SMI Week

This week seventh-graders will take the SMI assessment on Friday in the Gear-up Lab.  The Des Moines School District defines the SMI as "a math assessment program which provides immediate, actionable data on students' math levels and growth over time."  Math students took the SMI for the first time in October.  The assessment will be given three times this year.  

Results of this assessment help teachers and administrators identify overall alinement and gaps in the math curriculum.  Individual student scores might also be used to help design and implement intervention or enrichment opportunities. 

Other highlights this week will include more work with proportions and percentages. We are applying new understanding to real-life applications like interest, sales tax, and discounts.  Seventh-graders should be able to provide LOTS of great assistance to family shoppers.  CFA 4.4 will be given on Thursday, January 31. It will cover mark-ups, sales tax, discounts, and tips.  

As always, if you have any questions, email me at catherine.carlson@dmschools.org or contact me at school at 515-242-8374.  

What is Block 6?

                  

Or somewhere in between?

When I first started teaching at Hoyt, I heard about the Block 6 intervention opportunity.  I couldn't believe how lucky students were to have designated time after school when a teacher or another caring adult could help them with work. Unfortunately many students do not see Block 6 as an opportunity.

In seventh grade math, students are expected to reach proficiency on each formative assessment.  The  assessments are designed to help teachers evaluate students' understanding of weekly content.  These assessments (called CFA's) are completed on Thursday each week.  If a student is not proficient (8/10 points), s/he has an opportunity to review the material DURING CLASS on Friday and be assessed on the same material a second time.  Students who are proficient use this time to participate in a spiral review through a game of Jeopardy or applications on the iPads.  Students who are not proficient on Thursday or Friday are invited to participate in Block 6 on the following Monday.  

Monday Block 6 provides students with smaller group (often individual) instruction and another chance (third) to reach proficiency.  Unfortunately seventh-graders are often not mature enough to recognize this opportunity as the academic gift that it is, and frame it instead as a kind of punishment.  

How can you help?  

First, if possible, try not to schedule other things for Mondays and Thursdays after school. Second, if your student is scheduled for Block 6, give him/her permission to stay.  Late busses run on Mondays and Thursdays and deliver students to your door after 4:00 PM on those nights.  Finally, if your students is invited to attend Block 6 and doesn't take advantage of this opportunity, contact the teacher and talk with him/her about what else you can do to provide this kind of help at home.  

Remember that, like you, we are here to help your child be successful in seventh-grade math and in life.  

100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

I wish I could guarantee YOUR satisfaction with math 100% of the time.  What does 100% of the time mean exactly?  This week we will find out.  

Hot topics for the week of January 22 through January 25, 2013, will include the following:  more with customary units and cross products, ratios and equivalent ratios, distance, speed, and time, what's percent all about (Hint: Think, "Out of 100," in Latin.), and how percents, decimals, and fractions are related.

On Thursday, we will prepare for the weekly common formative assessment with Sneak Peek 4.3.  Students who are not proficient on CFA 4.3 will have another crack at it during class on Friday.  

Friday Night Bites

So last night I decided to make brownies.  The box said that 1/20 of the brownies contained 160 calories.  When the brownies had cooled, I cut them into 24 pieces.  Then I ate 3.

What fraction of the pan did I eat?

If you said 3/24 or 1/8, you are correct! (Oh, my goodness, I'm a little embarassed.)

Next question--if 1/20 of the pan contained 160 calories and I ate 1/8 of the pan, how many calories did I consume? (Hint: Use a proportion to figure this out.)

400 calories?!?!?

I need to end this post RIGHT NOW and go for a walk.

Math CAN be FUN!

Are YOU faster than a calculator?

Check out the TED video of mathemagician, Arthur Benjamin, at the following URL:

http://www.math.hmc.edu/~benjamin/mathemagics/video-ted_1.html#ted1

Who Am I and Why Am I Here? (And Where Did That NAME Come From?)

Welcome to Mathcath Seven!

Where did that name come from? I'm glad you asked.

My name is Catherine Carlson, and I am a seventh grade math teacher at Hoyt Middle School in Des Moines, IA (hence the name).  This year is my second year at Hoyt, but it is my sixth year in the Des Moines Public School District.  

I have created this blog to establish an internet presence and increase accessibility for my students and their families.  If you wish to contact me with questions or comments, you can respond to this post or email me at catherine.carlson@dmschools.org.

This week, January 14 through January 18, 2013, we will explore proportional relationships in math.  We will learn to identify directly proportional relationships when we see them in graphs and tables. (Hint:  Look for (O,O) at the origin and a straight diagonal line. )

We will also learn a process to check equivalency and then learn the good, ol' "cross-multiply" method.  We will apply this new learning to revise some recipes later in the week.   On Thursday, we will prepare for the weekly common formative assessment with Sneak Peek 4.2.  Students who are not proficient on CFA 4.2 will have another crack at it during class on Friday.  

Next Week:  A REALLY BIG SALE (Decimals, Percents, and Sales Tax)