Writing Expressions All Week!

My apologies for the lack of blog postings this week---please know that we were BUSY with different math concepts!  Check out everything we investigated this week!

On Wednesday we worked with writing expressions that dealt with addition and subtraction.  This was a bit tricky to make sure the expressions always "said" what we were trying to achieve mathematically.  For instance, if we wanted the sum of h and w minus 11, students wrote "(h+w) - 11".

On Thursday we continued writing expressions but threw in some multiplication.  The sixth graders seemed to breeze right through matching expressions like "36lj" and "6 x 6 x l x j"  and even played a game of BINGO!  We discussed the vocabulary words "variable" and "coefficient". 

On Friday, we really kicked it up a notch and brought in division.  Let me tell you, nothing can stop these kids!  We were writing quotients and fractions and even using parentheses to have a quantity in the denominator!  Check out these slides from today!

Expressions & Exponents

In math today we tackled expressions and exponents!  Often sixth graders were thinking that the two expressions below were equal.  Today we investigated the difference between the two expressions as well as a review of exponents.  

Working with Expressions

Today we start our unit on expressions!  Students explored that the big difference between expressions and equations is that expressions do not have an equal sign.  Take a look at the examples below:

A expression would be:
5a + 7

An equation would be:
3a - 9 = 12

See the difference?!?  

Students also explored how the expression b + b + b + b can also be written as 4b.  Pretty cool, isn't it?  We will keep working with expressions during this whole unit.  Students will investigate with exponents, addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division in expressions and will also have a chance to evaluate some tricky expressions like they have seen in Study Island.  We will be busy in sixth grade for this unit!

Links for Wednesday

Did you finish today's activities with time to spare?  If so, check out some of the links below for fun Math games!

Sheppard Software
Probability Activity (works best with sound)

Links for Tuesday

Click here to go to the tutorial for the activity in class.  Remember that you are to select the "Grades 6-8" one.

When you finish, you may browse any of these links for the games we did not get to play during Math Workshop!

Boat Race with the Coordinate Grid
Perimeter Shape Shoot
Multiplication Arcade Game
Sheppard Software Math Games

Math Quiz Friday!

We will have a Math Quiz on Friday.  Students have a review worksheet that they could study from.  The quiz will have those types of questions on it. 

Also, here's an online battleship game if you'd like a fun way to practice graphing on the coordinate plane.  Click here for the battleship game!

Math Review for Friday's Quiz

If your group didn't get to all the questions in Miss Holt's game, check out some of the problems below.  Let a teacher know if there are any you could use help solving!  Remember, the quiz is Friday!

Tech Center for Math Workshop on Wednesday & Thursday

Browse any of these links for games you can play during Math Workshop!

Boat Race with the Coordinate Grid
Perimeter Shape Shoot
Multiplication Arcade Game

Finding Distance

Today sixth graders worked on finding the distance between two points on the same vertical or horizontal line.  You can check out this video for more information.

We will have centers Wednesday and Thursday in Math.  There will be a Math quiz on Friday. 

Book Orders for 2015!

The January book order is coming home in Friday Folders today!  Please note that the class activation code has changed.  This semester Miss Holt is taking care of book orders. :) 

Graphing Ordered Pairs

Today we are exploring x and y coordinates when graphing ordered pairs. This will lay some groundwork for our discussions about distance and symmetry on the coordinate plane next week.

Are you looking for a way to review graphing ordered pairs?  Check out this game!  Another idea would be this game that involves a little more strategy!

Social Studies Timelines!

We have started the Social Studies component of our timelines--hooray!  Students have a white packet with information about the timelines.  This information packet requires a parent signature due and it is due back tomorrow (January 7th).  A list of 10 events for the timeline is on a green paper, and that is due with a parent signature on Thursday (January 8th).  Thank you for your help with this project!