Happy Holidays!

Students took the sixth concept test today. They also turned in the pink problem solving and white tile/block worksheets. Lastly, each student received a binder of new books that will be used periodically during lessons taught in 2012.

Tonight's Homework--Complete the Zap It 2 worksheets by January 4th. I'd suggest waiting until January 3rd to pull them out and do them then so you can review the math just before returning to school. Most of all, enjoy the break, and have an enjoyable holiday with family and friends.

Work Day on Function Problems Prepares Students for CT 6

Students turned in their green home books today. Today was a work day for students, where they could get extra help on determining the domain and range values, how to write a rule or equation from a data table, and figure out whether the information collected described a set of discrete or continuous data.

Tonight's Homework--Finish the triangle and coins in the bedroom problems you started in class today. Study for tomorrow's test if you haven't already started. Be sure to bring in your home book if you haven't done so. New books are being issued to all students on Friday.

More Examples of Discrete Functions

The review for our upcoming test over functions began today. Students were given a short list of things to review prior to Friday's concept test. The list includes: writing and evaluating equations in function form, using discrete vs. continuous data points on a graph, determining rate of change, and making a graph from a word problem.

We took a look at a variety of situations that use discrete data points and determined the domain and range values for each instance. Though this took a bit of time, students began to get the hang of it by the end of the period

Tonight's Homework--Complete only the cube problem on the white worksheet. Do all problems on both sides of the green Linear Functions Word Problems worksheet.

Rate of Change = Slope of a Line

We spent a little time debriefing the stacking cup lab, and specifically on how the rate of change really was the slope of the function. We also looked at a formula that can be used to determine the slope of a segment or line between any two points. Students were reminded to label the slope with units when answering word problems.

Tonight's Homework--Finish both sides of the blue and purple worksheets you started in class today. Be sure to bring in your home book sometime this week, as it is due to me by Friday, December 16th.

Domain and Range Values for Functions and How to Write Them

We talked about function notation again today, and really tried to focus in on the values that could be in the domain and range of the data set. Many real-world problems focus on only positive values for the domain and range, and leave us with a graph in just quadrant 1. Sometimes, the problems will allow for negative values (temperature, for example), and this will allow us to make a two-quadrant graph (either Q1 and 2 or Q1 and 4) of the data.

Tonight's Homework--Home Book 168 (1-36, FCO, 55-60, 72-74) and the green Function Notation worksheet.

Red Solo® Cups?

We spent the class period looking at patterns that were generated when we stacked cups on top of each other. Each group of students collected data on three different types of cups (styrofoam, Solo®, Dixie®, plastic, etc.) and made predictions based on the patterns they observed. Students were asked to make well-labeled data tables and graphs to display the data. Students were asked to determine whether the data they collected would be discrete or continuous, and come up with a rule (function, equation) to describe the height of the stack based on the number of cups.

Tonight's Homework--Finish the graph, formula work and analysis for the stacking cups activity you completed in class today.

Stacking Books

Students worked in groups today as they stacked books and measured the resulting heights of the stacks. The objective was to determine a rule to predict the height of n books. Students collected data on two different types of books, and recorded the information in a well-labeled data table.

Tonight's Homework--Make a graph of the data you collected in class today. Be sure to label it completely. In addition, complete both sides of the Nickels and Dimes worksheet

More on Slope and Rate of Change

We used lines on the coordinate grid to help us understand the slope formula:
m = (y2-y1)/(x2-x1)
This can also be thought of as "the rise over the run" or rise divided by the run.

Tonight's Homework--Home Book, page 183 ( 1 - 11, all)

Zapped In Math!

Today was a work day to allow students to ask questions about function notation, rate of change, slope or anything else that they were feeling shaky about in algebra.

Tonight's Homework--Home Book, page 158-160 ( 24-36 even, 37-39, and 41-51 odd ) and the Zap It 1 worksheet (all parts).

Looking at Functions and Function Form of an Equation

Students cleaned out the math section of their notebooks, and then practiced writing equations in function form today. Basically, the difference is that you replace the "y" in the equation with "f(x)" notation. That's it!

Tonight's Homework--Home Book, page 157 ( 1 - 18, all) and the Zap It 1 worksheets.