We've Made It To Spring Break!

We reviewed questions students had about the state test, saw a short video, and got ready for this afternoon's assembly.

Tonight's Homework: None--but do have a relaxing break, and Happy Easter!

State Testing, Part 2

Students completed the state math test in class today. Yeah! It's done (well, for most of us, it's done)!!

Tonight's Homework: None.

State Testing, Part 1

Students completed part 1 of the state math test in class today. One down, one to go.

Tonight's Homework: Believe in yourself! You can do it!

Getting Ready for the State Math Test

Students received their chapter 8 test results today. Those earning less than 80% on their tests should make plans to meet with me to go over their tests and then retake the test. Retests must be taken by the end of the school day on Friday, April 4th.

Tonight's Homework: None, but be sure to sleep and eat well so you'll be prepared for part 1 of the state math assessment test.

Finishing Up Chapter 8

Students took the last part of the chapter 8 test today, and handed in work that was assigned last week.

Tonight's Homework: Page 22 (problems 1 - 26 ), page 85 (problems 1 - 20 ) and page 107 (problems 1 - 19 ).

Pi Day Celebration!

Well, we may be smarter than 5th graders, but not quite ready for Jeopardy after our Pi Day questions today. Thanks to everyone for making today a fun day to celebrate. We even ate pi(e)!!!

Tonight's Homework: Page 796 (all). In addition, be ready to turn in page 497 on Monday. Remember, part two of the chapter 8 test is on Monday.

Chapter 8 Test Tomorrow

We will be taking the first part of the chapter 8 test tomorrow. It will cover lessons 8.1 through 8.4, and calculators will not be allowed. Be sure to study those properties, so you know what to do. The second part of the test will be over lessons 8.4 through 8.6, and you'll be able to use calculators on these problems.

Tonight's Homework: Page 497, all problems. This assignment is due on Monday, March 17th. Students wishing to earn extra credit may complete pages 498 and 499 by Monday, March 17th. I suggest you do at least half of the homework tonight so you'll be ready for the test tomorrow.

Exponential Decay

Today's lesson is very similar to yesterday's lesson, but it focuses on the decline in the number of a population or value of an object over time. The key here is that the number being raised to the exponent in the model is between zero and one.

The class has opted to have the chapter 8 over two days--part 1 will be given on Friday, March 14th, and the second part will be given on Monday, March 17th.

Tonight's Homework: Lesson 8.6 ( 10 - 22, 31, 32, 35, 36 ). Students wishing to earn extra credit may complete pages 498 and 499 by Monday, March 17th.

Exponential Growth

We learned about exponential growth models today in class before taking a quiz over lessons 8.1 through 8.3. We looked at the checkerboard problem, bacterial growth and interest growth problems, which all model exponential growth.

Tonight's Homework: Lesson 8.5 ( 6 - 20, all, and 29-30 )

Scientific Notation

Now that you know how to compute with exponential expressions, it's time to put this to practical use. Scientific notation is used to represent very large and very small numbers. Distances to stars and planets are reported using scientific notation. Measurements of microscopic organisms are also reported in scientific notation.

We went over several examples of how to write numbers in standard and scientific notation. In addition, we learned how to compute with scientific notation, and made use of the distributive property while doing so.

Tonight's Homework: Be ready for the quiz over Lessons 8.1 through 8.3, which will be given on Tuesday during class. In addition, please do Lesson 8.4 ( 18 - 52, Last column only ). Also, please remember to get your weekly grade slip signed.

Putting Exponents to Work in Real-World Problems

With ten people absent from class and class being 15 minutes shorter than normal, we switched things up a bit and tried working on some story problems that relate to using exponential expressions in real-life situations.


Tonight's Homework: Page 822 ( 1 - 7 ) and page 791 (all problems). Have a great long weekend!

Reviewing Exponent Properties

We spent some time today reviewing the properties of exponents we've learned in sections 1 through 3 of chapter 8. Students should feel pretty confident with today's assignment. Most students had over 20 minutes of work time to get started on the homework.

Tonight's Homework: Page 804 ( 1 - 29, all )

Dividing with Exponents

Two more properties were introduced today: The Quotient of Powers Property and the Power of Quotients Property. Be sure to look over Lesson 8.3 before doing tonight's homework.

Tonight's Homework: Lesson 8.3 ( 19 - 48 )

Working with Negative and Zero Exponents

There are two important points to remember when doing problems from this section:

1.) Any base to the zero power is 1
2.) Any base to a negative power is the same as the reciprocal of the base to the positive power.

Be sure to read over section 8.2 in your book before attempting to do tonight's assignment, especially if you missed class today.

Tonight's Homework: Lesson 8.2 ( 14 - 52, all )

Multiplication of Exponents Review

The use of exponents in multiplication problems can be confusing. Sometimes, using tables to determine patterns will help you to understand how to find exponential patterns, and help you determine the base and the exponent of an expression. Today's assignment is a review one, primarily because I am at home trying to get well.