WMS: Monday Math Update

Dear Families,

I had to keep my 2-year-old son home today with a fever. But that didn't change today's work. It just meant I had to type it all up for a substitute teacher. Ms. Melinda Jones subbed for me today and I asked her to take the class through the same math work we'd have done had I been there. This changes nothing about the quizzes going home today. I finished grading and entering them yesterday and today they should be coming home to you along with last Friday's Math Review Quiz.

Last week I received some feedback about how helpful it was to know specifically what the homework was just in case it hadn't been recorded correctly in a child's planner. That made me want to try something out for the next few weeks. Instead of sending the homework out in a daily digest like this (I like the daily updates, but they takes a noticeable amount of time to type up), I want to try and keep a homework calendar for you to have as a second place to check and see what should be done each night as homework. This differs from your child's planner because I will post these assignments on the day they are assigned rather than on the day they are due.

You can find that calendar on the calendar tab of my blog (http://www.mrmacnevin.com), or you can subscribe to it (there's a subscription button on the bottom right of the calendar). If this is useful to you, please let me know. That way I know if it's something I should continue. I think it's a great idea to have a way to check!

It's a BEAUTIFUL sunny and COLD day today. I hope you get a chance to get outside and enjoy the sun!

I am enjoying seeing it stream in the windows while we have sickness-induced down time.

Sincerely,

Brian MacNevin

So here's today's play-by-play:

• Math Review: Students received Math Reviews 3A and 3B (printed back-to-back). They had 10 minutes to work on MR 3A. Then Ms. Jones went over the answers with them. Students should have recorded stars for correct answers and H's for ones that are incorrect. Additionally, for any "H", students should have recorded the correct answer and a strategy.
• Practice: Last week on Friday we derived the formula for the area of a circle. Today in their Area practice packets, students were asked to practice those calculations using either 3.14 or 22/7 as estimates of pi. 
• Snapshot: Students took a short practice assessment on finding the circumference of a circle and the perimeter of a shape made of semi-circles. This snapshot will provide feedback to the students, but will not go into the gradebook. It will also help me see who needs some more work with circumference of circles.
• Homework: Math review 3B (on the back of MR 3A -- done in class today), Any H's from MR 3A. And ACE questions 37 and 38 on page 85 of the student books. Again, this is all listed now on the homework calendar: link.