Week at a Glance: September 16, 2013

Current Unit: Unit 1b - Angle Relationships, Triangles & Similarity
Unit Standards: MCC8.G4, MCC8.G5

Crosswalk Coach Connection: 
-- Lesson 26 - Similar Triangles
-- Lesson 27 - Interior and Exterior Angles of Triangles
-- Lesson 28 - Parallel lines and Transversals

This week in math, we will complete the last part of unit 1 with a study of angle relationships and triangles. Specifically, students will recall the angle relationships they learned last year and develop an understanding of the angle pairs that are formed when a transversal intersects a set of parallel lines. In addition, they will explore similar triangles and learn how the angle-angle criterion and triangle-angle sum theorem can be used to prove triangles are similar.

As I mentioned in previous posts, vocabulary is imperative to students' understanding in math. Students need to know and understand the following terms:

• alternate interior angles
• alternate exterior angles
• corresponding angles
• vertical angles
• adjacent angles
• supplementary angles
• complementary angles
• parallel lines
• perpendicular lines
• intersecting lines
• angle-angle criterion
• triangle angle sum theorem
• corresponding angles
• corresponding sides
• similar figures
• scale factor
• congruent

See the outline below for this week's agenda. The agenda is subject to change based on students' needs.

MON

- Lines & Angle Relationships Vocabulary

- Angle pairs formed when parallel lines are cut by a transversal

- HW: Identify angle relationships

TUE

- Use angle relationships to find angle measurements

- Setup & solve algebraic equations

- HW: Find angle measurements & justify (Measuring UP Lesson 47)

WED :

- Triangle angle sum theorem & exterior angle theorem (setup and solve equations)

- HW: Practice with Triangles - (Measuring Up Lesson 48)

THU:

- Vocab Quiz

- Triangle Similarity

- Begin City Project

- HW: Similar Triangles

FRI:

- Complete City Project

Advanced Math

In addition to the information listed above, students in advanced math will also learn about ratio of segments and proving parallel lines. They will use proportions to find the length of line segments formed when multiple transversals intersect at a set of parallel lines. They will also use information about angle measurements to prove that lines are or are not parallel. The agenda for advanced math is listed below.

MON

- Lines & Angle Relationships Vocabulary

- Angle pairs formed when parallel lines are cut by a transversal

- Use angle relationships to find angle measurements (setup & solve algebraic equations)

- HW: Use angle relationships to find measurements (Measuring UP 47)

TUE:

- Using angle relationships to find angle measurements and determine if lines are parallel

- HW: Practice finding angle measurements & providing proof.

WED :

- Vocab Quiz

- Ratio of Segments

- HW: Ratio of Segments Practice

THU:

- Triangle angle sum theorem & exterior angle theorem (setup and solve equations)

- Triangle Similarity

- HW: Practice with Triangles - (Measuring Up Lesson 48)

FRI:

- Lines & Angles Performance Task

Week at a Glance: September 2, 2013

Current Unit: Unit 1a Geometric Transformations
Unit Standards:  MCC8.G1, MCC8.G2, MCC8.G3, MCC8.G4

Crosswalk COACH Connection: Lesson 24

Due to ITBS testing and the shortened classes, we did not move as quickly as I anticipated last week. As such, we will complete the first part of the Rigid Transformations mini unit this week. Students have completed the first part (a performance task) of the 2-part unit assessment on Friday and will take the second part, which is a traditional test in class on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, we will begin an exploration of non rigid transformations -- dilations. Students will understand that dilations stretch or shrink figures proportionately. Students will learn to determine if a figure has been dilated or distorted by analyzing the relationships between corresponding sides and angles. Since we did not have an opportunity to use rigid transformations to prove or disprove congruency last week, I will add that to this week's lesson plan.  In addition, students will explore congruency versus similarity and use rigid and non-rigid transformations to prove whether figures are congruent, similar, both or neither.

In order to be successful with this unit, it is imperative that students are well versed with the following unit terms.

• transformation
• pre-image
• image
• translation
• vertical
• horizontal
• rotation
• angle of rotation
• point of rotation
• clockwise
• counterclockwise
• reflection
• line of reflection
• line of symmetry
• symmetrical
• congruent
• similar
• dilation
• distortion
• corresponding sides
• corresponding angles

Below is an outline of this week's agenda. This outline is subject to change based on the needs of the students.

MON
 -- LABOR DAY - Schools Closed

TUE
 -- Review Transforming BOB Performance Task
 -- Rigid Transformations Test
 -- HW - Graphing points to create figures (create figures for Dilations in the Coordinate Plane Task)

WED
 -- Dilations in the Coordinate Plane Task (Analyze figures - determine relationships)
 -- Discuss similarity / proving similarity (Notes - similar figures)
 -- HW - Dilations practice

 THU
 -- Compare & contrast congruence and similarity
 -- Demonstrate how how transformations can be used to prove congruency and/or similarity.
 -- Use transformations to determine if figures are congruent, similar, both, or neither
 -- HW - Changing Shapes Task

FRI
 -- Transformations Practice

==========================================================
Advanced Math

Students in advanced math have moved through the unit more quickly. They completed the assessment on Thursday and began the Dilations in the Coordinate Plane Task on Friday. Their agenda for the week is as follows:

MON
 -- LABOR DAY - Schools Closed

TUE
 -- Dilations in the Coordinate Plane Task (Analyze figures - determine relationships)
 -- Discuss similarity / proving similarity (Notes - similar figures)
 -- HW - Dilations practice

WED
 -- Compare & contrast congruence and similarity
 -- Demonstrate how how transformations can be used to prove congruency and/or similarity.
 -- Use transformations to determine if figures are congruent, similar, both, or neither
 -- HW - Changing Shapes Task

THU
 -- Congruent vs Similar Triangles (Proofing Triangle Congruence)
 -- HW  - Triangle Congruence Practice

FRI
 -- Transformations Practice

Week at a Glance: August 26, 2013

Current Unit: Unit 1a Geometric Transformations
Unit Standards:  MCC8.G1, MCC8.G2, MCC8.G3

Crosswalk COACH Connection: Lesson 24


This week in math, we will complete the first unit, Rigid Transformations. We will begin the week with a continuation of the reflections exploration. Thereafter, students will work on tasks designed to review all of the rigid transformations (translations, rotations, and reflections). In addition, students will use rigid transformations to determine if a set of figures are congruent.

Students will take a 2-part unit assessment on Thursday and Friday. Part I of the assessment will be a performance task that will require students to perform all of the rigid transformations. Part II will be a traditional type test on which students will have to answer questions.

In order to be well prepared for the assessment, it is important that students know and understand the unit terms, which are listed in the week at a glance from the 2 weeks.

Below is an outline of this week's agenda. This outline is subject to change based on the needs of the students.

MON
 -- Reflections Exploration continued (reflect over lines other the the axes)
 -- HW - Complete exploration questions

TUE
 -- Discuss / summarize reflections exploration
 -- Review all rigid transformations
 -- HW - Reflections practice worksheet

WED
 -- Discuss congruency & how rigid transformations can be used to prove congruency
 -- Use rigid transformations to prove / disprove congruency

THU
 -- Review using rigid transformations to prove / disprove congruency
 -- Unit Assessment - Part I BOB

FRI
 -- Unit Assessment Part II

==========================================================
Advanced Math

Students in advanced math have moved through the unit more quickly. As such their agenda is slightly different.

MON
 -- Rigid Transformation Task - continued

TUE
 -- Review Rigid Transformations Task
 -- Unit assessment Part I

WED
 -- Unit assessment Part II
 -- Recall ratios & proportions

THU
 -- Dilations in the Coordinate Plane Task
 -- HW - Complete Task / Practice with similar figures

FRI
 -- Changing Shapes Task

Week at a Glance: August 19, 2013

Current Unit: Unit 1a Geometric Transformations
Unit Standards:  MCC8.G1, MCC8.G2, MCC8.G3

Crosswalk COACH Connection: Lesson 24

This week in math, we will continue to study the standards in Unit 1a: Rigid Transformations and Congruency.  Students will focus on rotations and reflections, particularly describing the effect that these transformations have on a figure.

On of the big ideas of this unit is that rigid transformation produce images that are congruent to the original figure. Students will recall congruency and demonstrate their understanding by writing congruence statements to identify corresponding sides and angles of two figures. In addition, students will use transformations to determine if figures are congruent.

Again, it is important that students are well versed with the vocabulary to be most successful with this unit. The unit terms include:

• translation
• rotation
• reflection
• original
• image
• clockwise
• counterclockwise
• horizontal
• vertical
• x-axis
• y-axis
• x coordinate
• y coordinate
• point of rotation
• angle of rotation
• line of reflection
• equidistant

Below is an outline of this week's agenda. This outline is subject to change based on the needs of the students.

MON    
 -- Rotations Exploration - Part I & II
 -- HW - Complete 6 rotations (images & tables of coordinates)

TUE      
 -- Rotations Exploration - Part III
 -- Analyze six images to identify patterns to explain how rotations impact the coordinates of a figure
 -- HW Rotations Practice

WED
 -- Rotations Quiz
 -- Coordinating Rotations Task

THU
 -- Reflections Exploration Task - Day 1
 -- Complete reflections and questions from Task

FRI
 -- Reflections Exploration Task - Day 2
 -- Students share / summarize. Discovery properties of reflections.


==============================================================
Advanced Math
The advanced math students are moving at a faster pace. As such, they finished exploring translations and rotations and have moved onto exploring reflections. The weekly outline is as follows:

Monday:
 -- Reflections Exploration Task - Summarize properties of reflections.
 -- HW - Reflecions Practice worksheet

Tuesday:
 -- Rigid Transformation Review Activity - Using Rigid Transformations to determine congruency.
 -- Complete for Homework

Wednesday:
 -- Reflections Exploration - Reflecting over diagonal lines (y = x and y = -x)
 -- Recall congruency / Practice writing statement of congruence

Thursday:
 -- Rigid Transformations Formative Assessment Task

Friday:
 -- Rigid Transformations Review Activity - Transformation Man

Week at a Glance: August 12, 2013

Current Unit: Unit 1a Geometric Transformations
Unit Standards:  MCC8.G1, MCC8.G2, MCC8.G3

Crosswalk COACH Connection: Lesson 24
*********************************************************************************
This week in math, we will continue to study Geometric Transformations. We will focus on translations on Monday and Tuesday. Students will continue to explore translations and learn how to write and interpret translations in general form (algebraic) from a graph or a set of ordered pairs.

Monday:
 -- Translations Exploration (continue from Friday)
 -- Writing / Reading translations in general form

*HW - Translations Practice worksheet

Tuesday:
 -- Translations matching (group activity)
 *HW - Coordinating Translations Task

Wednesday:
 -- Translations Quiz

Thursday:
 -- Review Translations Quiz
 -- Rotations Exploration
*HW: Rotations Practice worksheet

Friday:
Coordinating Rotations Task

To be successful in this unit, it is important that students know the terms. They need to study them on a nightly basis until they have mastered all of them. Other prerequisite skills include: understanding the coordinate plane, plotting and reading points on a coordinate graph and integer operations.

========================================================================
Advanced Math
The advanced math students are moving at a faster pace. As such, they finished exploring translations on Friday and will begin this week with rotations and move into reflections. The weekly outline is as follows:

Monday:
 -- Rotations Explorations Task
*HW - Rotations Practice worksheet

Tuesday:
 -- Rotations Exploration Task 2
    (Rotating about a fixed point other than the origin / Rotating in 45 degree increments).

Wednesday:
 -- Reflections Exploration Task
*HW - Reflecions Practice worksheet

Thursday:
 -- Reflections Explorations Task - 2
    (Reflecting over y = x)

Friday:
 -- Rigid Transformations Review Activity

Week at a Glance: August 5, 2013

Generally, I try to publish the "Week at a Glance" at the beginning of each week to let you know what we will study in math for the week.  Each Monday (or first school day of the week), students are instructed to copy down the weekly agenda into their notebooks. Please check your child's agenda on Monday evenings and review the weekly math game plan with them.

This week in math, we will begin the week with a Unit Pre-test on Monday. Following the brief pretest, students will create a picture by plotting ordered pairs on the coordinate plane. This task will reinforce some of the prerequisite skills for the first unit, including plotting and reading ordered pairs and working with a coordinate grid.

For the remainder of the week, we will work on Unit 1a: Geometric Transformations. The unit will be introduced with a hands exploration of rigid transformations: translation, rotation, reflection.

Thereafter, we will study each of the transformations in isolation. Later this week, we will begin a focus on translations. Students will perform and interpret translations. They will need to know how to read and write translations verbally as well in the general form (algebraically). They will also need to be able to identify translations from pictures as well as sets of ordered pairs.

Students will need to know the following terms:

• Transformation
• Translate
• Rotate
• Reflect
• Clockwise
• Counterclockwise
• Original
• Image
• Vertical
• Horizontal

***HOMEWORK:  Students will have math homework every night except Friday. 

They may have a quiz on Friday depending on how far we get this week.

Welcome Class of 2017

Welcome Class of 2017 Parents and Students.

It was great to meet so many of you during Open House.

I am looking forward to an exciting year of learning in 8th grade math. It is important that students have their supplies and are prepared for class as quickly as possible. The supply list for math is as follows:

• 2 composition notebooks (One for now will do.)
• Pencils (with extra lead if using mechanical pencils)
• Erasers
• Pocket pencil sharpener
• Colored pencils
• Markers
• Highlighter
• Ruler
• Graph paper
• Lined paper
• 2 pocket folders with prongs
• Index cards
• Glue sticks

Reminder:  We are placing a school order for Math Crosswalk CRCT Coach Books for students. This book is well aligned to the 8th grade math standards and will serve as an excellent resource for students as they complete assignments and prepare for CRCT. The cost is $6 per book. We must receive your order form and payment no later than Friday, August 9.

If you have any questions about 8th grade math, please contact me.