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We met the grade 7 class that we are buddied up with this term.  We have prepared some activities for them that review concepts that they learn in grade 7 and will need in upcoming years too.

We sang “l’aire d’un trapèze” all together and then started our stations.

We had 4 different stations

Some were puzzles

Some were memory and matching games

Some were patterning activites

And we had a rousing game of jeopardy.

This was followed by 5 minutes of intense multiplying (we’re getting much better at it!)

Many thanks to the grade 9s for coming up wih the activities, and to the grade 7s for participating so well.

So many grade 9s were on trips today!  In case you were wondering what we did, we worked on applying formulas for calculating areas of circles, and circumference of circles to composite shapes like this one.

Find the area and perimeter of this shape.

Our first test is Tuesday the 7th

We had story time today!

We are pairing up grade 9s with grade 7s this term to do some cross panel math activities.  My grade 9s are preparing two different activities to try.  One class is working on a “speed dating” activity with many small questions and answers that are worked on in partners, and then the partnerships change so many students will work with different people over he course of the activity.

The other class is making stations for the grade 7s to rotate through for a 10 minute math activity.

There are many exciting ideas being created.  We look forward to Thursday when we will try them out!

We are reviewing some of our math skills in preparation to run some activities with our grade 7 math buddies.  This one is a stacking game where fractions and percents are matched up.

When all the cards are in the stack, you know its well done when the bottom of the stack equals the top of the stack.

To create this type of review: first make a list of the questions you will use.  Make sure that none of the answers repeat.  Write the question on one side of the first card, and set it aside.  Write the answer to that question on the next card.  Flip that card over and write the next question on the back.  Continue that process until you get to the last answer, which should be written on the back of the original card.  This creates a loop, so no matter what card is chosen as the starting card, the stack can be built without any trouble!

Another puzzle we did today was a tarsia puzzle reviewing fractions, decimals and percents.  (source).  Equivalent expressions are matched until all pieces are connected.

We did another tarsia puzzle with square roots and squares. (source)

To create your own puzzle, you can find some templates online.  I searched for “triangles in a hexagon” and got many options to print out and write questions onto.

Here are some great examples of investigations and how to write them.  Notice the clear communication with titles and axes well labelled.  There are notations made on the graph itself explaining (using vocabulary words) the important features.

Another strategy is to write paragraphs on a separate page, which refers to the graph shown separately.

Today we talked about triangles, and about how to prove if a triangle is a right angle triangle or not.

We can use the pythagorean theorem also to calculate the length of a missing side of a right angle triangle.  The sum of the squares of the legs (perpendicular sides) of the triangle is equal to the square of the hypotenuse (the longest side).

Grade 9s learned a new song today to remember how to calculate the area of a trapezoid.  It’s to the tune of “Frère Jacques”
L’aire d’un trapèze, l’aire d’un trapèze

Base plus base, base plus base

Divisée par deux, divisée par deux

Fois hauteur, fois hauteur
We sang it loud and in a round.  We look forward to singing it with our math buddies in grade 7 in March.

We have a poster to help us remember out relaxation sequence.  

We also learned about the relationship between our thoughts, feelings and behaviours.

Emma Jane and Jackson are happy to help with any issues.