Weekly Update #18

Math 7A and 7B
This week students continued to work on adding and subtracting fractions. We did not go on any new concepts this week if you child was missing days due to the extreme weather but we reinforced the concepts that we worked on before the midterm. Students will be completing an adding and subtracting assignment near the end of next week. There will be no unit exam for this unit as many of the concepts were covered on the midterm. After fractions we will start working on expressions.

Starting February 19th students will be required to start bringing a calculator to class. It is encouraged that students have a scientific calculator as they will need one for grade 8 and 9 but a simple calculator with basic operations will suffice. We will start using calculators in class as we shift from performing mathematical operations to applying mathematical operations. The problems change in the sense that the math operations (adding, subtracting, dividing, and multiplying) become more complex but we use the operations to solve questions on expressions, circles, and data analysis.

Midterms have been graded and reported. We will be going over the midterms sometime next week. There are a small number of students that will have an "incomplete" icon which means they have not yet finished.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact me.

Math 8C
This week students continued to work on solving surface areas of rectangular/triangular prisms. We did not introduce any new concepts this week if your child was missing any days due to extreme weather warnings but we reinforced the concepts that were covered prior to the midterm. We also missed today's class due to a presentation so we only had 2 classes this week. Next week we will continue unit 4 on surface area and volume. Students should expect a short quiz on Thursday or Friday that will cover surface area.

Midterms have been graded; however, they are not posted yet. Myself and the other math 8 teachers want to go over the results and determine if any questions need to be omitted. This is a new midterm with newer questions so we want to determine that the quality of questions were fair and not too difficult or too easy. The last grade 8 class was writing their midterms today so I would anticipate that grades are posted on PowerSchool by the end of next week. If students are interested about their grades they can come see me directly; however, they should realize that the grade may change after we analyze the data. This is a common practice every year for the Math 9 PAT.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact me.