I hope you had a great week of In-Service and Staff Development!  Eating out for lunch with my co-workers is one of my favorite parts of the week.  I really enjoyed registration day the best.  It was great to meet the students and parents that stopped by and visited.  HR Middle School teachers managed to stop for a second and take a picture.  There's me in the front :)

I wanted to take some time to share with you what I will be doing for the next two weeks. 

August 18 - 22 

Monday and Tuesday I will be going over my rules, expectations, and procedures.  Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, I will spend class time setting up Journals.  Journals are my version of an Interactive Notebook.  I start with a coverpage, syllabus, table of contents, math goals, TCAP Data, RISE, and something else that I can't remember off the top of my head.  In other words, there is little math instruction going on along with any type of assessments. 

August 25 - 29

This week is when Math really gets going!!

Monday - Classifying Numbers

I will spend the first day discussing the classification of numbers: natural, whole, integer, and rational.  I do mention to the class that there are other types of numbers, but for our purposes, we are only going to worry about these four types.  When you tell 6th grade students that there are imaginary numbers, it blows their mind. :)  This year I will add numbers lines to demonstrate each group.  Below is the journal entry that I completed last year.

In the same class period, students also completed model maps for each type of number.

Below is an example of what the Natural number model map looks like.

Homework

The question I get most often is, "Do I give homework?"  "Yes, I do." Students should expect an assignment to be completed outside of class Monday - Thursday.  I feel it is a necessarily evil in order to be successful in Math. Students must practice the concepts outside of class. My homework philosophy is "Quality over Quantity".  I rarely ever assign more than 10 problems, and my intention is for it to take students no more than 15 - 20 minutes to complete.  How do I grade it?  That is another good question.  In the past, I have graded it based on effort.  Students must show work to receive full credit.  I will continue to do that this year as well, but I will do more of what I call "spot checking".  To spot check, SC, I will look at a few problems for accuracy and deduct 10-15 points for each problem that is incorrect.  For instance, I assign 8 problems, and spot check 3 of them.  If all problems are worked completely and the three SC problems are correct, the assignment earned a 100.  If one SC problem is incorrect earns grade of 90, two SC problems are incorrect, earns an 80, and three SC problems are incorrect, earns a 70.  I hope that is thorough in my procedure for spot checking.  I check homework at the beginning of class while students are completing a warm-up problem(s).  I don't have any worksheets to post at this time, but if you are interested in any assignment(s) that I will be giving, just let me know. I'll be glad to share the assignments with you when they are ready.  

Tuesday - Classify Numbers

In class, students will either work in pairs or groups to practice classifying numbers. 

Considering how early it is in the school year, I will spend class time reviewing with students my expectations and procedures, especially homework procedures.  In my class, if students don't come to class with their assignment to turn in on time, they have to fill out documentation.  I like to call it the pink slip!!!  The pink slip is an assignment accountability form.  Students have to turn in the pink slip if they do not have their assignment.  This has been a huge game changer for me.  I like having written documentation from the student to keep on file.  :)

If you would like a copy of my Assignment Accountability form just let me know.  I tried to attach it, but didn't have any luck.  I actually copy it on pink paper, hence "pick slip". :)  I have used this for the past 3 years and can't imagine how I managed before without it.  

Wednesday - Ordering Integers

Today I will be discussing integers more in depth.  Students will order integers using a number line and we'll also the concept of opposites.

Journal entry below.

Thursday - Absolute Value

On Thursday, we'll cover absolute value.  Journal entry below.

Friday - Quiz

On Friday, students can usually expect some kind of formal assessment: a test or a quiz.  I schedule a test every two or three weeks, otherwise I give a quiz.  I have given weekend assignments, but they are very few and far between.  

I hope you find something that is useful or helpful to you.  If you have any suggestion, please feel free to chime in.  Just looking back on last year's materials, I see things I want to do differently this time around.  

I enjoyed meeting you at the county wide PLC on Tuesday, and I look forward to working with you in the future.