Grade+7

Week of December 1st This lesson, I put the students into groups and gave them a worksheet on solving addition and subtraction equations that was hard and alot of word problems. The students needed to work as a team to solve alot of the problems. This lesson went really well since the students like working in groups and really helped explained problems to each other. I like doing this before a quiz or test because they see harder problems and get support from their classmates.

Week of November 21th This lesson the class started solving one step equations using addition and subtraction. To do this, I used a scale with green and red blocks representing positive and negative integers. Once again, like the Algebra Tiles, the students did not want to use the hands on activity. This class just would rather do paper and pencil work which is strange since I thought anything besides paper and pencil work they would get into.

Week of November 14th This lesson I had to go back and review adding and subtracting integers because so many students have been having problems with the rules. I used Algebra Tiles for this lesson with the IPEVO Document Camera. The students were not as receptive to using the Algebra Tiles as I had hoped. Some students did benefit from the review though.

Week of November 7th I choose this lesson because of the word problems and relating the content to students lives. We were solving equations and the students needed to translate word problems into equations and solve them. I then had the students write their own word problems and then show them to the class using the IPEVO Document Camera. The rest of the class then had to solve the problems.

Week of November 1st The reason for choosing this lesson is because it was the first lesson I taught at Ferri. I used the IPEVO Document Camera which went well for the first time. The lesson was on simplifying variable expressions. Upload Grade 7 lesson files here. Along with your file, give a brief description for your choosing it to be the lesson of the week.  = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Lessons due by 1/30

= = Using Similarity and Scale Factor to Solve a Mystery = = Amanda Sawyer

This was a really short with the snow day, so I only taught two lessons. I chose this one becasue students seemed to really enjoy hypothesizing about how to find the height of the robber, and were very active throughout the lesson.

__Comments__ Amanda, I agree that students like to conjecture. With time at the end as you had here, those whose conjectures might have been incorrect could be asked to form a conjecture about a similar situation (prepared in advance). This way you will know whether they are willing to give up their initial thinking. Some students are not! Dr. S.

Amanda, I like this lesson. I'm teaching a lesson on solving proportions this week and am considering doing an activity similar to this.. Thanks for the idea! -Ben

= = **Lessons due by 2/6**   Using Similarity in Connections and Application Amanda Sawyer This lesson is acutally from Friday of last week, but I thought it went really well. By allowing students to move to any empty desk at a new station when they finished with a task, they were allowed to move at their own pace. It also gave them some choice as to which station they went to next. I collected everyones work at the end of the class and opened Mondays lesson with select problems from the station activity that students were having some difficulty with. __Comments__ Great Job using stations and working at the board to keep all students engaged. I had a stations lesson last week which went well and I am looking forward to doing it again. -Sean

Amanda, when students are able to have some choice over small matters, they learn much more than mathematics! Nice idea. Dr. S.

2/13

Making Comparisions: Ad's that Sell Amanda Sawyer I chose this lesson because it was the introduction to the unit that I am doing at Slater. I think that it went really well, and it would have been even better if I had examples of advertisements from magazines or newspapers that compare one product to another. It's really hard to find examples of advertisements now because they are mostly commercials. However the students came up with many examples on their own so it worked out OK.

__Comments__ Amanda, this is important content. I wonder whether students might conduct an experiment like this in their class - perhaps using chocolate chip cookies - and do the mathematics and write the ad copy. Could be a performance assessment. Dr. S.


 * Lessons due Feb. 27 **

Ratios: Mixing Juice from Concentrate Amanda Sawyer The beginning of this lesson went really well. Students generated really good definitions of ratios and great examples. We will be continuing working with ratios throughout the unit and I can tell students are getting bored, so I have been thinking of uses that they can personally relate to. If anyone has any other ideas to keep them interested, I welcome suggestions :)

Amanda, as I am sure you realize, proportional reasoning is one of the 'big ideas' in middle level mathematics. Lots of probing questions are essential. Some ratios they might relate to: ratio of time spent doing HW to time spent watching TV; number of pizzas for number of students (say 1 pizza for 3 students and must serve 27 and other values); inches on map to miles (say, 2 inches on a map corresponds to 13 miles), etc. Also, you can make punch instead of OJ, cocoa mix with amount of powder to water, etc. Dr. S.
 * Comments:**


 * Lessons due by 3/13 **

Unit rates in advertisements Amanda Sawyer This activity was a lot of fun and the students really enjoyed creating their posters. It gave me a chance to see students artistic abilities and creativity. I feel like this activity was a great way to connect unit rates to their lives.

Comments: I just finished a project in a geometry class to give students an alternative way to display mastery in similar polygons. I agree, activities like these give purpose to math for many students and all seemed to enjoy it. -Sean It will be interesting to see how students connect these various experiences with ratios at the end of the unit. Dr. S.

**Unit Review** **Amanda Sawyer** Well, I only really had this one lesson this week. They had their final unit test and many meetings for Exchange City (which they are all very excited about and I wish I could go with them). This is another stations activity and I think that it was a great way to review the important material from the unit. After grading the final tests the majority of students did really well and I noticed a lot of improvement for particuar students. Comments: You must be very pleased at the outcomes of your unit...and you should be! Dr.S.