Patterns in Painted Cubes

Working in groups, students built a cube using a variety of smaller cubes with differing numbers of painted sides. Once the cube was built, students recorded data about the painted cube in a data table. Moving to the next larger cube, students recorded more information about the number of cubes with different numbers of sides painted on their table. This process was repeated until students discovered a pattern in the table.

Tonight's Homework: Finish the Painted Cubes worksheet you started in class today.

5/28

Tonight's Homework:

Graduation Video Problem Posed

We went over the answers to the Math CD problem in class this morning, and then moved on to a problem about producing a graduation video. Students had about 30 minutes to work on the problem, and many were able to nearly finish or finish the work in class today.

Tonight's Homework: Finish the Graduation Video problem if you did not finish it in class today. There is no new homework to complete for Tuesday. Enjoy the long weekend.

Math Geeks Rule!

Students completed the climate survey in class today. Afterwards, students worked on a problem related to creating and selling music CD's. The problem had students investigate costs, revenue and profit.

Tonight's Homework: Complete the Rock Band problem that you started in class today. Be sure to make a graph with three different colored lines and a key.

District Track Meet Turns Class into Work Period

Since about half of the class was attending the district track meet today, those who did show up were given a day to work on the final part of the Barbie Bungee Jumping project.

Tonight's Homework: Complete both sides of the worksheet you received in class today.

Barbie Videos and Analysis

The first part of the period was spent viewing many of the videos that were taken during yesterday's Barbie Bungee Jumping activity. Afterwards, we started analyzing our results. Students received a worksheet to help them with the analysis portion of this unit.

Tonight's Homework: Complete the worksheet you received in class today if you are attending the district track meet on Wednesday. If you'll be at school on Wednesday, you will have class time to work on this. The worksheet is due on Thursday, and will not be accepted after that day for credit. Be sure to include complete and thoughtful answers, using math-related evidence whenever possible.

Barbies (and Kens) Take the Plunge!

Today, we spent time testing the predictions of the bungee jumping research groups. To my surprise, all groups met the challenge of providing their dolls with a safe ride. Some groups had more thrilling rides than others, but all in all, students did a good job determining the number of rubber bands needed to provide thrilling rides.

Tonight's Homework: Complete the analysis of your doll's bungee jump. Discuss successes, challenges and sources of errors in your determination of the number of rubber bands needed to provide your doll with a safe AND thrilling ride. No late credit will be granted.

Eighth Grade Field Trip Cancels Class

Because all eighth graders were gone today, nothing new was covered. Seventh graders who attended class spent their time working on the Barbie Bungee Jumping data gathering tasks or the last part of the "Transform Your Name" project, created by classmates.

Tonight's Homework: The unscrambled puzzle for the transformation project is due on Monday.

Sub-District Track Meet Day--Go Mustangs!

Because about half the class left to go to the sub-district track meet, we used today's class period as a work period. Students worked on either Barbie bungee jumping activity with their group mates, or on the transformation puzzle and analysis.

Tonight's Homework: Nothing new. Good luck, tracksters! Remember that the analysis of the transformation puzzle and project are due on Monday, May 20th.

Bungee Cord Lengths Determined

Students met with their groups to discuss how many rubber bands should be attached to their dolls to provide them with a safe, yet thrilling, ride from Monroe's roof to the courtyard platform. Discussions resulted in groups deciding on a number of bands, and then groups started putting that number of rubber bands on their dolls, in preparation of the great drop, which will take place next week.

Tonight's Homework: Write a paper that thoroughly describes how you and your group decided how many rubber bands to use for your bungee cord. Did you negotiate? Vote? Average?

Final Day for Data Collecting

Students collected the final pieces of data they needed for the Barbie bungee jumping project during class time today. After data collection was completed, students began working on final drafts of their data tables, graphs, and equations, which are all due on Tuesdays.

Tonight's Homework: Create a well-labeled data table, graph and equation to describe the data you collected. Be ready to predict the number of rubber bands you will need to supply your Barbie with, once you know the height of the upcoming drop.

Let the Bungee Jumping Begin!

Students turned in their homework, and then began gathering data related to the distance their Barbie dropped with different numbers of rubber bands. Groups were encouraged to run several trials in order to get more accurate data. This data will be used next week to generate hypotheses about how many rubber bands it will take to provide a "safe, but thrilling" ride from the roof of the building to the courtyard floor.

Tonight's Homework: Other than doing something nice for your mom this weekend, there is no new homework.

Here Comes the Bungee Jumping Activity!

Students formed groups to work on the different parts of the new activity that we started today. Each group selected a Barbie or Ken to work with and then decided which type of "bungee cord" (rubber band) they would like to experiment with over the next few days. Part of tonight's homework will be to complete the written response to explaining why the group chose the specific doll and rubber bands.

Tonight's Homework: Finish the "Transform Your Name" project and be ready to turn it in on Friday if you did not do so today. Finish the paragraphs for the bungee jumping project. Remember, your group depends on you completing your work in a timely manner!

Transform Your Name Project Work Day

After a brief review of what the final project should include, students spent most of the period working on their transformation project. Some students were able to get further clarification on specific details (how to move an object with a specific transformation, how to show instructions, etc.), while others spent their class time catching up on late work. Most students considered today very productive!

Tonight's Homework: Continue working on the Transform Your Name project. It is due by Friday, May 10th, but can be turned in early.

Transformation Project Introduced

As an alternative to taking a test, students will complete a project to demonstrate their abilities to translate, rotate, reflect and enlarge several objects in a creative and somewhat artistic way. Students received a sheet that detailed the guidelines and scoring rubric for their project. We went over the highlights in class, and then began working on the project. Students needing a review on any of the 4 transformations were able to get some extra clarification with me.

Tonight's Homework: Work on the project you started in class today. It isn't due until Friday, May 10th, but I would not advise putting it off until Thursday night, especially if you are involved in track!

Dilations? Think Enlargements and Shrinking!

The fourth and final transformation we will look at in this unit is the dilation. This is a fancy word for making things bigger or smaller. The terms we used in class are enlargements and shrinkages. In order to make dilations, one needs to know what the scale factor being applied is. In general, if the scale factor is larger than one, the dilated object will be enlarged. Conversely, if the scale factor is less than one, the dilated object will be shrunk. I showed a two different ways to apply the dilation: one that was more artistic, while the other was more mathematically mechanical.

Tonight's Homework: Complete the Enlargement worksheet you received in class today. Be sure to do both sides!