that I had 22 A's out of 54 students.  Of course the bad news is the number of failing grades.  Students need to understand that even if they are promoted to high school with intervention that means they will be taking a lower level math.  And the state requirements for graduating with a high school diploma include algebra 1 and two other years of high school mathematics.  What we are learning now, the ability to solve an equation in one variable forms the backbone of their further high school math experience.

Algebra.

Algebra students also took their first quiz Friday.  Out of 32 students in my 5th period class 17 got A's (9 perfect papers).  In my 7th period class of 30 students we had 21 A's (8 perfect papers).  Those are strong results, but frankly I would not have expected anything less.  The quiz was over material that should have been rock solid when they left compacted math last year.  Also, we spent the entire week review two sets of homework, and the quiz was taken from the first set of homework.  As a consequence for students who missed five or more problems there needs to be serious consideration as to whether that student is placed in the correct class.  Eighth grade math is a very strong pre-algebra class, and frequently that additional year of maturity allows for a much stronger performance when students wait and take algebra during their first year of high school.

We have swictched edition of SchoolNotes we are using.  It would appear that the notes from the old page are no longer available, and of course I have no idea if parents who signed up to be notified when I ammend SchoolNotes are still getting notified. 

Wednesday, 8/27

Here I am with SchoolNotes new format, and evidentially all previous entries have been lost.

8th Grade Math.

We appear to be off to the best start yet in student's grasp of these basic algebraic manipulations around an equal sign.  Today I'll introduce the idea of inequalities and the fact that all the techniques they have learned using an equal sign apply to inequalities (with one exception which of course I'll explain to the class).  We will have a short quiz (probably 15 problems) Friday.  The quiz will be on evaluating algebraic expressions, i.e. plugging in a value for the variable, and solving equations with the techniques we have practiced this week.  In case you are worried, no homework has been sent home.  With 60 minute periods and learning new techniques we are doing problems in class so I can be there to correct mistakes immediately.

Algebra.

All 45 problems on page 24 of the workbook have been assigned and we’ve spent the last two days reviewing them.  If your student still feels lost then we really need to consider whether or not he or she is properly place in algebra.  These are the same basic skills I’ve been teaching I the 8^th grade math class, and students should have left compacted math feeling completely confident doing something as simple as solving equations in one unknown.  Friday I will be giving a quiz.  There will be 15 problems taken from page 24 of the workbook—their homework for the last two days.  Of course I’ll change the numbers in the problems, but the form of the problems will be exactly as they were in the homework.