Monday, May 2, 2011

We began with this opener (pdf).

Today's lesson (pdf) was practicing solving rational equations.

Your homework for Wednesday is:

1. Complete the Solving Rational Equations Online Pre-Assessment.
   
   
2. Prepare for our Skype conversation on Wednesday.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

We began by taking our assessment over Multiplying, Dividing and Simplifying Rational Expressions (key, pdf).

Due to the very short class, today's lesson (pdf) was just a couple of review problems.

Your homework for Thursday is:

1. Check the portal for the results of your assessment, fill out your student checklist with your results, and make a plan for retake (if necessary), including making an appointment.
   
   
2. By no later than midnight on Friday, read about our next Skype session and submit at least one question.
   
   
3. Complete the Adding and Subtracting Rational Expressions online pre-assessment.

Friday, April 22, 2011

We began with this opener (pdf).

Today's  lesson (pdf) was over how to divide rational expressions.

Your homework for Monday is:

1. Finish the worksheet (key, pdf) if necessary. Do only as many as you need to.
   
   
2. Complete the Multiplying, Dividing and Simplifying Rationals Online Pre-Assessment

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

We began with our Graphing Quadratic Equations assessment (key, pdf).

Today's lesson (pdf) was reviewing the use of the Quadratic Formula and then exploring the use of quadratics to model a basketball shot.

Your homework for Thursday and Friday is:

1. Check the portal for the results of your assessment, fill out your student checklist with your results, and make a plan for retake (if necessary), including making an appointment.
   
   
2. We'll be taking the MAP test tomorrow. Please report directly to the Media Center Computer Lab. Please get a good night's sleep and get here on time so that you can do your best.
   
   
3. We'll take the Quadratic Formula assessment on Friday. Please complete the Quadratic Formula Online Pre-Assessment tonight. If you have any questions, please get some help sometime tomorrow before the assessment on Friday.

Friday, April 8, 2011

We began with our opener (pdf).

Today's lesson (pdf) was practicing how to graph y = ax² + bx + c.

Your homework for Monday is:

1. Complete the worksheet (pdf). We did #1, 2, 5, and 6 together, please work on the rest. #8-10 might be tricky for you, but give them a shot.
   
   
2. Complete the Graphing y = ax² + bx + c Online Pre-Assessment.
   
   
3. If you want to put our opener about the U.S. budget into another perspective that might help you get a handle on the magnitude of 0.15%, find 0.15% of:
   
          a) Your current weight.
   
          b) The average price of a new car sold in the United States.

Monday, April 4, 2011

Today's opener (pdf).

Today's lesson (pdf) was practicing with the Pythagorean Theorem.

Your homework for Wednesday is:

1. Finish the worksheet (pdf) if necessary.
   
   
2. Complete the Pythagorean Theorem Online Pre-Assessment.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

We began with this opener (pdf).

Today's lesson (pdf) was reviewing solving quadratic equations by factoring and simplifying radicals.

Your homework for Thursday is:

1. Prepare for the Solving Quadratic Equations by Factoring Assessment on Thursday. There are a variety of ways to do that including, but not limited to: review the online pre-assessment; review your notebook and/or the openers and lessons posted on the blog; review the video, work some practice problems in your textbook or that you find online. You can, of course, also get help from me, another math teacher, a teacher in the Study Center, a peer tutor in the Study Center, or a parent, sibling or friend. Do whatever works best for you, but make sure you're prepared. The expectation is that you should all be able to do very well on this assessment.
   
   
2. Complete the Simplifying Radicals Online Pre-Assessment.

Monday, March 28, 2011

Welcome back. We began with this opener (pdf).

Today's lesson (pdf) was about simplifying radicals.

Your homework for Wednesday is:

1. Complete the Solve Quadratic Equations by Factoring Online Pre-Assessment.
   
   
2. Watch the Simplify Radical Expressions video.
   
   
   

Monday, February 28, 2011

We began with our assessment over Multiplying Polynomials (pdf).

Today's lesson (pdf) was reviewing factoring ax² + bx + c and then exploring special products and factors.

Your homework for Wednesday is:

1. Check the portal for the results of your assessment, fill out your student checklist with your results, and make a plan for retake (if necessary), including making an appointment.
   
   
2. Complete the Factoring ax² + bx + c Online Pre-Assessment.
   
   
3. Watch the Special Products and Factors video.
   
   
   
   
4. Finish your parent/teacher conference reflection by midnight tonight.
   
   
5. Continue to practice with polynomials.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

We began with our assessment over Adding and Subtracting Polynomials (pdf).

Today's lesson (pdf) was reviewing factoring by grouping and then exploring factoring trinomials using Algebra Tiles.

Your homework for Friday is:

1. Check the portal for the results of your assessment, fill out your student checklist with your results, and make a plan for retake (if necessary), including making an appointment.
   
   
2. Complete the Multiplying Polynomials Online Pre-Assessment.
   
   
3. Watch the Factoring ax² + bx + c video.
   
   
   
   
4. Between now and Monday, do some factoring ax²+bx+c practice, as well as factoring by grouping practice.
   
   
5. No later than by midnight on Monday, complete your reflection for parent/teacher/hopefullystudent conferences. Like last time, you should do this in a Google Doc.
   
   a) Create a new Google Doc and title it "Your Name 2nd Semester Conferences Reflection."
   
   b) Write to the following prompt (but don't be limited by it - you can write about additional stuff as well if you feel it's important):
   
   Parent/Teacher Conferences are coming up next week. Since these conferences are about you, I think you should be there. It makes very little sense to me that we should have a conference about you and you’re not there, so I’m encouraging your parents to come and to bring you with them. Please bring your Algebra notebook as well, so that we can look at your work if we need to.
   
   Whether you end up attending or not, I want you to spend some time thinking about what you want your parents to know about this class and how you are doing. Here are some questions for you to respond to (all in terms of second semester):
   
   What’s going well for you?
   
   What’s challenging for you?
   
   What could I do as your teacher that would help you be more successful?
   
   What could you do as a student that would help you be more successful?
   
   Is there anything your parents can do to help you be more successful?
   
   Is there anything else you think your parents should know about this class or about how you are doing in this class?
   
   Please be thoughtful and specific in your responses, and please don't wait until the last minute, as I want you to put some real thought into this. The more you put into it, the more valuable it will be for you, me and your parents. Thanks.
   
   c) After you've completed your response, simply drag and drop the document into our shared folder (Algebra-Fisch-YourName) - you may have to expand (by clicking on the arrow) "Collections shared with me" first in order to see the shared folder. If you need help, please ask.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

We began with our opener (pdf).

Today's lesson (pdf) was reviewing divisibility rules and then learning about finding the Greatest Common Factor (GCF) of a polynomial.

Your homework for next Wednesday is:

1. Watch the Factoring Polynomials using GCF video.
   
   
   
   
2. Complete the Adding and Subtracting Polynomials Online Pre-Assessment.
   
   
3. Complete #1e and f and #2d, e and f from yesterday's worksheet lesson (pdf).
   
   
4. Take Friday off from Algebra. Maybe even Saturday. But spend at least 20 minutes on Algebra each day on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Some possibilities:
   
   Go over the review worksheet.
   
   Work some Adding and Subtracting Polynomial problems
   
   Work some Multiplying Polynomials problems (here and here).
   
   Review the videos on Adding and Subtracting Polynomials, Multiplying Polynomials, and GCF (above).
   
   Prepare yourself to do well over the next few weeks.

Friday, February 11, 2011

We began with our assessment over polygon angle sums (key, pdf).

Today's lesson (pdf) was a Carnegie Hall Day: practice, practice, practice.

Your homework for Monday is:

1. Check the portal for the results of your assessment, fill out your student checklist with your results, and make a plan for retake (if necessary), including making an appointment.
   
   
2. Complete the Perimeter, Circumference and Area Online Pre-Assessment.
   
   
3. If you haven't yet, finish the Perimeter, Circumference and Area worksheet from yesterday.
   
   
4. If you didn't finish in class, finish today's review worksheet by Wednesday.
   

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

We began with our opener (pdf).

Today's lesson (pdf) discussed angle sums in polygons.

Your homework for Thursday is:

1. Finish problems 4 and 5 on the last page of the lesson (pdf).
   
   
2. Prepare for the Polygons Assessment on Thursday. There are a variety of ways to do that including, but not limited to: review the online pre-assessment; review your notebook and/or the openers and lessons posted on the blog; review the video, work some practice problems in your textbook or that you find online. You can, of course, also get help from me, another math teacher, a teacher in the Study Center, a peer tutor in the Study Center, or a parent, sibling or friend. Do whatever works best for you, but make sure you're prepared. The expectation is that you should all be able to do very well on this assessment.
   
   
3. Complete the Angle Sums Online Pre-Assessment.

Monday, February 7, 2011

We began with our opener (pdf).

Today's lesson (pdf) discussed special quadrilaterals.

Your homework for Wednesday is:

1. Complete the Polygons Online Pre-Assessment.

Monday, January 31, 2011

We began with our assessment over Measures of Central Tendency (pdf).

Today's lesson (pdf) was a review of Five-Number Summaries, Box-and-Whiskers Plots, Stem-and-Leaf Plots and Histograms.

Your homework for Wednesday is:

1. Check the portal for the results of your assessment, fill out your student checklist with your results, and make a plan for retake (if necessary), including making an appointment.
   
   
2. Complete the review worksheet we worked on in class - if you didn't finish - lesson (pdf).
   
   
3. Complete the Data Graphs Online Pre-Assessment.

Friday, January 28, 2011

We began with our opener (pdf).

Today's lesson (pdf) discussed Stem and Leaf Plots and Histograms.

Your homework for Monday is:

1. Prepare for the Measures of Central Tendency and Dispersion Assessment on Monday. There are a variety of ways to do that including, but not limited to: review the online pre-assessment; review your notebook and/or the openers and lessons posted on the blog; review the video, work some practice problems in your textbook or that you find online. You can, of course, also get help from me, another math teacher, a teacher in the Study Center, a peer tutor in the Study Center, or a parent, sibling or friend. Do whatever works best for you, but make sure you're prepared. The expectation is that you should all be able to do very well on this assessment.
   
   
2. If you haven't already, finish the Median Weekly Earning worksheet.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

We began with our assessment over Permutations and Combinations (key, pdf).

Today's lesson (pdf) discussed five-numbers summaries and box-and-whiskers graphs.

Your homework for Friday is:

1. Check the portal for the results of your assessment, fill out your student checklist with your results, and make a plan for retake (if necessary), including making an appointment.
   
   
2. Finish step 6 and 7 from yesterday's worksheet - page 4 of the lesson (pdf).
   
   
3. Complete the Measures of Central Tendency Online Pre-Assessment.
   
   
4. If you didn't finish in class, the Weekly Median Earnings worksheet is due Monday - page 4 of today's  lesson (pdf)

Monday, January 24, 2011

We began with our assessment over Probability and Odds (key, pdf).

Today's lesson (pdf) looked at both permutations and combinations and we talked about how to determine which one to use.

Your homework for Wednesday is:

1. Check the portal for the results of your assessment, fill out your student checklist with your results, and make a plan for retake (if necessary), including making an appointment.
   
   
2. Complete the Permutations and Combinations Online Pre-Assessment.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Today's opener (pdf).

Today's lesson (pdf) discussed the counting principle and permutations.

Your homework for tonight is:

1.  Complete the Probability and Odds Pre-Assessment.
   
   
2. Watch (including completing the Guided Practice and Self-Check sections) the Permutations video.
   
   
   
   
3. Figure out the factorial (!) and Permutations (nPr) buttons on your calculator (Scientific Calculator: Typically the shift or 2nd button, then a key; Graphing Calculators: look in the Math Menu, then arrow over to PRB menu). If you don't have these buttons, pay special attention to the formulas in the video and how to calculate factorial and permutations "manually" with your calculator.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

We began with the Exponent Properties Involving Quotients Assessment (key, pdf).

Today's lesson (pdf) reviewed a little bit about Zero and Negative Exponents and Scientific Notation.

Your homework for tonight is:

1. Check the portal for the results of your assessment, fill out your student checklist with your results, and make a plan for retake (if necessary), including making an appointment.
   
   
2. Finish the last problem on page 3 of the lesson (pdf).
   
   
3. Complete the Scientific Notation Online Pre-Assessment.
   
   
4. Prepare for the Zero and Negative Exponents assessment on Thursday. There are a variety of ways to do that including, but not limited to: review the online pre-assessment; review your notebook and/or the openers and lessons posted on the blog; review the video, work some practice problems in your textbook or that you find online. You can, of course, also get help from me, another math teacher, a teacher in the Study Center, a peer tutor in the Study Center, or a parent, sibling or friend. Do whatever works best for you, but make sure you're prepared. The expectation is that you should all be able to do very well on this assessment.