Homework for Thursday, Dec. 18

Assignment:  Plotting Ordered Pairs
Guess what?  Read the directions at the top of the page ... seriously.  ;-)
This worksheet is from a workbook, so I do not have a copy of it available online.
*If you were absent today, please don't worry about it unless it is easy for you to have someone pick it up for you.
*If you are absent tomorrow (Friday), you can turn it in when you get back to school after break.
Due Friday

Homework for Wednesday, Dec. 17

Assignment:  Write your Directions
This is part 3 of the Coordinate Plane assignments.  A detailed list of tasks is HERE.  Otherwise, please see yesterday's entry (12/16) for instructions on the previous tasks.
Hopefully you are on the step of creating the directions for someone else to follow in drawing your picture.  We practiced this in class today by using the word, "Hi" and giving feedback to our partners.  This was more complicated than a lot of you imagined, so test driving your directions on a parent might be wise!  Remember that whoever follows your directions won't have the benefit of knowing what the picture is supposed to look like, so you must be specific and accurate.
*Feel free to draw on your original picture now; you can even label the points right on it for referring back to.  You will turn in your picture too, but I have already seen it so it's okay if you muss it up a bit.
*Your goal is to have whoever follows your directions recreate your drawing precisely, so don't forget to include any shading instructions.
*There is no exact why to do this, but you must include the coordinate points and you may NOT describe what the picture is supposed to look like.
All three parts:  E69, your picture, and the directions for drawing your picture on a coordinate plane are due Thursday.

Homework for Tuesday, Dec. 16

Assignment:  Graphing Coordinates - 3 parts

This homework is broken up into a few sections:

1) Get the Point - we did this in class and there is no online copy.  If you were absent (or lost it), don't worry about it until you get back or you can get a copy from a friend.  This was a practice sheet, so it's not urgent.

2) Draw a Picture - homework for Tuesday (tonight).  For this you need a piece of graph paper that you will draw a picture on.  It needs to be big and contain between 20 and 30 points (intersections).  Further guidelines for this are HERE.  If you still can't figure out what to do, you're pretty stuck tonight ... just be prepared tomorrow to catch back up!  This picture needs to be approved by me before you can move on to step 3.

3) Coordinate Point Instructions - homework for Wednesday night.  We will go over how to do this in class on Wednesday, then begin work on it in class.  

This is all DUE THURSDAY.  Obviously you'd like to have it done before break, right?  

Homework for Monday, 12/15

Assignment:  Negative Multiplication and Division.
     These are not cowboys!
We memorized the rules for this one even though it's not my style.
*Positive x Positive = Positive
*Positive x Negative = Negative
*Negative x Positive = Negative
*Negative x Negative = Positive.
The rules are the same for division.
When you get to the "order of ops" problems, solve from left to right and think of each step as only two numbers.
Example:  -2 x 3 x -2  =  -6 x -2  = 12
Just do them ... practice helps it stick.
Due Tuesday

Homework for your 3-day weekend

Assignment:  Quiz Bowl #3 Questions
These are due Monday for full credit, turned into the math basket in room #1.

QUIZ BOWL #3

Please create six questions. Questions 1-4 must follow the prescribed format. Questions 5-6 are Potpourri Questions, which means they can be from any category.  *Do not forget your name on your questions!

1.15-line spacing                            size 14 Calibri font                                include answers

skip line between questions            turn in 2 copies                                     single-sided pages

answers may not be numbers          answers may not be a year

no true/false, multiple choice or fill-in-the-blank

1.  Mammals

When this mammal is full grown, it weighs about __________ on average.  It lives in ____________________ (habitat, like “the ocean”) and can be found in _____________________ (country/geographical location).  Its coloring is most often __________________________and identifying characteristics would be its ___________________ and __________________.   An interesting fact about this mammal is __________________________________________ .

Name this mammal.

Answer:

2.  Cold things or places

This cold thing/place (circle one) usually has a temperature around ______. It is best known for _____________________, _____________________ and   ______________________.  

Name this thing/place.  (circle one)

Answer:

3.  Words that end with “ous” 

This “ous” word that starts with the letter “ ___” is defined as: 

______________________________________________________________________________.

Answer: 

4. Inventions

  _________________ invented this thing in _______ (year).  It was invented to (improve, replace?) ___________________________ and it ___________________________________________.

What is this invention?

Answer:

5 & 6. Potpourri: Create two questions in different categories. It must be possible for sixth grade students to guess the answers (nothing too obscure). The answers may not be numbers. Multiple choice questions and true/false questions are not allowed. The answers may not be years. Each question must contain at least two facts. Include the answer to each question.

Homework for Wednesday, Dec. 10

Assignment:  Negative Addition Choice #1
Lots of options here!  The only one I don't have a copy of is the basics, so you'll have to choose something else if you lost yours.
Please remember your cowboys ... we are just ADDING, so you know what to "do."
Good cowboys?  Bad cowboys?  How many?
Temperature, money, elevation, it doesn't matter what your unit is, it is the same idea.
Downloadable Options:
Adding Negatives - BIG Numbers
Adding Negatives - Loooong Equations
Adding Negatives - Decimals
Due Thursday!  
*come ready to play Negative Addition War!  ;-)

Homework for Tuesday, December 9

Assignment:  Real Life Negatives - C
There are two parts of this assignment that are to be completed exactly as we went over in class today.  Please read on:
1) You must write the original equations.  (1 point)
Problems 1 - 5a and #6 are all to be written as addition problems.
Problem 5b is a division problem using the answer from 5a.
Problem 5c is an ordered list using the negatives as negatives and positives as positives.
Problems 7 - 8 will use a visual (drawing) of the scenario.
2) You must have the correct answers with labels. (1 point)
How you solve the problems once you have written the equations is up to you.  I want you to get use to seeing equations and rewriting them in ways that make sense to you.  We learned this backwards, yes?  You wrote them down in ways that made sense first!
*There were a LOT of copies of this assignment left in room #1 by break.  If you were one of those people, please click on the title (name) of this assignment for a link to a copy.
Due Wednesday

Homework for Monday, December 8

Follow the directions ... the process is what we're working on!

Meet the bad and good cowboys

Assignment:  Adding Negatives - Regrouping
*Problems 1 - 4 are ALL addition and the process is simple:  good cowboys? bad cowboys? how many?!?  (and are they good or bad)
*Problems 5 - 11 are ALL addition, but you will need to commute and associate.  Follow the steps in the example which are idential to the ones we did in class today: regroup, solve within the parentheses, solve the equation.  You will receive points for EACH STEP, just like on the cowboys worksheet.
*Problem 11 is application, just like we've been doing, but perhaps now you can see how the equation matches the work involved?
Due Tuesday

Homework for Thursday, December 4

Today you will be graded on following the directions accurately.  Please take note!
Assignment: Commuting Cowboys worksheet
*Note the steps 1 through 3 that you are to follow.  We went over this in class, but the directions are on the worksheet, in the box with the cowboy demonstrating bad gun safety, as back-up.
*Note that step 3 is the answer.  If you reach the answer before step 3, you can assume you are not doing the steps correctly and should look back at the steps in the box.
*I am hoping you will follow the same steps for Mavis on problem E, but that's just my advice.
Due Friday

Homework for Weds. December 3

Assignment:  Real Life Negatives B

Here we go again!

I'm still not concerned with equations, but I am interested in how you are thinking about these problems.  Please "show" how you are solving them.

Do think about "collecting" (associating) negatives with negatives (blue cowboys, or being in the red) and positive with positives (yellow cowboys or being in the black).

Here is an example:  You went up 2 stairs, down 5 stairs, up 10 stairs, down 25 stairs, up 13 stairs, down 5 stairs, up 67 stairs ... where are you?  

* 2 - 5 = -3 + 10 = +7 - 25 = -18 + 13 = -5 - 5 = -10 + 67 = 57

Do you see why this could be tedious to solve and have the potential for multiple errors?  

Now look at it in color ...  with association (we'll use red and black here):

You went up 2 stairs, down 5 stairs, up 10 stairs, down 25 stairs, up 13 stairs, down 5 stairs, up 67 stairs ... where are you?  

*Let's see ... I went up 2, 10, 13, and 67 steps for a total of 92 steps up.

    I went down 5, 25, and 5 steps for a total of 35 steps down.

It looks to me like I will end up above where I started, eh?  92 - 35 = 57 steps higher than where I started.

This is just one way of thinking about these problems and, seriously, the method I always use.  If you haven't tried it, I encourage you to try it for at least one of these problems tonight.

Keep thinking!

Due Thursday

Homework for Tuesday, Dec. 2

Assignment: Real Life Negatives A
Welcome to the "real" world (as real as it gets in these examples) of negative integers.  Today you are to focus on what you are doing not how you write it.  
Mo's advice:
*Think about what the numbers represent.  Draw pictures on the page or in your mind, but use your imagination to think about the story behind the question.
*Associate!  These numbers all have values that go in a direction:  towards zero or away from zero. So if you go down the steps at Hogwarts, all of those downward steps represent going DOWN (aka a negative number, fyi) and all of the times you go UP get you higher (a positive direction).  Again, picture the story.
*HOW you solve these problems should be common sense.  I'm not at all concerned how you represent it mathematically, I want to know where you end up: behind the starting point?  above sea level?  above zero?  with less money?  How can you collect the values of the numbers and use them to come up with an answer?   Think about what you know is true then figure out how to get to that point.
EXAMPLES:  all with different answers, yet essentially the same numbers ...
A) If your horse is 7 miles away from Olympia, and runs for 5 miiles towards Olympia, rests, then runs 4 more miles in the same direction, he endes up 2 miles PAST Olympia, right?  Right!
B) If your horse is 7 miles away from Olympia, and begins running to Olympia for 5 miles, but realized he forgot his baby horse, so he runs backwards for 4 miles, he is now  6 miles away from (before) Olympia, right?  Ugh, a little confusing.  Try drawing that scenario.
B) But if he runs to Olympia for 7  miles, rests, then runs 4 more miles either forward OR backwards, he has run for a total of 11 miles regardless ... which is a lot of running.  THAT is the absolute value piece or the total distance covered.
*The rest of it is up to you.  I strongly, strongly recommend drawing yourself a simple scenario and figuring out what is is you want to know.  Don't worry about the negatives or positives, just think about what they represent in the story.  I keep saying this because it is key to your "aha" moment!
*And yes, labels are VERY important ... you MUST label your answers to get full credit.
* I do have a copy of this assignment and here it is!
Due Wednesday - try to enjoy it.  ;-)

Homework for Monday, December 1

Welcome to the winter trimester!  This is where your math homework begins ...

Homework:  3 - Definitions & Examples, 1 Summary 
In this assignment you are to interview three different people regarding negative numbers.  Be sure your interviewee knows what a negative number is before you begin.  Dogs, significantly younger siblings, and aliens to not apply.  
Write in detail!  
*Only one person may be a current NOVA student OR teacher and it may not be another 6th grader or Mr. Kehoe, Mo, or Mr. Gacek.  Note that it is not required that you have a NOVA student or teacher.
*You may conduct your interview over the phone; there is no excuse not to be able to find three different people.
*Write in the name (and relationship) of each person to you.
*Definitions should be written in as much detail as the person gives you.  Do not worry about total accuracy at this time; your interviewee might be rusty, but it should be pretty close (see above). ;-)
*Examples:  your three examples (one per person) must all be different.  I would word the second question something like this - 
"I need you to give me a real life example, other than 'in math class,' or, 'in a math equation,' where you would need to represent something as a negative number?"  
Push them on this a bit, okay?  They can do it!
*Summary:  This is a short, concise, easy to understand summary of what you think a negative number is.  Write your summary as if you are explaining the concept of a negative number to someone who does NOT know.  
We will be using these in class tomorrow, so come prepared!Due Tuesday