We've been working hard on our Interactive Notebooks (INBs), and we're already in our second unit - Rational Numbers. Below are the notebook pages for this unit.
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This year in Math 9 we are using Interactive Notebooks to keep track of our important notes in an engaging way, and to help students learn to study more effectively. Throughout the semester I will be posting pictures of my example notebook, in case students miss class and need to create their missing pages, or if parents would like to see what we've been doing. Below are the notebook pages from the first unit. (Special thanks to Sarah Hagan at mathequalslove.blogspot.com for most of the resources and inspiration for the pages in this post) Students are invited to create their own title page (which is not counted in the page numbers). Page 1 - Growth Mindset Quiz On the first day of Notebooks we did a Growth Mindset quiz, and discussed the idea of a growth mindset (where you believe that you can train your brain and learn new skills if you work hard and if you are persistent), as opposed to a fixed mindset (where you believe you are "smart" or "not smart" or "a math person" or "not a math person", which is a less productive mindset and does not encourage hard work and persistence). I'll post more about growth mindset in another post. Page 2 and 3 - Reference Pages We put in a Problem Solving ideas list, which we will be discussing more later. Then we put in a Mathematician's Toolbox with a neat fould-out numberline (see below for more photos). Here is the inside of the Mathematician's Toolbox booklet, with the number line open: Toolbox closed with number line open: Here you can see that the number line closes up right inside the toolbox: Starting our First Unit (Chapter 2 from the MMS textbook) - Sorry for the confusion, we do the unit out of order from what is in the textbook.. and while I don't use the textbook often in this class, I want to be consistent in terms of chapter/unit numbers with the other classes which do make use of the textbook. Page 3 & 4 - Concept Check Form and Table of Contents for Unit 2 Students will record their Concept Check (Quiz) scores in this table throughout the unit. Students can re-take the quizzes as many times as they like in order to get the score they want (10/10), and the newest score always replaces the old score for that concept. If they get two 10/10 scores in a row, they get a sticker in this chart! Students will fill out the table of content for this unit as we go. (EDIT: I've included my completed Table of Contents for this unit) Page 6 - What is a Power notes Page 7 - 2.2 Zero Exponent and Powers of Ten Notes: No foldable today, just some simple notes! Pages 8 & 9 - Order of Operations (BEDMAS) with Powers Pages 10 & 11 - Product and Quotient Rules Pages 12 & 13 - Power of a Power Rule and Distributive Rule for Products Pages 14 & 15 - Distributive Rule for Quotients and the Little Book of Exponent Rules The Little Book is a mini summary of most of the content for this unit - a great place to go to start studying! Notebook Assessment
Students' notebooks will be assessed (as part of their "project" mark) at the end of each Unit. This will usually occur on the day of the concept check that includes the whole unit, or the following day. Notebooks will be checked for completeness (1 mark per page of the unit), accuracy, neatness (including pages being well secured in the book), organization, and use of colour to aid in learning and studying material. These notebooks are a demonstration of student learning, as well as a tool or student learning. If students are not satisfied with their mark on their notebooks for a unit, they can re-do the problem pages and request re-assessment up to the time the NEXT unit is due. Welcome to your first high school math course!
This is a year-long course, so we're going to have lots of time together to build some key math skills for the rest of high school. Here are some things you should know about Math 9 to help you be successful: 1) There is a lot of content in this class, and we will be moving faster than you did in elementary. Try your very best to stay on top of things - it is much easier to keep up than it is to catch up! Also, not to scare you, but every future high school math class you take will be moving even faster than this one does - so learning to stay on top of things now is crucial! 2) Practice, practice, practice! Math is a skill like any other, and skills take practice to learn. Homework is important because most of you will not have time to finish all the practice you need during class time. There are homework spaces in the school at lunchtime and before and after school, as well as my classroom - make use of these! There are also some excellent online resources and even apps that you can use to brush up on your skills (see a list of some of these here) 3) Ask for help when you need it! Needing help is not a sign of weakness, it is a sign of self-awareness which is a really important thing to develop. I cannot read your mind, so I won't know what you need help with unless you let me know. If I try to help and you still don't get it, you need to let me know that too and I'll try to explain it a different way! 4) Don't give up! I find that the main thing that separates students who do well in math, from those who do poorly, is NOT "being smart" - it's perseverance (sticking to it, even when it's difficult). Learning new things can be difficult, but you can do it - sometimes it takes several tries! In fact, research shows that making mistakes and struggling actually help to make your grown grow new connections and makes your brain stronger. So keep struggling, it's helping! 5) Work on becoming an independent learner and taking responsibility for your own success. High school means increased responsibility for your own learning. Your teachers and parents and other adults in your life are here to support you, but ultimately it is YOU who must decide if you want to be successful. If you keep these things in mind as you go through grade 9 (and particularly Math 9), you will find that the rest of high school (and life for that matter) goes much more smoothly. Keep a positive attitude and remember that you can do it if you keep at it! Another tip I can offer is to stay up to date - you should check this blog and our course calendar regularly, and I strongly suggest that you sign up for Remind, to get the latest reminders on the go! Sign up for Class Messenger Students and their parents (and other caregivers of course) are encouraged to sign up for Class Messenger, which is a service that allows me to send mass text (or email) messages to my students, all without sharing personal phone numbers or email addresses. To sign up: Option 1: Click on the link for your course below to sign up for texts or emails Math 9: http://cmsngr.co/XC7XU34ASW Option 2: Sign up by Text Send a text with the course code 2UK47K to this number (650) 252-1369 and then follow instructions Option 3: Sign up by Email Send an email to this address from the email account you would like to add to the list. Math 9: [email protected] Today, for our last lesson of Math 9 before the break, we are going to do something a bit different!
We are going to try some basic computer programming, along with millions of other people from all over the world, for what is called "The Hour of Code". This is an initiative to try to introduce computer science, and the power of computer programming, to as many people as possible, all over the world! We're going to watch a really short intro video (find it here to watch it again: http://code.org/), and then you will get to choose your own activity for the rest of the class. You can choose from any of the activities below: Easiest Beginner Activities: -Frozen! Help Anna and Elsa to draw snowflakes, using block coding. -Angry Birds! Help the Angry Birds to catch the nasty pig, using block coding. -Make your own Flappy game! Use blocks to create and modify your own flappy bird game, and even save it to play on your phone later! -Create your own game - use Tynker to create your own game. There are a variety of games and skill levels to choose from. -Scratch - Use Scratch to animate your name, create a holiday card, or make a pong game -Lightbot - help Lightbot to light up the blue tiles in this fun game that uses programming Slightly Trickier Beginner Activities - using computer languages -Draw with Code - Khan academy guides you through learning to draw using Javascript -Animate your Name with Code Academy, using JavaScript -CodeCombat - play a game and defeat ogres, while learning Python or JavaScript -Make a Website - Khan Academy guides you through learning HTML to build a website -Learn Javascript with Karel the Dog - give commands to Karel and see what happens! -Make a Database - Khan Academy guides you through organizing and playing with data in a database, using SQL Intermediate to Advanced Activities -Learn all about how to use Javascript to draw and animate - you can skip ahead if you already know the basics, and learn something new! -Learn all about how to use HTML and CSS to make really awesome websites - you can skip ahead if you already know the basics, and learn something new! -Browse the whole range of programming opportunities on Code.org and find one that suits you! Today in Math class, we are going to do some practice with polynomials. Click the links below to watch the videos and do the practice questions. Alternatively, you can use Mathletics to practice, if you have a login.
Introduction to Polynomials - video 1 (only watch the first 8:50 min), video 2, Modelling Polynomials- video 1, practice questions Combining like terms & Simplifying - video 1, video 2, video 3, practice questions If you finish those, you can move on to Adding and Subtracting Adding Polynomials - video 1, video 2, subtracting Polynomials - video 1, video 2 Practice adding and subtracting Tomorrow (Thursday Nov 13) is our Midterm for our Numbers Strand.
The Midterm will include the following Topics & Skills. To review for the midterm, I suggest trying the following videos and practice questions from Khan Academy and other sources on the web. Don't necessarily do all of them - focus on the ones you need a reminder of or need help with. Powers and Exponents (calculators allowed for this part only) -parts of a power - explanation -evaluating powers (remember what to do with negative signs - video) -zero exponent and powers of 10 - zero exponent video, -Exponent Laws - product of powers, quotient of powers, power of a power, power of a product or quotient -order of operations (BEDMAS*) with powers Rational Numbers (students are allowed to bring in their fractions flow chart) -order and compare rational numbers - video, questions -simplify fractions and convert from mixed numbers to improper fractions (always write answers as improper) -add and subtract fractions (and decimals) - video1, video 2, questions -multiply & divide fractions - video 1, video 2, questions 1, questions 2 -order of operations (BEDMAS*) *Remember with BEDMAS that DM are at the same level (division is NOT before multiplication, you just go from left to right), and same with AS. Square Roots (students must know perfect squares up to 15 times 15) -recognizing and solving perfect squares - video, questions -perfect squares in the form of fractions and decimals - fractions video, -estimating square roots of non-perfect squares (use benchmarks to find a decimal estimate) - video -simplifying non-perfect squares (leave in whole numbers, part under the radical sign) - video This week all Math 9s are working in smaller classes with different teachers, focussing on topics that they have struggled with, or working on extension projects.
My group is the Multiplying and Dividing Fractions group. Today (Tuesday) we are working on the following tasks on Khan Academy: Videos: Multiplying Fractions by Whole Numbers Multiplying Two Fractions Multiplying Positive and Negative Fractions Bonus: Multiplication as Scaling Practice Questions: Multiplying Fractions by Whole Numbers Multiplying Two Positive Fractions Multiplying Positive and Negative Fractions Bonus: Multiplication as Scaling If you finish those, go on to Dividing Fractions and work your way through the videos and exercises. Well done, we survived the first week!
On Wednesday we finished going over the Course Outline, and then started warming up our math brains with some mental math practice. We used our personal whiteboards and class flashcards, and then did some mad minutes. On Thursday we did the Math 9 pre-assessment, to find out where each student is at. This will help to make sure that we know where each student is starting from, and we can then place them in the classroom where they can be the most successful. There will be a few students changing classrooms on Monday. We will start into the real Math 9 curriculum on Monday. At the end of class on Thursday and during Friday's class, we played with some flashcards and used the iPads to get to know some great math resources such as FreeRice.com, Soft Schools Math Games and Khan Academy. These will be great resources for all of Math 9 and the rest of high school as well! Memorization of multiplication tables and other math facts seems to have gone "out to style" in education in recent years, but the research shows that it is still extremely important to have quick recall of these facts so that your brain power can be used to learn new concepts and skills.
Here are a couple of articles about this research: http://community.scholarschoice.ca/teacher/math-memorization-and-the-long-term-effects http://www.thestar.com/life/2014/08/18/why_your_math_memory_matters.html Given the large amount of new material we'll be learning in Math 9 and in the rest of high school math, it is important to make sure you have those basic math facts really solidly in your memory. If you were drilled on these in elementary school and can recite them really quickly and at any time, then great. However, chances are that most of you could use a little (or a lot) more practice with addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. If that's you, don't worry, this isn't a bad thing, but the sooner you work on it, the easier the rest of high school math is going to be. So right now, before your homework load gets too large, take a few minutes a day and get some practice! Here are a few fun and easy options for practicing these basic skills: Flash Cards: Good old fashioned flash cards! You can pick up a set for just a couple of bucks right now with all of the back to school sales. Have your parents or siblings or friends quiz you (or even quiz yourself!) Online: Hop on the computer or use that tablet or smart phone to visit these websites for some practice: Free Rice (www.freerice.com) - Free Rice is an online quiz game that is ridiculously addictive and fun. You answer multiple choice questions, and each time you get one right, the sponsors on the page pay for 10 grains of rice to be donated to the World Food Programme (which helps people who are dealing with famine and natural disasters all over the world). If you get it wrong, they will let you know the right answer, and then they'll bring that question back in a few minutes so you can give it another try. It automatically adjusts to give you harder questions when you're ready for them. Check out either of the Math options under "subjects" to practice your multiplication and other basic math skills. Soft Schools Math Games (http://www.softschools.com/math/games/) – This is another great website with a wide range of games on lots of different topics. Pick the topic you need some practice with! Khan Academy (www.khanacademy.org) – Fantastic website with practice questions and instructional videos for a huge range of math concepts, as well as many other subjects. Khan Academy can help you learn anything! Also has a iphone/ipad app. Mathletics (www.mathletics.ca) – This is a website that has curriculum-aligned practice sets. We will be setting everyone in the class up with a profile very soon, and then you can practice from home on a computer or with the app. IXL (http://ca.ixl.com/math/grade-9) – Another website with curriculum aligned practice sets. The questions adjust to your level. You can do 20 questions a day for free, but we may be getting a class subscription soon. Math Practice Apps for your Device: There is an incredibly HUGE range of free mental math practice apps out there – simply google “free mental math practice apps for {your device}” and you’ll find lists of hundreds of them! Or go to your device’s app store and search directly there! For example, here is a list of Free iPhone/iPad apps for Math Practice: http://appcrawlr.com/ios-apps/best-free-apps-mental-math Other Math Help Apps: Virtual Nerd (iPhone/iPad) – video tutorials for almost any math concept or skill you can imagine! Your Teacher - Math (iPhone) – video examples, practice, challenges and self-testing on a huge range of math concepts & skills. Welcome to your first high school math course!
This is a year long course, so we're going to have lots of time together to build some key math skills for the rest of high school. Here are some things you should know about Math 9 to help you be successful: 1) There is a lot of content in this class, and we will be moving faster than you did in elementary. Try your very best to stay on top of things - it is much easier to keep up than it is to catch up! Also, not to scare you, but every future high school math class you take will be moving even faster than this one does - so learning to stay on top of things now is crucial! 2) Practice, practice, practice! Math is a skill like any other, and skills take practice to learn. Homework is important because most of you will not have time to finish all the practice you need during class time. There are homework spaces in the school at lunchtime and before and after school, as well as my classroom - make use of these! There are also some excellent online resources and even apps that you can use to brush up on your skills (see a list of some of these here) 3) Ask for help when you need it! Needing help is not a sign of weakness, it is a sign of self-awareness which is a really important thing to develop. I cannot read your mind, so I won't know what you need help with unless you let me know. If I try to help and you still don't get it, you need to let me know that too and I'll try to explain it a different way! 4) Don't give up! I find that the main thing that separates students who do well in math, from those who do poorly, is NOT "being smart" - it's perseverance (sticking to it, even when it's difficult). Learning new things can be difficult, but you can do it - sometimes it takes several tries! In fact, research shows that making mistakes and struggling actually help to make your grown grow new connections and makes your brain stronger. So keep struggling, it's helping! 5) Work on becoming an independent learner and taking responsibility for your own success. High school means increased responsibility for your own learning. Your teachers and parents and other adults in your life are here to support you, but ultimately it is YOU who must decide if you want to be successful. If you keep these things in mind as you go through grade 9 (and particularly Math 9), you will find that the rest of high school (and life for that matter) goes much more smoothly. Keep a positive attitude and remember that you can do it if you keep at it! Another tip I can offer is to stay up to date - you should check this blog and our course calendar regularly, and I strongly suggest that you sign up for Remind, to get the latest reminders on the go! Sign up for Remind Students and their parents (and other caregivers of course) are encouraged to sign up for Remind, which is a service that allows me to send mass text (or email) messages to my students, all without sharing personal phone numbers or email addresses. To sign up: Option 1: Click on the link for your course below to sign up for texts or emails Math 9: https://www.remind.com/join/mishmath9 Option 2: Sign up by Text Send a text with the course code @mishmath9 to this number (902) 701-9279 and then follow instructions Option 3: Sign up by Email Send an email to this address from the email account you would like to add to the list. Math 9: mishmath9@mail.remind.com |
AuthorMrs. Mishra is one of the teachers for Math 9. She also teaches Computer Science 20/30 and Math 10 Foundations & Pre-Calc. Archives
October 2016
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