What’s Goin’ On In Room 133

POST UPDATED ON JAN 14th (Thu)

Just to keep you abreast, Colleaugues, here’s the homework that we laid out this week.

Math 7 – MONDAY:  You had page 153, Ques 1 – 4.   TUESDAY:  Your assignment was to Read and Study Section 4-2 (Solving Addition and Subtraction Equations) on pages 156-158.  Then do even-numbered questions 4 – 24.  THURSDAY:  Textbook page 162, Ques 14, 15 and 16.

Enriched Math – MONDAY:  You had page 21, Ques 49 – 52.  TUESDAY:  your assignment was to Read and Study Sec 1-4 (Properties) on pages 23-27.  Then do even-numbered questions 14 – 34.  THURSDAY:  Textbook page 31, even numbered questions 30 – 40.

You all know that Writing Prompt #9 is due this Friday in your Math Journal.  Points will be LOST for not having one by now.  Rock on Collegues!

Welcome back, Colleagues!  Let’s get right to it!

The link below will lead you to the worksheet that I gave out today to create your crossword puzzle.  To get full credit, you only need to use five words going across and five different words going down (nothing backwards, diagonal or anything llike that).  Want extra credit?  Use more words!

Make up clues that use verbal and numeric expressions as well as definitions.  Mix them up, so you’re not using the same clue format all the time.  Make it look good and turn it in for grade!

Git yer puzzle here, Colleagues!

Colleagues, dear colleagues.  We have come so far in such a short time.  Normally, I put our video links on our Great Links Abound! page (and you do want to check there for new stuff from time to time).  But I want to put these two in a post because it reminds us that all math is inter-related.  When we truly understand the properties of our extraordinary number system, we find that we spend less time crunching numbers and more time exploring ideas.  

Now, mind you, these links won’t illustrate that last point; that’s just your crazy Mr Edwards going off again about math!  And these links are not spectacular; they just show a lady going over some math problems.  But they DO remind us about a few things we have learned this year – and applies them to what we are doing now.  So get a pencil, a small notepad and your favorite hot beverage and click away!  (And when it really starts gettin’ good to ya - try not to spill that stuff on your keyboard, okay? )

Math Lab Lady – Part 1

Math Lab Lady – Part 2

The final speed of a falling object is found by using the expression v + 9.8t, where v is the speed when you begin timing and t  is the length of time the object falls.  Find the final speed when the object starts falling at 3 meters per second and falls for 2 seconds.  (Oh, we’re getting into it now, baby!)

UPDATED Dec 6, 2009:  And for a real easy one – check this out.   This problem has nothing to do with the speed problem above; this problem is “ripped from the headlines”!  It’s all about money, secrecy and good old government spending!  

Right now, President Barack Obama is having a tough time getting Congress to cough up billions (some would say trillions!) of dollars to take care of Americans at home.  Well, just over 200 years ago, President Thomas Jefferson had to “sneak around” to get Congress to make another major commitment as well, but what he had in mind was Americans pulling up stakes and leaving their homes for the Great Unknown. 

What was this about?  President Jefferson wanted Congress to fund the 8,000-mile expedition of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark.  It took (that is, the expedition took)  28 months to complete and it “provided the US government with its first glimpse of the vast lands that lay west of the Mississippi River”, according to the good folks at the National Archives.  And how much did President Jefferson want?  No less than the unholy sum of $2,500! 

Check out the SECRET LETTER from Pres Jefferson to Congress asking for the green!

So, the Word Problem is: How much did the Lewis & Clark Expedition cost per mile?  How much did it cost per month?  Do you think we got our money’s worth?  Rock on, colleagues!

OK, Colleagues – for those of you who could have found better success on that last test (in other words, if you scored less than 70%) , this is your opportunity to get a passing grade in the books for this lesson.   And for those of you who wanted a better score than you got, this is your opportunity to raise it to the next letter grade.  (It’ll look real good on that report card!)

Print out the following worksheets.   There are some fill-in the blank notes (use your text, interactive notes and the old noodle!).  There are a few questions to do on the worksheet themselves.  And, on the second page of each sheet, I have a list of questions from your textbook* that you have to tackle.   Complete everything and bring it in for credit – or extra credit, if you’re into that sort of thing ! 

7.1 Test Make-up Fractions Percents

7.1 Test Make-up Scientific Notation

Git ‘er dun – and git yer grade right!  

(*Enriched Math: these questions are in the blue textbook, so see me if you want in on this!)

Howdy, Colleagues!  Tell me, how do you evaluate 2² x  3³  x  4⁴ ?  Tell me what the steps are, and then evaluate the expression.  And love the beautiful cooks who gave you all that left-over turkey, you know?  Rock on!

Pluto’s maximum distance from Earth is about 4.6 billion miles.  One mile is equal to 5,280 feet.  Find the approximate maximum distance of Pluto from Earth in feet.  Then convert your answer to scientific notation and round your first factor to the nearest hundreth.  

(And may the Force be with you!)

It takes Zachery 2-3/4 hours to cut a lawn.  It takes Adam 3-1/8 hours to cut the same lawn.  How much faster is Zachery?

You have your sheet of fractions, Colleagues.  You need to annotate the decimal equivalent in the upper left corner and the percentage equivalent in the lower right corner of each fraction’s square.  (Sure hope you brought it home!  :0  If I find an e-version of the handout, I’ll post it here later this evening.)

Enriched Math Folks and anyone else up to the challenge:  We got to Scientific Notation and talked about using it for big numbers 93,000,000 miles between the earth and the sun.  And you also know that it can be used for small numbers too.  Can you figure out what the scientific notation is for any of the fractions on that sheet?  Hmmmm…

Rock on, Colleagues!    (Quiz tomorrow!)

That quote might be a little too early for you in your great literature studies, Colleagues, but it’s never too early – or too late – to see how to maintain the value of a fraction when you change the denominator.  Maybe this handy little link will refresh your memory banks.  Rock on!

Equivalent Fractions

(BTW – This is the kind of stuff you’ll find on the Great Links Abound page.  Make sure you mosey on over there from time to time!;) )