US History for the week of September 14 - 18

We are coming to the end of Domain 2 by learning about the American Civil War and Reconstruction. We will have an open note quiz on Friday on the Civil War. Students should hold on to all quizzes because most of the quiz questions show up again on the domain tests. Today (Thursday) was Constitution Day, and we watched a brainpop about the Constitution and completed a mini research project about the Constitution. We also studied the Gettysburg Address and translated it into more easily understandable English. We have been working on a DBQ about Reconstruction and will complete it when the students come back after the break. The test on Domain 2 is September 30.

Algebra 1 with Support for the week of September 14-18

We finished up the module on proportional reasoning this week. On Wednesday, we had a quiz over ratios, proportions, and percents. Tomorrow (Friday) is the test over the module. It will include the material from the quiz as well as the coordinate plane and finding slope. After the Fall break, we will begin the first Algebra 1 unit with dimensional analysis. Have a wonderful Fall Break.

US History Week of September 8-11

We have been learning about the time period leading up to the Civil War, called the Antebellum Period. We have been learning about how the United States became more and more divided over the issue of slavery and how Congress tried unsuccessfully to avoid war. We have watched Brainpops about the Underground Railroad and the causes of the Civil War. On Friday, we will have a quiz over the Antebellum Period and finish watching the America: The Story of Us episode about the Civil War.

Algebra 1 Support Week of September 8 - 11

Tuesday: We reviewed the test on Module 2 and discussed errors. The grades are in the grade book. We began Module 3 which is all about ratios, proportions, and rates. As for the drills, I have started keeping track of individual scores (not in the gradebook) and when a student achieves 90% on a particular drill, he or she moves on to another skill.

Wednesday: We reviewed ratios and did some practice with word problems and understanding ratios from pictures and charts.

Thursday: We started with a drill. Some students are doing the adding integers drill, while others did a multiplying integers drill. The students are improving quickly. We learned about proportions today and practiced setting up proportions from word problems. Tomorrow is the end of the 6 week grading period, and progress reports will come out next week.

US History Week of August 31 through September 4

Monday: After doing a crossword puzzle about slavery and the Underground Railroad, we finished the notes on US Expansion and began a mini-DBQ on the Louisiana Purchase.

Tuesday: After the warm up questions, we finished the Louisiana Purchase DBQ and discussed the strengths and  weaknesses of the arguments the Federalists had against the deal. We watched America: The Story of Us episode called Westward and filled in cloze notes as we watched. We discussed westward settlement.

Wednesday: We finished the episode of America: The Story of Us and did a quick write on Andrew Jackson depicted as a king. We watched a Brainpop about Westward Expansion and completed the activities for it. We took notes from a short PPT about the War of 1812.

Thursday: We watched America: The Story of Us episode called Division about the growing sectionalism in the country. We answered the accompanying questions. We began working on a Manifest Destiny mini-Q

Friday: We finished the Manifest Destiny mini-Q and watched a Brainpop episode about the Mexican-American War and completed the activities. Finally we spent a few minutes reviewing for the quiz on Tuesday.

Algebra 1 Week of August 31 through September 4

Monday:We finished the notes on perimeter and area and did some practice using these concepts as well as understanding how the distributive property could be used with computing area. We took notes on the Pythagorean Theorem, and I handed out a packet of work on perimeter, area, and Pythagorean Theorem that is due Thursday for 2nd Block and Friday for 1st Block. (Due to multiple fire alarms, etc., 1st Block is a little behind 2nd, and I didn't give them the packet the same day.)

Tuesday: We learned about multiplying numbers with the same bases, but with different exponents, and did some practice work with exponents. We also did a mini-project where pairs of students were allowed to choose translation problems of varying difficulty. In grading skills checks, many students still need practice with integer rules. The test for Module 2 will be Thursday.

Wednesday: We continued to practice distributive property, Pythagorean Theorem, Area, and Perimeter. We began working on the test review.

Thursday: We finished the test review and completed another smartboard test review. The packets were due for 2nd Block.

Friday: We took the test and those who wanted took the Module 1 retest. 1st Block packets were due.