Thursday, February 25th

Sixth Grade

Today's assignment is lesson 76. Remember to draw the diagram of the problem. It will be part of the answer!

Seventh Grade

The only assignment that is due tomorrow is Spelling Unit 25!

Today, the class took a test in Vocabulary and watched the Twilight Zone episode titled, "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street" which was presented as a play in our Literature book. It is an excellent example of what can happen when people jump to conclusions with little information. There will be a selection test over the play tomorrow after we discuss the it a little more.

In math, we spent the time going over the proportions assignment that was fairly tough for many of the students. I decided to take a completion grade for it and we will do another assignment with proportion word problems tomorrow.

8th Grade

Lesson 6-9. #2-18 All. Also, choose ONE of the word problems and if you get it right, you will get 5 extra credit percentage points. If you ATTEMPT a problem (a true attempt), I'll add ONE extra point.

Remember, the equation for direct variation is: y = kx, where y and x are variables that you are given and k is the "constant of variation". If you have direct variation, then the k will be the same for each set of x and y values. Also, you can use the equation: k = y/x. So, if you need to find the constant of varation (k), just take the y value and divide it by the x value! That is ALL you are doing on the back page.

On the front page, for #2-4, you are trying to determine whether the given information shows direct variation. If it does, then the proportions will be the same. You will just take the y value (on the bottom row), divide it by the x value (on the top row) for each set of numbers. If ALL of your division answers are the same, then you have direct variation. For example:

x = 40 tickets y =$160

x = 60 tickets y =$240

x = 70 tickets y = $280

So, you would take each y and divide it by the x.

160/40 = $4
240/60 = $4
280/70 = $4

So, you have direct variation! If any of them were different, you would NOT have direct variation.

For #5-6, just graph the information given on a graph. Remember to draw it like an "L" not a plus sign. x-values go across the bottom and y-values go up the side. Once you've graphed the information, if you can draw a straight line from the (0,0) point through all of the points you graphed in a straight line, you have direct variation.

On the back, remember, just divide the y by the x and that is your constant of variation. Put that number in for k in your direct variation equation: y=kx

So, if you have x = 10, y = 120, then you would divide 120 by 10 to get 12. Then, put that where the k is: y=12x

That's it!

See you tomorrow!
Mrs. Swickey

Tuesday, February 23rd

Sixth Grade

The class took a test today. There is no homework! Tomorrow, we will not have class because of our first house tournament! It'll be so much fun.

Seventh Grade

Vocabulary - Unit 12 is due tomorrow along with the cards. The test will be on Thursday.

Literature - For those students who were at the science fair on Friday, be sure to finish reading the play, "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street" and begin working on the questions. We will have time in the morning to finish the questions.

Grammar - Verbs worksheets. This will be your review for the test on Friday. You do not have to have them finished by tomorrow morning, but will need to finish them before we go to Mass.

Math - Lesson 6-5. Proportions by Parts. #2-10. This will be due on Thursday as we are having Junior Achievement for the first time tomorrow! That should be fun.

Eighth Grade

Today, we reviewed for the test, which will be tomorrow. It is over Chapter 6, Lessons 1-8. You will be writing the equations of lots of lines, graphing the lines, finding x and y intercepts, identifying functions and relations, and determining whether a set of data shows positive, negative, or no correlation. Please go through your book as well as the notes from class.

See you tomorrow!

Mrs. Swickey

Mardi Gras!

Reminder to all 6th - 8th grade students: Tomorrow is our first house meeting! Don't forget your t-shirts, be in your house mentor's classroom by 8:00, and have your agendas filled out! See you in the morning! (Go Cabrini House!)

Sixth Grade

Investigation 2. Remember, you are just doing the first two drawings. (A & B) Do NOT do C - unless you just want to do one on your own. Also, to plot each point, remember that the first number tells you whether to go left or right, the second tells you whether to go up or down. So if you were supposed to plot (-2, 4), you would go left 2 (negative means left) and up 4, THEN put a dot. Each parenthesis is ONE dot. Connect all the points until you get to a LIFT PENCIL. Then, plot your next dot, but don't connect it to the last dot. When you plot the next dot, begin connecting again.

Seventh Grade

Grammar - pp. 42-43 Exercises A & B. Remember, DO NOT use the arrows! Make three columns: Noun, Linking Verb, Word linked - and write the appropriate words in each column. Do this for both exercises!

Literature - Worksheets over "A Dying Detective". Due tomorrow!

Spelling - Unit 24. First two pages. This is a unit review so make sure you are studying the words I told you would be on the test!

Math - Lesson 6-3. Proportions. Remember, a proportion is just two ratios that are equal. Two equivalent fractions ALWAYS form a proportion. All three of the following are proportions.
In the first one, if you multiply 3 x 2, you get 6 and if you multiply 5 x 2, you get 10. In the second one, if you multiply 4 x 3, you get 12 and if you multiply 7 x 3, you get 21. In the third one, you could tell that it is a proportion by simplifying each ratio first. 0.2 divided by 0.4 = 1/2 and if you divide 1.5 by 3, you also get 1/2. So these are all proportions. To simplify the ratios, just divide the TOP BY THE BOTTOM.

To find out if two ratios are equal, such as the following problems, use equivalent fractions OR cross products.


In the first example, you can see that 8 x 3 = 24, so to find x, just multiply 5 x 3. So x = 15. (That was easy!)

In the second example, use cross products. That means multiply the 4.2 x 0.9 to get 3.78 and the 1.5 x b. You would get the equation:

3.78 = 1.5b

Now, solve for b by dividing both sides by 1.5.

3.78 divided by 1.5 = 2.52

So, b = 2.52

That's it! You are doing #2-17 ALL.

Eighth Grade

Due to the Mardi Gras parade and party, we did not have class. I'll see you tomorrow!

Mrs. Swickey

Thursday, February 11th

Sixth Grade

Lesson 72 - exponents. Remember, the little number doesn't tell you what to multiply the big number by, it tells you how many times to multiply the big number by itself. So, 4 to the 3rd power, would be 4 x 4 x 4 = 64, NOT 4 x 3.

Seventh Grade

Grammar - Action Verbs pp. 39-40. Exercise A and B and DWS. For A, just write mental or visible. For B, just write the action verb. Follow instructions for DWS, remembering to use each word as a VERB.

Writing - Write your outline for your research paper. This was begun in class and most students will just need to finish up tonight.

Spelling - Test tomorrow over Unit 22!

Vocabulary - Test tomorrow over Unit 11! Be sure to study. I noticed that several of you left your vocabulary books at school.

Math - Lesson 6-2. Rates and unit rates.

Remember, every rate (a comparision of two unlike things) can be written two ways:
That is all you are doing on #1-2.

For #4-6, you are writing the unit rate. Remember, this is where you write how many in ONE. In the example above, you could reduce the first rate to 15 miles per gallon. That is a unit rate because it is per 1 gallon. For unit rates, you always write it with the single unit (1 ounce, 1 hour, 1 gallon, etc.) on the bottom.

To find the unit rate, divide the top number by the bottom number.

For 8-10, you are finding the unit rate of the items in the table. Round to the nearest cent, when necessary. So, if you were dividing and ending up with $1.45873...., you would round that to $1.46.

For #12-14 and #19, you are comparing two (or three) items to determine which is the better buy. First, you need to find the unit rate of each item by dividing. Then compare the unit rates.

Eighth Grade

Lesson 6-8. #2-26 evens. Parallel and perpendicular lines.

Remember these two things:

Parallel lines have the SAME SLOPE.

Perpendicular lines have OPPOSITE RECIPROCAL SLOPES.

For #2-4, you are just writing the equation of a line that is parallel to the line given. It does not specify that it has to go through a certain point, so just use the SAME slope as the line that is given, and change the y-intercept. For example:

Given line: y=5x-7

Equation of a line parallel to that line: y=5x+3

So, both lines have the same slope, 5, but different y-intercepts.

For #6-8, you are just writing the equation of a line that is perpendicular to the one given. Again, it does not specify that it has to go through a certain point, so just use the OPPOSITE RECIPROCAL slope and the same OR different y-intercept.

For example:

Given line: y=-2x+4

Perpendicular line: y= 1/2x+8

Since the first slope is -2, the second slope must first be opposite (so positive) and ALSO the reciprocal. The reciprocal of any whole number is one OVER that number. So the reciprocal of 2 is 1/2. I changed the y-intercept, but for these you didn't have to!

Now, for #10-14, you are determining whether the two lines are parallel, perpendicular, or neither. Remember, you must FIRST change the equation to y-intercept form by moving anything on the left side of the equation that ISN'T y, to the right side. For example:

y+3x=5 should change to y=-3x+5

I subtracted 3x from both sides. In the second equation, I put it after the equals sign so that it is in slope intercept form.

The above line would be parallel to y=-3x+7 and perpendicular to y=1/3x+3. It would be neither with the line y=3x+4 because while 3 is the opposite of -3 it is NOT the reciprocal.

Now, for #16-20, you are writing the equation of a line parallel to a given line when you DO have a certain point your line must pass through. This time, it will matter what your y-intercept is. First, determine what the slope is of the given line. (you will have to change the line into slope intercept form for #20)

Now, plug that slope into a new equation but use b for the y-intercept. For example:

Given line: y=-2x+4, passes through (-3,6)

Parallel line: y=-2x + b Remember, it didn't matter that the y-intercept in the given line was 4.

Now, use the coordinates for x and y given in the point above (-3,6) and plug those in for x and y in the equation. Now you have: 6=-2*-3 + b (I'm using a * for multiplication here.)

Solve the equation for b. First multiply -2 and -3 to get this: 6=6+b

Now, subtract 6 from both sides. You are left with b=0. So your y-intercept is 0. Now, write the equation of your line with the same slope and the new y-intercept: y=-2x+0 or just y=-2x.

For perpendicular lines, you will do the same thing except instead of using the same slope, you will use the opposite reciprocal slope. For example:

Given line: y=-4x+2 passes through (8,5)

Perpendicular line: y=1/4x + b

Now, plug in the x and y values from the point the new line will pass through:

5= 1/4 * 8 + b

This would simplify to 5=2+b

Now subtract 2 from both sides to get: 3=b

Now write the equation with the new slope and y-intercept: y=1/4x + 3

That's it!

See you tomorrow!
Mrs. Swickey

Tuesday, February 9

Sixth Grade

The class took a test today. Supplemental 70 is due tomorrow!

Seventh Grade

Language Arts - The class took a Grammar test today over Pronouns.

Literature - We finished reading the play, "The Dying Detective". The assignment is to answer the following questions: TAS #1-7 and AL #1-3.

Vocabulary - Cards for Unit 11 are due tomorrow. The unit is due on Thursday.

Math - The class took a test over Chapter 5 today.

Eighth Grade

Lesson 6-7. #2-18

Writing the equation of a line with given information. Here are a few examples: (click on the pictures to make them bigger and readable)


For the problems that tell you to write the equation in standard form, don't. I want ALL equations on this lesson written in slope intercept form.

I hope this helps!

See you tomorrow!
Mrs. Swickey

Wednesday, February 3rd

Sixth Grade

Lesson 69 - Reducing fractions before multiplying or dividing. (Canceling) Here are a few examples: (click the examples to make them bigger)



Seventh Grade

Spelling - Be sure to complete unit 22 by Friday, (except for Vocabulary Connections.)

Grammar - Pronouns Worksheets 8 - 10. This is practice for the test on Friday.

Math - We worked some conversion problems in class today. There is no homework except to know the conversions for customary units for a quiz!

Eighth Grade

Lesson 6-5. x and y intercepts. #2-18 ALL. You will have TWO answers for every single problem. First, find the x intercept and then find the y intercept. On the graphs, you just have to write where the line crosses the x-axis and the y-axis for the intercepts. To find x and y intercepts from just the equations of lines (without graphing) do the following:

To find the y-intercept, plug 0 in for x and solve the equation. (Remember, the coordinate point where the line crosses the y axis has 0 as it's x coordinate.)

Then, to find the x-intercept, plug 0 in for y and solve the equation.

Here is an example:

Here is another example when the coefficient of x is a fraction:

February 2nd, 2010

Sixth Grade

Lesson 67. Lines, rays, and line segments.

Seventh Grade

Spelling - No Vocabulary Connections this week. Just be sure you finish Unit 22 by Friday.

Vocabulary - The class took a test this week.

Math - Lesson 5-17. (We are skipping the equations with decimals and fractions.) Conversion of customary units. #2-25 ALL. (Just the front page.)

To convert the measurements, remember that if your are converting from a bigger measurement to a smaller, multiply. If you are converting a smaller measurement to a bigger, divide. For example, if you need to convert 45 inches into feet, you first need to determine if it is bigger to smaller or smaller to bigger. Since an inch is smaller than a foot, it is smaller to bigger, so you DIVIDE. Then, you find the conversion which is 12 inches = 1 foot. So, divide the 45 inches (given in the example) by 12. This doesn't divide evenly, so write the answer as a fraction. 12 goes into 45 3 times with 9 left over. That would be 3 9/12. Then, reduce the fraction to 3 3/4. Don't forget the label! It is 3 3/4 feet.

If the question already includes a fraction, that's okay...you will just multiply or divide with fractions. You are all really good at that, so it isn't scary!

Eighth Grade

Practice slope problems. For examples, please look back at yesterday's blog post or watch Mrs. Sparks' Power Point presentation again. These type of problems are done closer to the end of the slideshow (right before the horizontal and vertical lines). And don't forget...you can always email me if you have a question! The email address is in the sidebar.

See you tomorrow!

Mrs. Swickey

Monday, February 1st

Sixth Grade

Lesson 67. Dividing Mixed Numbers. Below is an example.
,
Don't forget: If you were absent last Thursday, you also have to complete Supplemental 65. For this assignment, you will just change the mixed numbers into improper fractions and multiply. You are NOT flipping the second fraction!

Seventh Grade

Due to the weather last week, a few assignments have been postponed until this week.

Spelling - Unit 21 is due tomorrow. The test will also be tomorrow. Be sure you are studying!

Vocabulary - The test over Unit 10 is tomorrow.

Research paper - 15 notecards are due tomorrow. Be sure you are writing the source on the cards! (Either the website address or the last name of the author of the book.)

Grammar - pg. 35-36. Exercise C and DWS. On exercise C, be sure you are writing the antecedent, if there is one. For the DWS, just follow the instructions!

Literature - Worksheets over Grandpa and the Statue. These are due Wednesday for those students who were absent last week. For everyone else, they are due tomorrow. Also due tomorrow for everyone is the questions from the textbook over the play. Thinking about the Selection #1-7 and Analyzing Literature #1-3. If you were absent last Thursday, be sure you finish reading the play before answering the questions.

Math - I did not give a new assignment today. The class turned in two assignments from last week and we discussed questions from both. Some students will need to redo the worksheets to improve their grades.

Eighth Grade

Lesson 6-4. #2-16 Evens. #18-28 ALL.

To view Mrs. Sparks' Power Point again (about Slopeman) click here. Then, on the left side, click on "For Teachers". Then scroll down until you get to Power Point Games/Reviews/Lessons. Keep scrolling until you find that one that says: "Defining Slope: Slopeman". Click on that and open the file. To view the slides, just click on them on the right. To see the slideshow, go to view and click "slideshow". To go through it, just click your mouse button to see each thing happening. (I know some of you will want to see Slopeman fall off the cliff again!)

For #2-16, you will be doing what the presentation shows towards the end of the slides. Here is an example:



The two ways are to use the slope formula as shown in #1 above. The y coordinates go on top and the x coordinates go on bottom. Subtract and write the slope as a fraction or whole number. If it is improper, leave it improper. If you get a zero in the denominator, that is UNDEFINED or NO SLOPE! If you get a zero in the numerator that is a ZERO slope.

For #18-24, you can graph the points and THEN find the slope using the graph. Here is an example:
There is a lot of information on that graph. Here is is again.

First, plot the two points and connect the dots.
Second, make a right triangle, like we did for the Pythagorean theorem. Count how many it takes to go up OR down. That is your "rise" and goes on top of the fraction. Above, that number is 6.
Third, count how many to go RIGHT. Above, that is 8. So you have the fraction 6/8. Now, you look at the line. Since it is going downhill (from left to right) it is a negative slope. You now have

-6/8

Just reduce that and your answer is:

-3/4

That's it!

For the back page, you are just finding the slope using the points they give you. Then say whether it is a positive, negative, zero, or no slope.

See you tomorrow!
Mrs. Swickey