WMS: Summer Math Reminder: Remember Khan Academy

What!? We're in summer break and we're getting ANOTHER school email!? For reals!? 

Yup, for reals. :) 

I just wanted to send this out before I dismantle my mailing lists and remind families that Summer is a GREAT opportunity to practice. And your child can use the Khan Academy (it's FREE) to keep calculation skills and some concepts fresh in their minds!

Khan Academy is not very good about teaching conceptual underpinnings and it won't do much to help with topics that your child is having a hard time with understanding. But for concepts that your child already has understood and for continuing practice in calculations, it's a tremendous resources. It has mini lectures (videos) and it has MANY online practice sets to work on!

This Spring, Khan Academy made some changes that make it easier to use. Your child can still use their wildcatapps.org username firstname.lastinitial.14@wildcatapps.org; ex: sally.b.14@wildcatapps.org). But if your child doesn't remember that sign-in, they can now create a Khan Academy username WITHOUT needing wildcatapps.org, facebook, or gmail! And next year, when the school year starts up, they will be able to link the accounts.

Some 6th grade skills students may want to practice over the summer include:

• Arithmetic with fractions and mixed numbers (+,-,x, and ÷).
• Arithmetic with decimals (+,-,x, and ÷).
• Ratios.
• Percents.
• Circle calculations (pi, area, circumference).

Not to mention things from earlier grades! The Khan Academy will give your child a nice mix of things to practice. It usually does a good job and is pretty darn motivating with points and badges earned.

You can also sign up for an account and have your child ad you as a coach! Then you can see what topics your child is struggling with and how much time they are spending practicing. This is SO much better than worksheets or workbooks because the program tailors itself to your child's practice needs. 

I sincerely wish you all a WONDERFUL summer and a relaxing break before starting 7th grade next year! It a privilege teaching your children this year. I look forward to seeing them around WMS next year when they're even bigger kids! :) 

Yours truly,

Brian MacNevin

PS: If your child wants to have their wildcatapps username and password, please email me (they may want to start with all of their achievements in place rather than starting over). I can provide you the username, but the password I will have to reset to a generic one that they can use to log in. I will be leaving later this week out of town and my internet access will be spotty after Wednesday.

Sandstone... Ocean, Beach, or Dessert?

Okay, we have a mystery: the Supai Sandstone and the Coconino Sandstone both are made of sand. But we had three different suggestions about where the sand came from.

1. A Beach
2. A Dessert
3. A Strem or River on a mountain

So which is it? Where did the sand from the Supai Sandstone (the red sand stone) and the Coconino Sandston (the tan sandstone) come from?

Today you will examine different kinds of sand in a virtual sand lab to see if you can find a way to answer that question!

To do:

Prepare Science Notebook

• Start a new page. 
• Title it "Sand Types" and put today's date (6/15/2012)
• Add this to your table of contents

Go to the FossWeb website:

• FossWEB
• UID: mrmac
• PWD: room116

Go to the Geology Lab Room

• Select SAND TYPES
• Select COMPARE
• There are three "types" of sand: river (mountain), dune (dessert) and beach (ocean)
• Compare the different sand types.
• In your science notebook, record your comparisons using VENN DIAGRAMS.
• Once you have examined all of the samples and you are satisfied that your observations are complete and accurate, go on to the next part.

Patterns!

• Examine your comparisons. Look for patterns for each TYPE of sand that would help you identify it.
• For each type of sand (dune, mountain, beach): write about the pattern you notice that describes that kind of sand.

Self Check?

• Go back to the lab.
• Select TEST YOURSELF and see how well you do!
• Record how well you do in your science notebook.
• Quiz!
• When you finish that, try the quiz otu and record how you did!

WMS: Math Update: MAP testing and a call for calculators...

Dear Families,

MAP Tests Started Today

This week we have started our MAP testing for Math and Reading. This morning our Blue group had their math test and tomorrow morning it will be our green group's chance to show what they've got! The MAP test is a computerized math test that pings where students are at. In the process, it shows them more advanced things (things that they've never seen before from 11th grade math) and also some much earlier things. I always get interesting questions about "what does this symbol mean?" after the MAP test. It might be worth asking your child what things they saw that they might be curious about!

Call for Calculators

Also, as we work with percentages, it will be very beneficial to students to have a calculator handy. This afternoon I had about 12 students want to borrow my 5 calculators. Hmm. We shared, but it was a little frustrating. I know that students have calculators in the cell phones these days. But since I cannot allow them be used in the classroom, students should have a simple calculator with them these last few weeks of school. It needn't be anything complicated! All it needs to be able to do is +, -, x and ÷. 

Homework

I have a hard time assigning homework when kids have big-looking test/assessments. So yesterday and tonight, the kids' only homework is to get a good night's rest. I know I just mentioned in my last email that I was still assigning homework, and that will be true next week, too! I apologize if that caused confusion.

Thanks for all you do to support your child's education!

Brian MacNevin

WMS: Math/Science Update

Dear Families,

It's June already! Welcome to the time-warp known as Spring Semester! I wanted to let you know what we're working on in math and science this week. I am still assigning homework. You can see homework assignments on my blog [link]. Just click on the calendar tab. And I am still recording homework completion by stamping in your child's planner when the homework is due. Usually, if your student's planner isn't stamped, they haven't turned in their homework.

Math: Percents and MAP Math Testing

• Back in the Fall we worked with percents when we were dealing with decimal notation of fractions. This time we are coming at it again, but from the point of view of problem solving and equivalent fractions.
• This week we are still focusing on reviewing fraction/decimal/percent equivalencies and calculations. The thought process goes like this:
• I know that 1/4 is equivalent to 2/8. All I have to do is multiply the numerator and the denominator of 1/4 by 2 and I get 2/8.
• PERcent means "for one hundred."
• I can pretend that the group I'm looking at has 100 members instead of just 8. 1/4 can become 100ths if I multiply the numerator and the denominator each by 25. 1/4 x 25/25 = 25/100. 
• Example: In a class of 25 kids, 13 are boys and 12 are girls.
• What percent are boys? 15/25 are boys. If I multiply the 25 by 4, I can pretend there are 100 students. Then I just need to do the same to the 15 on top to get 60 boys. 60/100 is 60 for every 100... or 60%.
• MAP MATH testing Wednesday 6/6 for the BLUE group kids.
• MAP MATH testing Thursday 6/7 for the GREEN group kids.

Science: Layers of the Colorado Plateau

• This week we will finish looking at the layers of the Colorado Plateau. We will examine sand samples to see how their grain textures inform us of the history of sandstone layers and we will get some estimated dates of the rocks in these layers. 
• The big picture we're building here is that the layers of the grand canyon were laid down in specific environments that existed over the same physical location. These layers were compressed into sedimentary rock and then the whole thing was somehow lifted up about 8000 feet. We won't go deeply into earthquakes and plate tectonics because there is an entire unit on that in 7th grade which is really good.

Our students are also looking forward to their Greek Olympic Games in two weeks at Cornwall Park! It should be a blast!

Cheers,

Brian MacNevin

WMS: Math Update: Learning Target 5 and 6 Video LInks

Dear Families,

This week we have been re-learning things students already know and then pushing into something new with algebra. I wanted to let you know that I have heard frustration from a few students because they don't like how they are required to learn a specific structure for their work. They think that they can do it faster in their heads and, to their credit, they are right for most of the simple examples we have looked at.

But for more complicated problems and much larger or much smaller numbers, they are wrong.

So despite their protests, I am insisting on the structure because what they are practicing is the symbolic reasoning that underlies algebra. And that's a mouthful! So here are two small "EduCreations" videos to demonstrate what I'm talking about. They aren't good quality, I'm afraid, but I hope they will be helpful in explaining what we are doing. 

Learning Target 5: I can evaluate algebraic equations. [video]

Learning Target 6: I can solve algebraic equations. [video]

I'm just trying these videos out for the first time this year. So if you find them helpful or useful, please let me know!

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Brian MacNevin

WMS: Math/Science Update!

Dear Families,

The warm weather was sure nice! Can't wait for it to return. I hear by this weekend it's supposed to be warming up again just in time for Ski to Sea! I just wanted to let you know about what we're doing in math and science right now!

Also a reminder: homework assignments can be found on my website http://www.mrmacnevin.com. I stamp student planners on the day something is due when they turn it in. If they don't have stamps Tu-Fr in their planners, then they aren't turning their homework in.

Math:

• We are working on learning targets 5 and 6 this week!
• LT 5: I can evaluate algebraic equations.
• The kids all THINK they can do this already. And really, they can. But we are focusing on the writing format because in our next learning target (LT 6) they will have to use that format to solve single-step algebra equations. So look out for kids who are skipping steps, or doing things in their heads alone. They should be writing down all their steps.
• Example: Evaluate the expression 3s + 4t where s=2 and t=5.
• STEP 1: Rewrite the expression, replacing the variables with numbers
• = 3(2) + 4(5)
• STEP 2: Rewrite the expression, doing the math as you go
• = 6 + 20
• = 26
• LT 6: I can solve algebraic equations.
• We will be getting to this one more on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. Students will be learning the steps to solving "for" a variable.
• Example: Solve for x given the expression 5x = 3. This is the classic beginning algebra solve for type problems that we all know and love. Students will learn to use the writing format they practiced today as a way of recording the steps for isolating 'x' on its own.

Science:

• We have been correlating rock layers between two canyons in the grand canyon.
• Today I also showed students a rubric we will use to evaluate their science notebooks. These rubrics are pretty big and tonight I asked them to try it out on their notebook. We will talk about it tomorrow in class before finishing the correlation discussion.

Thanks!

Brian MacNevin

WMS: Math Update: Quiz tomorrow

Dear Families,

I just want to let you know that tomorrow we are having a quiz on learning target #4: I can write an equation to represent a set of data or a situation. 

Today your child brought home some practice problems. There is a copy of the practice problems and the associated answers located on my files website [link]. Tomorrow's quiz will look remarkably similar to these practice problems (different situations and numbers, but the same basic skills).

There will be no math review quiz tomorrow, however. I figure one quiz a day is plenty. ;)

Thank you,

Brian MacNevin

WMS: Math update. Quiz on Friday!

Dear Families,

We are back to a regular schedule for a little bit. Yay! The field trips were amazing, but I know kids like to know what to predict more regularly. We are now resuming homework and regular math classwork. You can review these notices and also homework assignments on my website http://www.mrmacnevin.com. Students can find answers to the work we are doing on the site http://files.mrmacnevin.com.

Math

• We are coming to a close on the focus on our latest learning target: I can write an equation to represent a set of data or a situation.
• Today in class we have another problem involving writing equations and we are also going to have some homework to practice that skill.
• Tomorrow night we will have a practice quiz for homework.
• Friday we will have a quiz on this learning target.
• NEXT week we will begin our next learning target 5: I can evaluate algebraic equations. We've been working on this one most of the year, so there won't be much new to introduce. The unit finishes up with a last learning target 6: I can solve 1-step algebraic equations. More will come home next week about that. It is a skill in algebra that we probably all heard described as "isolating the variable" in order to solve for it.

Science

• We are correlating our rock samples this week to demonstrate that the layers of rock in the grand canyon are all large layers that spread out over large swaths... they are not just layers in the cliff wall.

I hope the weather holds out! It's so nice to be out of the La Nina years, finally!

Sincerely,

Brian MacNevin 

WMS: Math/Science Update

Dear Families,

Science Field Trips: AWESOME!

I just wanted share with you what a WONDERFUL time our students are having on the field trips to the Bellingham School District's Gordon Carter Environmental Education Site. Last week our blue group went, and this week it is the green group's turn. We have had AMAZING weather in a BEAUTIFUL outdoor setting. And we have awesome parent volunteer chaperons! Thank you all so much for your participation and support of this program!

No math homework until Wednesday

I want to let you know that because of the field trips, we will have no homework Monday and Tuesday nights this week. On Wednesday we will start up our math reviews again and we will be getting back to our work on algebra! Once we are back to work on math, we might even have a quiz coming up this Friday on writing an equation to represent a set of data or a situation. But I will tell you more about that as the week progresses.

Welcome to a new and sunny week! I hope you are enjoying the nice weather as much as our students have!

Sincerely,

Brian MacNevin

WMS: Elective forms sent home... and today's field trip!

Dear Families,

Yesterday elective forms were sent home with our students. I apologize, but I didn't discover them in my mailbox until later in the day. I arranged with their language arts teachers to have those go home with my green students today. They are due back this week (the exact due date is printed on the materials).

Today's field trip was loads of fun. The kids met their instructors, they had a short experiential education activity, and then they proceeded to explore two different eco-eystems in teh lake Whatcom watershed. Tomorrow they will explore two different aspects of the watershed.

We had AMAZING weather. But I fear that won't hold out. Kids were glad today to haev warm clothes to put on when they were in the woods! And they had lots of water.

Thank you for making this field trip such a success! 

Sincerely,

Brian MacNevin

WMS: Math/Science Update

Dear Families,

We are starting a wild schedules week here at Whatcom Middle School. We have field trips and MSP's and schedule changes... oh my!

No Homework This Week

• I will send no homework this week. Instead, I asked students to Sleep (extra?), Rest, and to THINK on the MSP. That homework time they would usually use for math, they can use dreaming about math. Next week there will still be field trips and schedule changes, but I will start homework back up.

Math Topic This Week

• We are still looking at algebra and I anticipate that while we may not have a math review quiz this Friday, we may be ready for a quiz on learning target 4.
• Learning Target 4: I can write an equation to represent a set of data or a situation.
• The greatest difficulty I've seen students have with this so far is trying to write in mathematics what they can say in words perfectly well. I wrote a more in-depth blog post about it last week that you can read here [link]. But we will be working with this throughout the week as we prepare to show we can do this learning target.
• I have tried to help students think through it with a mnemonic device: my ODE to algebra.
• O: Observe a pattern.
• D: Describe the pattern in words, then replace English words with some mathematics words if you can. (AND might become add. LESS might become subtract. GROUPS OF might become multiplying, etc.)
• E: Write an equation that expresses your description in math symbols.

Field Trips This Week

• This week our BLUE group will be going on the field trip on Tuesday and Wednesday. The blue groups are based on your child's language arts group colors. So just ask your child what color group they are and they should know! We leave at 9:30 AM and will return at 2:30 PM to school.

Science This Week

• Aside from the field trips, we are completing our study of the rocks of the grand canyon. We have now collected observations on the rocks' colors, shapes, hardness, composition, fossils presence, and reactivity to hydrochloric acid (also a marker of fossil presence for hard shells that contain calcium carbonate). The field trip will interfere with our research into the grand canyon rocks and their organization a little. But we are building evidence that the rock layers in the canyon are similar between different parts of the canyon.
• The very big picture we are building is that these layers were laid down over millions of years and that the river has cut down through these layers, exposing them as it cuts lower and lower toward sea level.

Our field trips should be so much fun.

Thank you for all you do for your child!

Sincerely,

Brian MacNevin

WMS: Field Trip Update: Chaperones set for Green Group. Still need blue group chaperones.

Dear Families,

WOW! What quick responses to getting parent volunteers for chaperons! Thank you so much for the help! We still need more help, though, for the BLUE group!

So if you are available to help chaperon our BLUE group's field trip on 5/8 or 5/9 (next week), we'd love to have you! You can volunteer one day or both days; whichever suits your schedule best!

Thanks again! This should be a fun trip!

Sincerely,

Brian MacNevin

WMS: Math Update: Tonight's homework and our present learning target

Dear Families,

First message: please don't let kids work for more than 45 minutes on the homework unless they are enjoying it and want to go on!

Whew! Now that that's out of the way, I wanted to email you because today we started our new learning target. 

Learning Target #4: I can write an equation to represent a set of data or a situation.

Today's lesson was built around Problem 3.1 in the book. It was challenging because it layered three different tasks into one. Here is the PROCESS that the lesson tried to help students walk through when writing an equation for a situation.

STEP 1: Describe the relationship between the independent and the dependent variables.

• For example, a car is going 50 MPH for 6 hours. We observe that as time goes up every hour, the distance the car has traveled goes up 50 miles. A student might wright, "for every hour the car travels, it covers 50 more miles of its trip."

STEP 2: Try to write that relationship in a way that uses adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.

• For example, "the distance that car covered is the number of hours times 50."

STEP 3: Rewrite the relationship using math symbols. Replace words with letters.

• For our example car: d= nx50
• 'd' came replaces the word distance. 'n' replaces the words number of hours.

STEP 4: Something new for middle school! If you are multiplying a number times a letter, you can leave out the multiplication symbol and write the number and letter together (number first).

• The simplest form of our example equation would be 
  d= 50n

Tonight's homework is ACE questions 2-4 on page 55. I think that most students will do fine with the homework. But for students who are a little stuck, just remind them that the equations work like our algebra practice on the math reviews. If they replace the variable in the equation with a number, then they can just solve it and get an answer. 

I have posted the answers to the Problems and the ACE questions on my file website [link]. Students should feel free to look at these answers because sometimes they help the questions make more sense.

I hope you have a wonderful evening!

Sincerely,

Brian MacNevin

WMS: Science field trips starting next week!

Dear Families,

This is a follow up to let you know that we have some science field trips starting next week. The cost is FREE! Yesterday I sent a letter explaining more about the field trip and a permission form home with your children. The permission forms had a lunch survey on the back.

The permission forms and lunch survey are DUE THIS FRIDAY 5/4/2012 (please keep the letter for your information).

And also WE NEED CHAPERONES (about 3 each day). You needn't commit to both days! If you can volunteer a day or two, please email me to let me know ASAP. [EMAIL LINK]

The schedule is explained in more detail in the letter, but the short version goes like this:

BLUE LANGUAGE ARTS GROUPS

TUE 5/8 & WED 5/9 (not an overnight trip)

EACH DAY: DEP WMS 0930. ARR WMS 0230.

SPEND REST OF AFTERNOON WITH MR MAC

GREEN LANGUAGE ARTS GROUPS

MON 5/14 & TUE 5/15

EACH DAY: DEP WMS 0930. ARR WMS 0230.

SPEND REST OF AFTERNOON WITH MR MAC

STUDENTS WERE INSTRUCTED TO ASSUME THE WEATHER WOULD BE RAINY. Because, well, it usually is around these parts at this time of year. But even if there's no rain, students should have closed-toed shoes, long pants, and a jacket with them (a backpack might be helpful as a carrier in case it's not needed). 

If your child has lost their letter and permission form, please have them see me ASAP.

And if you have questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

Brian MacNevin

WMS: Math Update: Some fun at-home brain-stretching conversation!

Dear Families,

Happy Friday!

I just had a fun, but challenging day talking about graphs with our 6th grade students. It was fun because their brains were kneading-away at how on Earth to put their thinking into words. It was challenging for them because they didn't have a good way of saying what they understood in words. I wanted to share it in case you want to follow up at home. And I highly encourage it!

Up until now, the kids have had LOTS of practice graphing distance over time graphs. But on today's target practice, they were asked to examine and explain some speed over time graphs that have many of the same shapes as the graphs they've seen before. When I showed them two graphs that had the same shape, but different variables, most of the kids wanted to say the graphs meant the same thing. But they were completely different. Here are descriptions of the two graphs (they were both just sketches... there were no actual scales or numbers on the graph... just axis labels):

Distance Over Time:

The distance increases at the same rate over the first third of the time scale. Then it plateaus for the remainder.

Speed Over Time:

The speed increases at the same rate over the first third of the time scale. Then it plateaus for the remainder.

It might be fun for you to sketch these graphs and then to talk about them with your child (or print out some sketches here [link]). Listening to them think through it might let you hear what I'm describing and it would give them a GREAT chance to revisit the topic outside of school!

I hear the weather this weekend should be great! Here's hoping the weather forecasts work! 

Sincerely,

Brian MacNevin

WMS: Practice MSP (State Tests) happening this week

Dear Families,

Yesterday I showed my students the state-produced video introduction to the new computerized MSP (our state test). Then we went to the computer lab so that students could practice using the testing environment and its tools. But when looking over the OSPI website, I found out that these practice tools are also available for use at home! This website tells you more about the computerized test: http://www.k12.wa.us/assessment/StateTesting/OnlineTesting.aspx

Demos for use at home:

And on that same page there is a link to things you can use at home, too! Here are the direct links to those.

DEMO VIDEO: http://assets.drcedirect.com/States/WA/Tutorials/Student/201201/201201.html

DEMO Software (WINDOWS): http://wa-insight-client.drcedirect.com/Download/DRC_INSIGHT_Setup_OnlineToolsTraining.exe

DEMO Software (MAC OS): http://wa-insight-client.drcedirect.com/Download/DRC_INSIGHT_Setup_OnlineToolsTraining.dmg

It's all about the words and the numbers: pictures are out!

• I think most challenging difference between the computerized test and the paper test happens when students have to explain their thinking. In the past, your child was told that they could explain their answers using words, numbers, or pictures. But now they are given a text box to type into for their explanation -- and there are no drawing tools or diagramming tools. That means that your child's explanation has to be written completely in words or mathematical symbols. There is a toolbox for typing in fractions and symbols.
• The text box has a counter underneath it and students are only allowed to type in a certain number of characters (symbols and spaces count as characters). Short answers might only allow 10 characters (for typing in something like "324.67 ft" as an answer). Medium answers might allow 50 characters. And the largest text boxes appear to allow 1000 characters. These are characters, however; not words! So students still need to be concise. Clearly this is something that they could definitely use some practice on... and our curriculum just isn't set-up to be able to use these sorts of tools.
• I think it's a good idea to look at these tools online and MAYBE even use the tools to try and answer some homework questions. Kids could use the graphing tools there to make a graph, or type into a text box... then do a screen capture of the thing they produced and print it out. Just a thought. But it would allow them to practice these tools and, really, the tools themselves aren't bad! It's just a shame we don't have constant regular access to them.

Our testing dates have been firmed up and we will be sending information home about when the math and reading tests are happening. 

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Sincerely,

Brian MacNevin

WMS: Math and Science Update

Dear Families,

What a wonderful warm and sunny weekend we had! And what a great start to our week already! I just wanted to give you a few pointers about this week in math and science before we all get lost in the sunshine -- I know, pretty optimistic of me that it will last. But I'm hoping! :) 

This week in math and in science our themes converge on inference. It's pretty awesome when thinking themes converge! And thanks to Mrs. Sherwood and Mr. Lucy, I hope the that your child will see the connections that exist in their reading class as well! 

Math

• Last week in math we revisited creating coordinate graphs. We had a quiz on that last Thursday and kids brought their quizzes home with them on Friday. This week we are focused on learning target 3: I can analyze a coordinate graph. We analyze graphs to infer meaning from them. Our mantra throughout all the exercises this week is "can I analyze this graph?" But what is "analysis?" 
• In language arts and in science, students have been thinking of inference as "reading between the lines" or "getting something that's not written down in the text." Inferences aren't just random guesses, however: they are build on evidence that we find in the text. Or in our case, they are build upon evidence that we find in a graph or a table.

Science

• In science this week we are going to start examining the layers of the grand canyon and making some observations about the different types of rocks in those layers. The observations we make this week will be the grounding of an inferred timeline about the layers. 

Website Files

I've included some extra support for students on my website that I wanted to let families know about. If you visit http://www.mrmacnevin.com and look to the right side of the site, you will see a section under "Useful Links" to my file cabinet site. It can also be accessed directly at http://files.mrmacnevin.com. There is a section for each of the books we've used this year. If you look in the "Variables and Patterns" section, you'll see where I've placed copies of the additional practice pages we will be using this week as well as the answer packets that we will be using: that way students can access those at home, too. There are answer packets for additional practice, for the problems, and for the ACE questions. These are PDF files, so they should work for anyone with a PDF reader. But if you are having difficulty opening the files, please let me know so that I can see about saving them differently.

Sincerely,

Brian MacNevin

WMS: Math Update: Quiz tomorrow

Dear Families,

Tomorrow is our quiz on learning targets 1 and 2 of Variables and Patterns:

LT1: I can create a coordinate graph from a set of data.

LT2: I can read and understand graphs and tables.

The first investigation has a lot of review built into it. But there are few new twists for 6th graders. The biggest twist is choosing and using a consistent scale for each axis.

Today we had some practice graphing. Students received a graphing practice packet that has 5 graphing exercises. Most students had time to finish the first two in class. That leaves lots more practice in case anybody needs it.

Tonight's homework is a practice quiz. I have uploaded a copy of the practice quiz and the answers to my file cabinet Google site. Just in case it didn't make it home, you can download the file here: [link]. It is a two page PDF file.

Here are some of the most common things that I have seen students forget to do in their graphing practice work:

• Forgetting a title for the graph (something as simple as "Distance over Time" is acceptable).
• Forgetting to label (or title) the axes.
• Forgetting to place TIME on the x-axis.
• Forgetting to use a ruler to keep hand-drawn lines straight (mostly for the axes).

I hope you have a great Wednesday afternoon! Thank you for all you do to support your child's education!

Sincerely,

Brian MacNevin

WMS: Math & Science Update

Dear Families,

Just a little math and science update for this week. I want to remind you that I am still posting homework assignments to the calendar section of my website [link]. I check homework in at the beginning of class each day and I stamp your child's planner on that day if their homework was complete.

Variables and Patterns

• In math we have been working hard on our new algebra unit "Variables and Patterns." The first part of this unit really focuses on the skills of creating and reading graphs (learning targets 1 and 2, respectively). The first investigation is mostly review for the students since 5th grade introduced line graphs.
• The twist that is new for 6th grade is figuring out what scale to use. Earlier this week students completed a flash feedback on creating graphs. The question about creating a graph gave students the number of jumping jacks someone did over time. But instead of giving them regular time intervals, the flash feedback showed the number of jumping jacks at 1, 2, 3, 5, 10 and 20 minutes. Students had to decide on a time scale for the graph (so many chose to count time by 2's or 5's) instead of just placing 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, and 20 next to each other on the x-axis.
• We will have a quiz on learning targets 1 and 2 this week. I believe that we will be ready for it by Wednesday, but it might be pushed back to Thursday based on the practice work tomorrow. Students will bring some practice problems home with them the day before the quiz. 

Earth History

• Last week we spent two days discussing the differences between observation and inference as we get ready to talk about geology.
• The first part of our Earth History kit focuses on the Grand Canyon as a scenario for investigating rocks and time (as shown in the layers of the rock). Today we saw the beginnings of a short video that helps us imagine the Grand Canyon and introduces us to John Wesley Powell -- the first person to document the geology of it. We will then look closer at Powell and what he learned in multimedia form and then by examining rock samples.

Thank you for all you do to support your child's education!

Brian MacNevin

WMS: Pertussis (a.k.a. Whooping Cough) Exposure Notice

Dear Families,

I hope this email finds you well on our first Wednesday back from spring break!

This afternoon our school nurse sent home a notice about possible pertussis (whooping cough) exposure here at Whatcom Middle School. In the cleanup rush, I forgot to send it home. I apologize for that, and I am forwarding it to you attached to this e-mail. I will send the hardcopy home tomorrow.

Sincerely,

Brian MacNevin