Happy Thanksgiving!

Students worked on the Zap It 1 packet in class today. Some students were given the option to redo a portion of yesterday's quiz.

Tonight's Homework: None--Enjoy your Thanksgiving vacation. If you are traveling over the break, please do so safely. See you on December 2nd!

Eating Licorice While Taking A Quiz

Students took the spreadsheet quiz this afternoon, and then worked on an assignment related to eating licorice. Students measured the length of a piece of licorice, and then began eating it, one bite at a time. Between bites, the licorice was remeasured, and data recorded in a chart. Tonight's homework assignment is related to analyzing this set of data.

Tonight's Homework: Finish your "Candy Combinations" worksheet. Graph the licorice data, list the domain and range, and state the rule.

Spreadsheet Quiz Delayed One Day

Because a large percentage of the class had difficulty with one or more parts of the formula writing part of the spreadsheet worksheet, I have decided to delay the quiz until tomorrow. This should give everyone one more night to review their work and prepare for the quiz. Good luck as you study.

Students received letters in sealed envelopes to deliver to parents. These letters inform parents of how students are doing with regards to meeting the district's new requirements for passing Algebra 1. Parents are asked to let me know they received this letter via signature, e-mail, or phone call by December 3rd.

We continued our work on Candy Combinations, and did a cup stacking activity.

Tonight's Homework: Get your letter signed. Continue working on the Candy Combinations worksheet, which will be due on Wednesday. Finish the data table, graph, and analysis of the stacking cups activity, which is due on Tuesday. Lastly, prepare for tomorrow's quiz.

Hi, Kaitlyn--hope it's warm in Hawaii. It's freezing cold and foggy here. I will e-mail the letter to your mom's account, and after she reads it, she can e-mail me back. Have fun!

Drinking in Class!

Students received scores on the Concept 7 test today. Afterwards, we corrected the Nickels and Dimes paper.

To answer the question "When will we ever use discrete data plots?", we did an activity involving the drinking of lemonade. Students received a cup of lemonade and measured the height of the lemonade. Students took a sip of lemonade, and then measured the height again. This process was repeated until the lemonade was gone. Students created a data table and were instructed to use this information to create a well-labeled graph. Students are to describe the domain and range of the data, as well as come up with a rule for the activity.

In addition, students are to work on creating just the data table for the Candy Combinations worksheet.

Tonight's Homework: Finish the lemonade activity, and work on the data table for the Candy Combination worksheet. Remember to come prepared for the spreadsheet and formula quiz on Monday.

Concept 7 Test Taken Today

Students took the seventh concept test in class today.

We talked more about data and how it can be continuous or discrete. Today's homework deals with discrete data, which is plotted as a series of points, and is not connected with a line.

Tonight's Homework: Complete both sides of the Nickels and Dimes worksheet.

Entering Formulae into Spreadsheet Cells

Students spent most of the period setting up spreadsheets to help them calculate the value for a given formula. We used the formulae on one of the spreadsheet worksheets we completed on Friday as we entered in labels and equations into different cells. Most students were able to get about half of the information entered, and will be able to complete this task in class tomorrow.

Tonight's Homework: Complete each of the spreadsheets on each of the worksheets we started last week. Be sure to use correct spreadsheet lingo, especially on the equations you enter.

Hi, Sam! How's it going? Hope to see you soon. By the way, we are planning to take the 7th Concept Test on Thursday.

Entering Information into a Spreadsheet

Students were able to see their corrected Concept Six tests today and returned them at the end of the period. After reviewing the homework from over the weekend, students were given handheld computers, and learned how to access a spreadsheet. Using Sheet to Go, students entered labels, data and formulas from previous homework. We will continue this exercise throughout the week. The goal is to help students understand how rewriting formula in terms of different variables can be used to create spreadsheets, where the computer ultimately does all of the work.

Tonight's Homework: Page 266 ( 25 - 32 ) and page 267 ( 30 - 32 ).

Fun with Functions Activity

Students played a game today to reinforce the notion of evaluating functions. Working in pairs, students solved a series of 10 problems written in function notation, and earned points based on the answers to each problem. The winner of the game was the person with the highest cumulative score.

Tonight's Homework: Complete the practice worksheet related to Concept 7. Be sure to do both sides!

Concept 6 Test Taken in Class Today

Students corrected last night's homework and turned in signed grade slips.

The majority of the class period was dedicated to taking the Concept 6 test. Students who finished early were able to start on tonight's homework.

Tonight's Homework: Complete both sides of the Spreadsheet Worksheets, but only rewrite the formulae. You don't have to worry about the spreadsheet part of the papers yet.

Using Function Notation

Because there was no homework assigned over the long weekend, students began class with a review of what to expect on the Concept 6 test. This test will be given in class on Thursday (tomorrow). Then we reviewed how to evaluate functions when they are written in function form.

Tonight's Homework: Complete the Concept 6 practice test and the pink function worksheet (only the front side of this is for you to do, as I ran the assignment on recycled paper). Also get your grade slip signed tonight--it's an assignment!

Hi, Sam! Hope all is well with you, and that you are resting comfortably. Take care of yourself--and come back soon!

Statistics Quiz Taken Today

Students took the period to complete a quiz over statistics, and statistical plots.

Tonight's Homework: None. Enjoy the long weekend!

Formulae and Functions

We discussed formulae again today, and then looked at the terminology related to writing an equation in function form. In short, an equation written as a function of x will look like this: y = x + b An equation written as a function of y will be written like this:
x = y + b Be sure to look over the section related to this information for clarification.

Tonight's Homework: Lesson 3.7 ( 15 - 30, FCO and 45, 46 )

Note: We will take a quiz over lessons 6.6 and 6.7, which cover statistics (MMMR), stem and leaf plots and box and whisker plots. Be ready for this quiz by preparing for it now.

Graphing on the Coordinate Plane Review

We reviewed properties of points found on the coordinate plane. We then started to learn how to rewrite formulae for a different variable. This process requires students to use orders of operations in a backwards manner.

Tonight's homework load is reduced due to my desire to encourage students to attend the drug education presentation at tonight's parent meeting. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the cafeteria. Please attend if you can.

Tonight's Homework: Complete the graphing worksheet. Remember, you can also get your grade slip signed and return it on Tuesday for extra credit.