Practice Outside the Textbook

Another resource I would like to share with you is the textbook website. ClassZone has many resources available including the entire textbook. We use the website pretty frequently in class to supplement the daily lessons. The students have received the log-in information in class, but I wanted to share this information with you as well. Just click on High School Math, and select Georgia as the state, then click on "Find your book." The authorization number is ##-#####. The book will look like this:


This website offers great resources to help your child succeed in Math I. There are extra practice problems under "Practice, Practice, Practice," the games and activities section offers unique ways to apply what we have learned, and the assessment sections gives practice problems and review for upcoming tests. It is also a great way to have your child practice text taking skills. Tests can be very stressful for some students. This is normal, but becoming familiar with what questions look like can ease the tension. (I also like to take questions from this section of the website.) Lastly, there is a section with reference materials that keep everything organized and is an easy go-to site for frequently needed formulas.

I hope that your child has shared this information with you, but it is also a great way for you to be involved in their studies. I encourage them to do at least 30 minutes of homework/practice per evening, and when homework is not assigned or on weekends, this is a great place for them to visit. We know how much students love to be on the computer and playing with technology and their electronics, so I hope that this will be a non-traditional way for them to learn.

I also would like to recommend Math.com for additional help. This site provides practice and review for content that we discuss in class and even goes back to middle school and elementary grades. Sometimes students need a little help with basic concepts as summers and new content can cause them to temporarily forget what they have previously learned. This information will not be a surprise to your child(ren) as I discuss on a daily basis how beneficial the internet is to their learning. They are able to type in problems and topics into a search engine and find countless numbers of sites with practice problems, advice and even tutoring. I would not recommend paying for any sort of site, as there are many free, useful sites available. I have listed a few sites on the class page, and will continually update it with more through out the year as we cover different material.

Lastly, should your child be an auditory and visual learner, You Tube is a great resource. For instance, we have been making our way through linear functions - simplifying, solving and graphing. We have just discussed Slope-Intercept Form, and below is a video of how to work with slope-intercept form. It is just one of the many helpful videos that are available.



As always, I appreciate your feedback, and any ideas or resources you may know of that will make our class more successful.

Introducing.....The Graphing Calculator!

Today in class, we used TI-84 graphing calculators. It was the first time that a majority of the students had seen or used a graphing calculator. I am happy to say that the students really enjoyed the activity, and they all caught on quite quickly. (Though I am not surprised - place any piece of technology in front of teenagers and they will have it figured out in seconds!) Since using the calculators seemed to help them grasp the material and improved their overall concept of Algebra, I plan to use them more frequently and would like to incorporate homework problems that they can use them on. The school does provide the calculators for our classroom, but as I mentioned in the beginning-of-the-year school supplies list, these calculators are suggested but not required. Now would be about the time that I would suggest these to be purchased. Now I am aware that graphing calculators are not cheap, and I would like to assist in any way I can. I would strongly suggest checking Amazon, eBay, or CraigsList (please utilize these at your discretion). There are also a few free online graphing calculators. This one, in particular, is my favorite - web calculator.

This being said, I believe that calculators are an essential part of learning mathematics. They are wonderful to use to supplement instruction and homework problems. I believe that calculators should be used to check work done, not to replace your child's brain. Your child worked very hard on every problem and concept learned up through eighth grade in order to get to high school. We do not want that knowledge to go to waste, do we?



The images above are what your child worked on today. The students already know how to solve the the equation in the box on the left to get the values in the middle box. They also know how to graph the equation like the image below. Using the calculators is a way for them to check their work to be sure that they are correct, and works well when dealing with functions that are difficult to graph - require large numbers, square roots, and values such as 'pi'.

I strongly encourage you to show these images to your child, and have him or her discuss the lesson we had today - it would be a great conversation starter! They can tell you about the story behind the function y = -16x^2+10.

Hello!

This is my first post! I am looking forward to communicating and sharing with the parents of my students.