Fractions Packet

1.) So that you do not have homework over the holiday, please complete the fractions packet for tomorrow.

2.) Bring a cartoon or comic. We will use them in class on Thursday.

3.) Bring your stretching and shrinking book. These must be returned before the holidays.

4.) Turn in your credit card project. The project is worth 30 points and if you do not turn it in, it is a 0 out of 30.

Holiday Extra Credit

Holiday Extra Credit Opportunity

Here’s your chance to get some extra credit (up to 4% of your grade) over the holiday break. Pick one of the following books and read the entire book. Then, write a book report, explaining in detail each of the math concepts described. Provide examples whenever you can. Remember QUALITY is more important than QUANTITY, but your book report should be at least 2 pages so that you can cover the parts. See rubric for details.

Due: Tuesday January 8, 2008.


1.) The Number Devil, by Hans Magnus Enzenberger
One of my personal favorites. You will learn about many interesting mathematical concepts in this easy-to-read, comical dream world.

2.) The Man Who Counted: A Collection of Mathematical Adventures, by Malba Tahan, Patricia Reid Baquero
A beautifully written set of mathematical and philosophical adventures, sited by many as the book that turned them on to math.

3.) Flatland, by Edwin Abbott
A delightful classic written a long time ago which explores dimensionality: l-D, 2-D, 3-D, 4-D. It also has some outdated social commentary. Great if you like stretching your brain to think about really weird ideas. There are a large number of take-offs on Flatland, including Sphereland, Flatterland, and The Planiverse by various authors.

4.) The Boy Who Reversed Himself, by William Sleator
A novel (for kids) about worlds in 4 and more dimensions.

5.) In Code: A Mathematical Journey, by Sarah Flannery with David Flannery
An engaging autobiography about a young woman’s breakthrough discoveries in cryptography.

Study Study Study

1. Study for Stretching and Shrinking Unit Test!

2. Bring missing hw slip signed by a parent.

3. Bring a cartoon or comic for Thursday

Finding Heights Using Shadows

Forgot to post yesterday. Here is the assignment that was due today:

Level 1: page 57 #24-28
OR
Level 2: pages 56-57 #23-28

Homework due TUESDAY:
Level 1: pages 64-65 #1-4
OR
Level 2: pages 64-66 #2, 3, 7, 13

Credit Card Project due Tuesday

Stretching and Shrinking Test on Wednesday

Map Scales

1.) Finish problem 4.4, page 46 (complete C and D) Due Thurs.

2.) You have to complete one of the following:

Level 1: #10-14 Pages 51-53 Due Thurs.

Level 2: #12-14 AND #21-22 Pages 51-55 Due Thurs.

3.) POW due Friday

This week's POW options

Here are this week's POW options. Choose 1. Due Friday.

POW – due December 14

Option 1. When I was going to St Ives I met a man with seven wives. Each wife had seven sacks and each sack had seven cats. How many legs were there in the group of people and cats that I encountered on my trip to St. Ives? Assume that no one in the group is missing any limbs.

Option 2: When Cinderella’s fairy godmother sent her off to the ball to meet the prince, she had one stipulation: Cinderella had to leave by the stroke of midnight. By the time Cinderella got to the castle, moved through the crowd and met the prince, it was 10:30pm when she finally had her first dance with the prince. If each song lasted 3.5 minutes and they danced the rest of the evening, except for a 20-minute walk they took outside, how many songs did they dance to between 10:30pm and midnight?

Option 3: When the students in Harry Potter’s Spells class at Hogwarts started the year, they knew an average of 10 spells each. Hermione knew the most, 19, and Ron knew the least, 7. If Harry knew 12 spells, what was the average number of spells that each of Hermione, Ron and Harry’s 21 classmates knew at the start of the year? Express your answer as a decimal to the nearest hundredth.

Spend Spend Spend

Due Tuesday:

1. Credit Card Project - Spend, Spend, Spend - Part II

2. Next three pages on percents in packet

If you have any questions about either of these items, Monday would be a good day to seek me out to ask. That way, you can have everything completed for Tuesday (our next class).

Scaling Up

Two levels:

Option 1 (easier) - Starts page 47; #1-4, #6, #15-19

Option 2 (more of a challenge) Starts page 48; #4-9, #15-20

Due Thursday

Using math to solve mysteries!

Due Wednesday:

1.) 4.1 page 42 - Answer all of the questions in your math notebook.

2.) Complete the quiz, which is now a homework assignment.

3.) Start credit card project. (Part 1 is due Friday)

Subdividing to find Rep-tiles

Homework due Friday:

1. Page 35 #9; Page 37 #15, Page 38 #17 - #20.

2. Vocabulary Sheet (can be used when taking your quiz)

3. Quiz on Friday - Dee will be the sub.


Due Monday:

Questions Please POW

Rep-tiles

1.) Determine which figures are rep-tiles. Trace and cut out at least 5 shapes and determine if the figures are rep-tiles. This is 3.2 on page 30 and you can cut out shapes from the sheet I handed out.

2.) Page 33-35, #1-7 ACE questions

NOTE: Math Seminar will meet tomorrow during lunch.

Finish the Wump Hats

Due in one week on Tuesday.

1.) Finish Wump Hats on the grids

2.) Page 23-24 #6-10 (#14 page 26 is optional)

3.) Ana or Ivy's POW

4.) Test Corrections/Make up test

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wump Hats

1.) Draw Hat 1 on the blank grid - page 21 in the book

2.) #2, 4, and 5 on pages 22 and 23 (Challenge #14 on page 26)

3.) Finish table if you have not already (page 20) in your notebook

Wump Family

For tomorrow:

1. Finish drawing the WUMP family (and label the points on the table

2. POW

Stretching and Shrinking

Your homework for tomorrow is the following:

1.) Business Plan Due, presentations in class

2.) Also write a paragraph describing your efforts toward the project and then rate each of your team members and write a sentence about what they contributed to the project.

3.) Do #1-4, pages 9 and 10 in your new book, Stretching and Shrinking

Finish test

1.) Please complete test corrections and finish the test at home. I will collect it tomorrow.

2.) Your business plan project and presentation will be due on Thursday.

3.) Complete the pow from last week and this week.

Self Assessment and POW

1.) Complete 1 of the 2 pows on the board. Here is 1 option:

Lucy bought a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt, originally priced at $22, but on sale now for 15% off. How much was Lucy's total purchase? (Don't forget to add in sales tax at the end; 8.25%)

If you want to do the other POW, copy it from the math board in class!

2.) Complete the Self-Assessment. Turn in on Monday!

Wrapping up Variables and Patterns

1.) Everyone Finish #13-20

Then do either Level 1 homework or Level 2 homework:

Level 1 - #38-42

OR

Level 2 - #48-49


2.) Self- Assessment - Do this first as it will help you prepare for the test which is on Tables, Graphs and Equations (Chapters 1, 2 and 3)

3.) Make sure your Math Reflection is completed in your notebook. (see page 63 in book)


4.) POW

Work on Business Plans and STUDY!

Your assignment for tonight is to work on your business plans with your group. Use the template from 3.3 as an example to calculate profit, revenue and expense.

Study for the test, which is Friday!

More Equations (multiple operations)

Everyone must finish 3.2 (excluding #5)

Homework Options:

Level 1: #9-12

Level 2: #28-37

Level 3: #44-47

You must do one of the above. If you're not sure which one you should do, pick a problem or two from each level.

Variables and Patterns Test is on Friday.

Business Plan presentations next Tuesday!

Equations

1.) Finish 3.1 D and E (if you did not do so in class)

And

Option 1: #2, 3, 6, 7 (after page 56) - This assignment applies what we've done in class.

OR

Option 2: #25-27, 43, 6, 7 - This assignment applies and extends what we've done in class.

Choose the one that you feel is at your level. If you understand the material and feel it's easy for you, do Option 2. If you find the material to be challenging, do Option 1.

Work on the business plan with your group!!!!

Business Plan Groups

Communicate with each other and meet outside of class! There is a lot of work to be done and you will have to complete by next week. Inform members who are absent what was missed.

Writing Equations

1.) Begin working on business plan group project.

2.) page 55 #1 and page 56 #4-5

Everyday Math

I will not see you al ofl next week :( So please, make it a point to keep thinking about how math shows up all around you in your everyday life.

HW: Your only homework is to think about mathematics everyday while you're on your Sequoia or Mural trips. Type up a challenging math problem that you solved during the week and bring it in on Monday, October 29.

Have a wonderful week!

What's the Story?

Homework for Friday:

1.) 2.3 pages 33-34

2.) Quiz on Friday - Content will be from 2.1 and 2.2

3.) This week's pow: Due Friday

About how many pennies would have to be piled on top of one another to reach the ceiling of a room that is 8 feet high?

Hint: You can stack pennies on top of each other or side by side.

Bicycle Tour Operation

1.) Homework for Wednesday:

#6 page 38
#22 page 46
#23 page 46 and 47

2.) POW (Due on Friday, Oct. 19):
About how many pennies would have to be piled on top of one another to reach the ceiling of a room that is 8 feet high?

3.) Quiz on Friday

Weekend Homework

Finish problem 2.2 if you did not do so in class.

Pow is due on Tuesday!

Renting Bicycles

Finish 2.1 on page 31 if you did not do so in class.

Homework:

#3-4 pages 36-37
#15-16 page 42

Optional: #20-21

This week's POW: Due Monday!

On Monday, October 8th, 2007 we celebrated Indigenous Peoples Day. This is also the day that Columbus is credited with opening the doors for European expansion in the America’s when he mistakenly landed on San Salvador while trying to find an alternate route to Asia. Columbus hypothesized that instead of sailing south and then east around the tip of Africa, he could just sail southwest and get to Asia more easily. When Columbus was planning this voyage he packed provisions based on his calculations of the Earth’s size. Unfortunately, he did not realize that the map he was using was in an Arabic unit of measure and not in the Italian unit of measure he thought. As a result, he calculated the Earth’s circumference to be 25,255 km when it is really 40,008 km. By what percent was his calculation incorrect? Express your answer to the nearest whole number.

Weekend Assignment

Due Tuesday!

1.) POW

2.) #10-12 on pages 21 and 22, #25 on page 25

3.) Optional problems - #29 and #30 on page 28

Light Assignment

October 2, 2007

Work on POW (due Tuesday):

Carmen, Jordy, Mariah, and Ronnie each have less than $1.00 to spend at the snack bar. Altogether they have $3.26, all in coins, including 7 quarters, 1 penny, and the same number of dimes as nickels. Each person has 7 coins. They each have a different number of dimes.

Jordy has more dimes but fewer quarters than anyone else.
Ronnie has the most money, and Jordy has the least.
Mariah is the only one who has a penny.
Ronnie has the same number of nickels as Jordy, and Carmen has the same number as Mariah.
Ronnie has the same number of nickels as quarters, but more dimes than nickels.
What combination of coins, and how much money, does each person have?

Looking at Price and Profit

Tonight's assignment: Due Friday

1.) Finish 1.4 (if you have not already)

2.) #28 on page 27 - How does the price of sweatshirts relate to the profit?

3.) POW

On Tuesday, you will have a check-up quiz, so be studying the math concepts and vocabulary. Also remember to complete your notebook assessment rubric for Tuesday!

Graphing Galore

Light assignment tonight:

Page 27, #27

Remember to work on the POW, which is due Friday.

Interpreting graphs

Tonight's homework is to:

1. Finish the weekend homework assignment (#4, #5, and #26)

2. Do #6-9 on pages 19-21

3. Begin working on the POW

We will finish problem 1.3 (pages 10-11) tomorrow in class.

Weekend Homework

We're going to contiue working on making coordinate graphs. You assignment is:
#4 on page 17
#5 on page 18
#26 on page 26

Also be sure to share the links that I've added under "For Parents" with your parents!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Making Tables and Graphs

Homework for tomorrow:

1.) POW

2.) Revised autobiography

3.) pages 15-16, #1-3 and page 24 #18-20

Connections

Due tomorrow:

1.) Page 23- 13-17

Variables and Patterns

We are starting a new unit - Variables and Patterns. Please remember to bring your book home and to class everyday.

Your homework for tonight is:

1.) Look through your new book

2) Read pages 2-5

3.) Copy down the questions on page 4 into your math notebook. Please keep 3 spaces between each question so you can answer them later.

Due Friday:

1.) POW

Final Rafting Project

• The rafting project is due on Monday! For those students who did not measure the dimensions of the main room, use the following:

Length - 33 feet
Width - 24 feet
Height - 10 feet

The cfs for the day was 1,466.

• Finish Math Autobiography
• Parents Responses to blog questions

Have a great weekend!

Rafting Part II

Keep working on your on-going project.

Due tomorrow:

• Rafting Math part II (Ratio and Percents Page)
• Problem of the week - even if you have not figured it out, you are expected to turn in something that shows your effort

Due Monday:

• Parents Responses to BLOG QUESTIONS
• Math Autobiography (see previous post for guiding questions)
  

Rafting Part I

9/12/07

Your homework for tomorrow (Thursday) is to complete the first part of the rafting assignment. That is to complete the table and draw the number line.

Remember to keep working on the Problem of the Week and your Math Autobiography.

Also, if your parents have not answered the blog questions, please remind them that those are due on Monday!

First Week Assignment

Your homework for this week is as follows:

1. Visit the blogspot with a parent and have them read the introduction and answer the questions about you. They can email me the answers at Skanchwala@bmsonline.org or you can print out a copy and turn it in to me.

2. Work on your Rafting project. Most of this will be completed during class. The project will be due Monday, September 17.

3. Write your math autobiography. Also due September 17.

Getting to know your student

Dear Parent,

I’d like to get to know your student as quickly as possible this year. Would you please answer the following questions and send them back to school with your child tomorrow?

Thank you.
Sheila Kanchwala



About My Student



My child’s name (please print) _____________________________



My name ________________________________________________



1.) What is important for me to know about your child?









2.) How does your child feel about math?










3.) What do you feel is the most important aspect about teaching and/or learning math?

Introduction

Dear 7th grade families,

I would like to introduce myself to you as your child’s math teacher this year and tell you a little bit about how math will be structured this year. First, a bit about me: I have taught Spanish and Math Seminar for three years at the Little Red Schoolhouse in New York City. I have also taught math-reasoning course at the Center for Talented Youth through Johns Hopkins University and at the National Young Scholars Program. I am looking forward being at Berkeley Montessori School and getting to know all of you in the near future!

This will be an exciting class, and your child will be engaging in math in a variety of ways. I have the highest of expectations of each student, because I believe that all students are capable of learning math. The curriculum I will mostly draw from is called The Connected Mathematics Project. This curriculum is very rich in connections, and is organized around interesting problem settings. Some of the mathematical content goals that we will explore include Number, Geometry, Measurement, Algebra, Statistics and Probability.

Our first unit is called Variables and Pattern, which is an introduction to algebra, specifically looking at variables, tables, graphs, and how to use symbols as representations.

The goals for the unit include:

- Identify variables in situation
- Recognize situations in which changes in variables are related in useful patterns
- Describe patterns of change shown in words, tables, and graphs
- Construct tables and graphs to display relationships between variables
- Observe how a change in the relationship between two variables affects the table, graph, and equation
- Use algebraic symbols to write equations relating variables
- Use tables, graphs, and equations to solve problems
- Use graphing calculators to construct tables and graphs of relationships between variables and to answer questions about these variables


Please refer to the blog www. http://bmsmath7.blogspot.com/ for any ongoing announcements and for daily assignments. Should you have any questions feel free to email me at Skanchwala@bmsonline.org or call me at BMS, extension 257.



I look forward to a great year!

Sincerely,
Sheila Kanchwala
BMS Middle School Math Teacher

Homework

This is where homework will be posted.