Exponent Interactive Notebook pages

Hi everyone. Well it is official, I actually retired in June. During the summer I didn't feel any different but with the school year beginning last week, it now feels real. I'm looking forward to taking a fall vacation, something I could never do when I was teaching. 

As much as I wanted to do lots of posts last year it was just too hectic. But now I have the time to clear out the over 60 posts I started that are sitting in my draft box. So I will be coming back from time to time to share them. I know the first unit we covered in 8th grade was exponents so here are a couple of interactive notebook pages I made last year. These were used in my 8th grade Pre-Algebra classes. Enjoy!

My students enjoy coloring so I used numbers that could be filled in. They loved it! 

(The arrow by the word base should be pointing to the 5, not  away from it,) 

Having the way you say these problems in written form was very

 helpful for my second language learners.

You could also cut the back page and make this a tri-fold foldable. My students needed help with the correct way to say each of these so I left the section with the verbal expressions showing. I know this seems elementary but my students always mixed up the last two types of problems. (Update... the bottom problem has been corrected on the download to (-2)^5.)

I like how this foldable turned out. 

Then the kids reviewed their exponent rules using a Kagan Structure called Rally Coach. I must admit Rally Coach is my favorite Kagan Structure and I used it all the time with my students. It really gets kids talking about math which helps their understanding so much. See my previous post about Rally Coach HERE.

Download files here:

Exponents - graphic organizer

Exponent foldable - Verbal and Written forms

Rally Coach Exponent Review Cards


Previous posts on exponents:

Exponents INB pages

A few more exponent pages - INB

Squares, Cubes and Fractional Exponents

Have an amazing school year everyone!

Til next time,

Jan

Graphing Systems of Inequalities Graphic Organizer

     I have had this graphic organizer for over two years in my draft box and have not shared it because I was going to write an awesome post but never got around to doing it. What can I say, it has been one crazy year! I know that many teachers are teaching inequalities this time of year so here is a graphic organizer I made which was inspired by Sarah at math equals love .
      My students loved her graphic organizer on graphing linear inequalities so much that I made one for graphing systems of inequalities. (Don't ask me why these words are in a blue font, they are not on my original post. UGH!)

Click here to download: Graphing Systems of Inequalities - graphic organizer

      There are only two days left of my spring break and then I head back to school. I'm working on something I can't wait to share and am hoping to have it finished soon. 

I'm glad to have this out of the draft box even though this was a very short post. Enjoy.

Til next time,

 Jan

My most used graphic organizer

     Let me tell you a little bit about the demographics my school. About 65% of our students speak a second language at home. Actually, in my district there are 88 different languages spoken in the homes of our students! I don't think I could even get close to naming that many different languages. With such a diverse population with varying levels of understanding of the English language, I really need to stress math vocabulary with my students. One of the ways I do this is with a vocabulary graphic organizer of words for all the operations.

                                   Click here key words graphic organizer


            As a class we will brainstorm all of the different words they can think of that apply to the four operations. This gives my second language learners an opportunity to build their background knowledge and also have a visual they can refer to throughout the year. I use talk moves in my classroom and it has been a wonderful tool to help not just my second language learners but all of the students in my classroom. Check out the video below from the teaching channel on talk moves.

Click here to see Teaching Channel video on Talk Moves

     I use this graphic organizer several times throughout the year beginning with writing expressions. We fill out only the portion for the four operations. Later we add the words for equal when we write equations. And still later in the year when we hit inequalities we add in the inequality symbol words. When doing any type of word problems the students refer to it as well. I am thinking of adding the idea of color with a purpose where students will underline words in different colors to help them decipher the meaning of the text. (Sorry I can't remember where I read about color with purpose but I will find out.)  I truly believe that Foldables and graphic organizers are a wonderful tool for these kids. It gives them such a good visual to refer back to.
     One great example I have from this year was my student Josue. He was a level 3 ELL student who tested in the Algebra range for math and was leaps and bounds ahead of his ELL class. He came to my gen ed Algebra class, which is an accelerated class for our 8th graders, with a very limited English vocabulary. I paired him with 2 other students who spoke Spanish and he did all the work the rest of the class did with very little accommodation. That is until we hit writing equations, and systems word problems. I gave him this graphic organizer and I read the test to him. He was able to achieve a C for the section. I was so proud of him and he was thrilled with himself. His English improved tremendously throughout the year and he wrote me a note at the end of the year thanking me for the time I spent with him on word problems in particular. He referred often to this graphic organizer.
     As you can tell, my mind has already shifted to the beginning of the school year. I have so much to share with you this summer. I can't wait to get it all down on paper.

                                               Til next time,

                                                      Jan






Key words graphic organizer

Quadratic Formula Foldable

     I don't know about all of you but I am soooooo busy! With only 8 days of school I am up to my neck in work. I am going to be  up late tonight! UGH!

    In between all of my work, well when I was avoiding my papers, I did find some amazing sites for  Quadratic Formula that I wanted to share with you. First there is a free graphic organizer at teacherspayteachers, from The Secondary Classroom IS fun too. There is more to this graphic organizer so visit the site and download this freebie.



There is also a great foldable from Stat Teacher. I just didn't have time to make my own so this foldable was a great find. Thanks Stat Teacher! 


          Click here for the link to the foldable from Stat Teacher.


Next there is an awesome site that I am sure many of you know about called, Bug for Teachers. There  are activities, worksheets, graphing calculator pages, games, you name it, it's here on this site. You will absolutely love it and everything is free. How can it be any better than that?  There is a  foldable also comes with a power point lesson that walks the students through filling it in. It is an awesome site for quadratic formula resources, but there are many resources for other topics as well. Click here to go to the site, Bug for Teachers by Dr. Brown.

I will be back soon! I have so much to write and lots of reflecting to report from this year.  

Enjoy,

Til next time (a little over 8 school days from today),

Jan

Pre-teaching before Pythagorean Theorem

      The Pythagorean Theorem unit is going to be so much fun to teach this year. I have never had the time to go into this topic with the depth that I plan to this year. There are so many great activities it is hard to narrow it down. My Pre Algebra students need to review some of the prerequisites for this unit so I took the 1 1/2 before spring break to review some of these concepts.

1. Measuring and Classifying Angles
     The students always love working with the protractors and after 4 long days of state testing it was exactly the type of activity they needed. We measured and drew angles adding these pages to our INB's. This foldable came about by accident. When I printed up the flash cards for perfect squares and square roots (see below) there were empty flashcards on the last page. I printed the flashcards on card stock and couldn't bear to not use it. In my mission to use scrap paper, I created this foldable. :)

The students used protractors to draw their own angles where the green post it is.

     I love utilizing materials that I have. In hindsight I may arrange these horizontally next year so they all fit onto one page.

2. Measuring and Classifying Triangles
     We completed this foldable and practice sheet from 4mulaFun  for our INB's. It was a good review of triangles for the kids and they are getting so much better with the cutting and pasting  activities. I finally gave up on glue and have the students tape their foldables in their notebooks. They were a nightmare with the glue, it was everywhere and the tops would get clogged. I used glue sticks but they didn't last long at all. Tape is expensive so any ideas from my readers is appreciated.

3. Sum of the angles of a triangle.
     I didn't really need to review this topic for Pythagorean Theorem but my students background is lacking so as long as we were talking about triangles and angles, I added this in for them. I can't believe I never saw this activity before to show the sum of the angles of a triangle equal 180 degrees. It takes no preparation on the part of the teacher and I used paper from my scrap basket. YES! I had the kids take scraps of paper and draw an acute triangle, right triangle and obtuse triangle. The size or angle measures were up to the kids to decide. Then they colored or marked all the angles of the triangles. I then had them rip the angles and reassemble them to form a straight line. So easy and a great visual for them. It took a few tries to get the angles lined up so it is like a puzzle. They loved it.

Tear the triangles into three pieces. Then assemble to form a straight line.    

A great visual for showing the sum of angles of a triangle.

     Yes, I know the top triangle isn't lined up in a straight line. Funny none of the kids caught that! Not to worry, I will fix it.

4. Creating a geometry star
     It was the day before spring break and nobody wanted to be at school. There was an assembly and the classes were shortened to 36 minutes and the kids were, you know, a bit excited. What to do? Since we were studying triangles we did this quick project. Most of the kids finished in the 36 minutes and they were busy the entire time, calm and happy. Isn't that the way it should be before break? Again, I like this because all that was needed was paper, pencil, ruler and colored pencils. Easy. And it gets better, it is free on teachers pay teacher from Virtually Montessori. After break I will post some of the pictures the students created.

         

5.  Square numbers and square roots.

     We are making flash cards to memorize perfect squares and square roots. You can go to kitzkitz  to make your own flashcards to print. We  will cut the flash cards and then put them into envelopes in our INB's. This idea is from Mrs. Hester's Classroom. I only had the kids do the perfect squares for this lesson. They learned this very early in the year but now I have them memorize the squares through 25. The envelope to make the pocket is from homeschoolshare. They have a fantastic collection of templates you can use that are free. They also have templates for foldables that you can type on and print up. Check them out, they are a great resource.

                Here is the link to the flash cards for perfect squares and square roots (make sure to download the document to see square roots as well.) The originals are large and good for a math center but they use seven pages of paper. When I printed the individual flash cards for the students, I printed 4 pages on one page. That way I only used two pieces of paper per student. I'm always trying to save paper when possible.

I gave the students  the smaller version of the flashcards and they fit in the pocket nicely. You could also have two pockets instead of just one.

     I hope there is something here that is new that you will be able to use. One thing I am noticing with Common Core is that everyone is teaching the same topic at the same time so there is so much available for us to use with the kids. It is amazing. I am finishing up my Pythagorean Theorem unit and hope to post it by the end of the week.

                                                                 Until next time,

                                                                         Jan 

    

Getting ready to teach Pythagorean Theorem (Part 1)

      After spring break I will be starting Pythagorean Theorem. I'm really excited about this unit because in the past I have had to teach it quickly and move on. I would spent 3 days max on it, but this year I am going to spend much more time and go into the material at a deeper level than I ever have before.

The learning targets that I need to cover are:

 Prove, model and explain Pythagorean Theorem.
 Use the Pythagorean Theorem to test a right triangle.
 Identify Pythagorean triplets
 Find unknown side lengths of right triangles.
 Use Pythagorean Theorem to find unknown lengths of right triangles to solve
volume and surface area problems.
 Use Pythagorean Theorem to find the length of slanted lines on the coordinate
plane.
     There is a lesson on Pinterest where kids use Cheez Its to model Pythagorean Theorem. I think I am going to use Starburst candies, (by Pam Lucken), instead for this lesson. Less crumbs and not as messy. Believe me when I say my eighth graders can make a huge mess in my room. I am sure some of the candies will mysteriously disappear so I need to see where I can buy a massive amounts of Starbursts. There are 150 students in my classes so I will need a lot of candy even with students working in groups.

                        

       I've also seen this modeled with other manipulatives but candy is so much more fun! Don't you think?

      I've decided to get started on my Interactive Notebook now so it will be all ready go and I won't have to work on it over break. I will be posting my unit in bits and pieces as I finish them. I was looking for a foldable that was a little different than the ones that I have done with the kids already. I have not used a brochure foldable and I saw one similar to the one below and added some of my own problems.

            I usually spend one day on the types of problems on the left where the kids have to look at the sides and determine whether the sides form a right triangle. I'm still looking for activities to add to this section.

In their notebooks I will have them make a list of steps to follow. 

Click HERE to download the Pythagorean Theorem foldable.

Enjoy! Til next time,Jan

Finding Slope Foldable

         It never fails, I start teaching slope and my students have so much trouble understanding the concepts. This year it began right away! So we slowed down, and took time to make this foldable which shows examples of the four types of slopes. When doing the foldables in this unit we have been cutting out small graphs and pasting them in. It just takes so much time. I liked Journal Wizards, My tools for finding slope  foldable, so I used it. The only change I made was to make the foldable out of graph paper. Why didn't I think of this earlier?

My tools for finding slope foldable

      The inside of the foldable has examples of the four different types of slope. We graphed and counted rise/run for each problem and then used the  slope formula to find the slope.

Finding slope using rise/run

                The students will be to use this as a reference on their homework. Love it!

Finding slope using slope formula

      Yes I know I dropped the negative three on the bottom example. My kids caught the mistake and we changed it. Whenever I make a mistake and they catch it I say, " I just did that to make sure you were paying attention." Their response, "Oh sure Mrs. Lichtenberger!" Can't fool them.

                                                              Til next time,
                                                                     Jan

Graphing Horizontal and Vertical Lines ( HOY and VUX)

   I love teaching slope but so many of my students have difficulty remembering how to graph and write equations of horizontal and vertical lines. I  like the acronyms HOY and VUX to help students remember this. I have seen foldables on many of the blogs I read, but I wanted to have HOY shown horizontally and VUX shown vertically just as another visual for my students. So I created this graphic organizer.

       I keep all of my graphic organizers in a binder and use paper with reinforced sides so the holes don't rip. So far so good.That way I can change the order and add other foldables as needed. This is my first year using interactive notebooks and I have changed the order of my notebook so many times that I lost count.

 
         With so many second language students in my classes the horizontal and vertical visual clues are helpful. Of course I started the lesson with the video of  SLOPE DUDE. The kids think it is hysterical and they will not forget zero or undefined slopes!

 
                   You can download and print these graphic organizers by clicking here for the Hoy and Vux graphic organizer, graphs, and practice sheet. If you have problems downloading these please let me know. I'm still trying to figure out how to download from Dropbox. I think I've figured it out ???

                                                                       Til next time ... Jan