Room 204 Happenings

Here are some happenings this week....

Algebra 1

I've been slowly acquiring graphing calculators for my students. We've been trying to use online versions, but my students struggled with seeing the buttons and commands. I didn't want them at a disadvantage for high school so I've been trying to get my hands on a bunch of used calculators. This week I revealed that I have managed to get a hold of 15 TI-83 calculators for them to use! The look on their faces made all those hours on Ebay worth it. We used them for the first time today to check out work when factoring quadratics to solve. It was amazing how much more proficient they were with the calculators in their hands rather than trying to use the online versions. I can't wait to find more ways to apply them to our class!

6th Grade Math

  

In preparation for our test next week, my students played a math version of Chutes and Ladders. Our classroom got pretty noisy and competitive today -- but it was all math noise. I try whenever possible to bring fun and games into our day.

7th Grade

Yes those are students throwing paper at each other. And yes, they have permission. To review a concept, we played "snowball". I have scraps of papers with problems on them that we crumble up into balls. Then my students have a snowball fight by throwing them at each other until the time goes off. When it goes off, they pick up a ball and solve one part of the problem. Then we have another fight until the timer, and then they get another snowball and solve step 2 of that one. It's crazy.... but they enjoy it and get practice out of it. Again, whatever it takes to make students enjoy coming to math class!

Another thing happening this week: MARCH MADNESS! I love doing the March Book Madness bracket. This year is an all time first. Since I don't teach language arts anymore I decided to do something different. Instead of just my class voting, it's now open to all junior high classes! Every Friday, every language arts class will vote on which books advance. Stick around to find out what the Sweet 16 bracket looks like!!