Monday…Review

Tuesday…7th & 8th

Wednesday…1st, 2nd, & 3rd

Thursday…4th, 5th, & 6th

Friday…Make-Up Day

Just in case one of you lose the one I gave you in class…

7th grade semester test study guide

8th grade semester test study guide

EDIT (12-15-08) In case of School Closing on Tuesday, we will follow the following schedule:

Wed:
8:00-9:00 4th period
9:05-10:05 5th period
10:10-11:10 6th period
11:15-12:20 7th period

Thurs.
8:00-9:00 1st period
9:05-10:05 2nd period
10:10-11:10 3rd period
11:15-12:20 8th period

Click Here for School Closings

Fellow blogger, Sue Waters, has some very excellent posts on the matter of RSS and RSS readers. 

On her blog, she says:

Spend any time on the Internet, and you will see the word RSS or the orange icon normally used to indicate a site has RSS feed. RSS is an acronym which stands for Really Simple Syndication.

In simple terms RSS is a simple and effective way of keeping in touch when new information is added to a website without having to visit the site.      

Here are the steps you would need to follow in order to start taking advantage of RSS. 

1. Chose a reader.  I use Google Reader and have used Bloglinesin the past.  Use of both of these would require a valid email address.  Google Reader is accessable here at school but you will have to validate your email address at home.  I think Bloglines is blocked here at school.  The reader does the work for you.  When you log on, it searches the feeds you have told it to (we will discuss this in step 2, later on) and brings the content to you.  This way, you do not have to waste valuable time going to each individual site.  Most readers are set up like an email in-box.  It lists the new content you have not read yet.  When you are done with it…simply mark it as ”read” like you would with your email.  With Google Reader, there is no need to delete items, it stores them for you in case you want to see them again later. 
2. Adding feeds.  Most pages that have feeds have an orange symbol that looks like the one pictured below.  Clicking on this image will allow you to “subscribe” to the feed in your RSS reader. 
3. Some sites do not advertise that they publish an RSS feed but they do.  Sometimes you can copy and paste the url (web address) into your feed reader and find out if they do!

I have added RSS to my site this week, so maybe this will be a helpful way for you to keep up with your favorite math teacher (and other things) online!  Have fun and safe surfing!  

Many of you will agree, I was very lenient on the notebook checks last quarter.  This quarter you will be required to keep a table of contents in the front of each section of your notebook.  I will be keeping up with this so you will always be able to compare your table of contents with mine.  I have created a spreadsheet in Google Docs that will be synced each time it is updated with the website. 

There are two separate spread sheets, one for 7th grade and one for 8th grade.  They are color coded to help you.  If you would like, you can print this document and use it as your table of contents.  It is my hope that this new feature will help make you more organized. 

Some of you are still wondering why it is that I force you to keep a notebook.  That is a very good question, as I always try and make everything we do relevant.  In school and in life it will be much easier for you to be organized.  Keeping a notebook will help us achieve this goal. 

There is alos a link to the table of contents on the right side bar under “Resources” and on the “Stuff” page at the top of this page. 

This is an execllent opportunity for several reasons.

1. Summative assessment is the best way for your teachers to get an idea of what is working and what is not. Contrary to popular belief, the target test is more for teachers than it is for students. It is a way for US to judge ourselves on how and what we are teaching and if it is working. However, if students do not try their VERY BEST, it is not a very good indicator of our effectiveness. So, please, for Pete’s sake, try your hardest.
2. It is a chance for you to get out of remediation. Mr. Rolland announced at a faculty meeting last month that students who score proficient on the Target Test, they would be excused from remediation. The opposite is also true, however, if you do not score you will remain in remediation/will be placed in remediation. So, please, for Pete’s sake, try your hardest.
3. It helps you prepare for the “Main Event” in the spring! The ACTAAP is the most important test you will take this year. It judges what you “learned” this year. I know that you are learning because I have you in class on a daily bais. However, we have to prove it to others. SO…., please, for Pete’s sake, try your hardest.

We have a meeting later this week and I’ll update you on what I know after then…

Also, if anyone knows who Pete is, please, for Pete’s sake, let me know!

1. ALL MAKE UP WORK/TEST RE-DO’S MUST BE DONE BY FRIDAY!
2. Notebook check (for a test grade) will be done sometime next week!
3. Math Journals (Link) will be collected (also for a test grade) next week
4. Friday, October 17 is the last day of the 1st quarter!

Guys, it has truly been an amazing first quarter. I have enjoyed teaching each of you. I cannot wait until the benchmark so we can prove ourselves to everyone in the county that whooped us last year!