Quarter Four

Mathletics was an assignment that was given to us to test our ability in mental math and different topics of math that we were supposed to do in order to get a good grade. The time limit for mental math was sixty seconds with people facing you from around the globe. The chapter tests of different topics, however, had no time limit and we were allowed to use our calculator in order to answer the questions. We had around five days to finish at least six different chapters and take their tests and complete the math day challenge of sixty seconds as many times as we could.

The purpose of Mathletics was to review the basics of mental math and to learn and to review about chapters that we had to complete. It was also to show and introduce us to people from different countries when playing the live math challenge. There were some chapters that we did not actually learn so the purpose of the test was for us to acquire different chapters that we had not learned about.

World math day helped me to revise on my mental math and at the same time learn different chapters of math and taking quizzes that helped me keep the chapter in my head. Mathletics was also important because it had different rounds of mental math and the higher the level, the more difficult the problems would be. For example, in lesson four it is the hardest because it has different operations in one problem.

I could have learned differently if I had more time to do the project, since I had to cram all the tests in a short period of time. It was also very nerve-racking for me to do many different types of live math day challenges in a short period of time since my schedule did not really have time for it.

This relates to my goal of organization because it shows how you have to organize your time in order to do all of the tests and live challenges in a time that you can manage, which I had trouble doing. It also helps to find out what was the easiest test to perform and finish the easy tests first than the tests that needed more time or were more difficult.

Quarter Three

The Chapter 7 exam was basically a test to make sure that we knew everything in chapter 7 from Ratios and Rates to Simple Probability. It was also to see if we knew and could combine things from different chapters that we have learned into the test. For example, percentage problems required a fraction over 100 or to get percentage you would multiply by 100 to get your answer for percentage. For proportions you need to know how to cross multiply to get the correct equation. My grade for the test was a 22.5/26 which is about a B+.

The purpose of the chapter seven test was to make sure we knew the math for chapter seven. Especially when it was a percentage lessons such as Percent of change, finding the change of an old amount to a new amount and finding the change in percentage, Percent applications, using percentage to change the amount of an item and then adding or subtracting the percentage amount to get the new amount, and percent equations, using a word problem and changing it into an equation with a percentage value or a number value. Learning chapter 7 was also important because it had math that was important for business and is valuable if you are going to have a career in business or economy.

I learned how to properly use percent and to know what percent actually is. Another important thing that I learned about percentage was the vocabulary such as discount, which makes the price lower, markup, which makes the price higher, and tax, which is added to your total. Proportions were also important because you apply cross-multiplying in many of your equations. I also had refreshment on Simple Probability and ratios while learning chapter 7.

I could have learned differently if I did not think that percentage was such a hard thing to do, while in fact it was a very easy thing once you put your mind to it. It would also been helpful if that I did not think as most of the problems as easy because I already know the way to do the questions, which caused me to miss a lot of problems.

If my goal was watching mistakes, then It would be because when it came to do things that were simple such as simple probability I always made simple mistakes which, of course, marked off points while I was doing any assignment. It was also important for me to realize what I was doing wrong so I could avoid the mistake.

Quarter Three

A week before Pi day, we were assigned to create a lesson plan for a certain grade that we had to teach from 8:00 am to 9:45 am. We also had to make posters and visuals according to what grade we taught. Since my group taught kindergarten, we had to create posters and visuals to teach them about Pi, diameter, circumference, radius, the numbers of Pi, etc.

The purpose of Pi day was to teach the kindergartners what Pi is, why it is important, and what is important in a circle. Pi day also showed me how to create a logical lesson plan that made sense to little kids and that it was not too hard for them to understand what I was teaching them. I think the most important thing that I learned was how to teach people about anything in general; being patient, take any questions, and possibly even re-teaching to the students so that they can truly understand what Pi and the basis of the circle are.

I learned how to make a lesson plan that makes sense and is clear for any teacher to use when needed for Pi day. Learning how to teach little kids and answering their questions was also something that I successfully learned when I was teaching the little on Pi day. I also learned how to make a lesson about Pi that kindergarteners can understand without too much confusion or questions and also let them have a fun time.

I could have learned differently if I prepared more interesting activities for the little kids to do, because I think that the kindergartners did not understand as well then that I thought would. I also could have learned differently if I did not finish everything in one day and counted more on my partners to do some of the preparation for teaching the two lessons. If we had more time, I could have learned that teachers usually have more than 45 minutes to explain something to their students, especially if it is a group of little kids.

If my goal was procrastination, then I would say that I did not really perform this goal as I thought I would because I did everything that has to do with the craft side of the project was done at the last minute which really irritated me later and caused my grade to go down. I think that procrastination also lowered my grade generally; I did my poster late which resulted to go down after all the hard that I put into everything else.

Quarter Two

In quarter two we were assigned a project based on the sections of chapter 5: Rational Number Operations. For each section, we had to have at least 1 problem for each of the eight sections of Chapter 5.

• Section 1 Fractions with common denominators
  
• Section 2 Fractions with different denominators
  
• Section 3 Multiplying Fractions
  
• Section 4 Dividing Fractions
  
• Section 5 Fractions and Decimals
  
• Section 6 Adding and Subtracting Decimals
  
• Section 7 Multiplying and Dividing Decimals
  
• Section 8 Mean, Median, and Mode
  

Through these problems we had to use eight of the nine different strategies that are provided for us to solve a problem make a model, draw a diagram, guess check and revise, work backward, make a list or table, look for a pattern, break into parts, solve a simpler problem, and use a Venn Diagram. After using one strategy for each problem we then make a booklet with the problems in order and make sure the there is a title page, table of contents, and a cover page before the problems for the booklet.

The purpose of the project was for us to fully understand chapter 5 and for us to make our own problems using different types of strategies for different topics for the sections in chapter 5. Another reason was to fully understand how to make check a problem and to make sure that it is correct and does not have any silly mistakes such as 3+3=9, which then ruins the whole solution of the problem. One important point of the project was to organize our problems in an orderly fashion, so not to make it too confusing for the reader to read and evaluate. I did some strategies wrong for some certain problems, which then caused me to lose marks when my teacher was evaluating my paper.

What I learned from this project was how to write a problem using a certain strategy and concentrating on the way that strategy is written without making mistakes. Also, it helped me improve my basic math by adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing many basic numbers and fractions without the help of a calculator or writing it on a separate sheet of paper. What really helped me when it came to fractions was when I had long multiplication problems such as 9/20 * 8/20, I could easily multiply 8*9 to get my answer of 72 and 20*20 to get my answer of 72/400.

I could have learned differently if I checked over my problems more sufficiently and carefully then just simply turning it in without looking at it. Thinking up of sub-problems instead of the original first one that comes to mind is also a good example of learning differently. I also could have learned differently if I did a better job at the artistic part of the project and not have concentrated completely on the math part of the project.

This relates to my goal of organization because it was initial to have it because the problems all needed a special way of listing, ordering, and comparing in a way that is not confusing and easy to look at. Organization also helped how the project looked overall and how it differed to have good organization skills, a good neat project that its problems are easy to understand, from bad organization skills, a project with problems that are not as clear as they should be therefore resulting in a poor grade.

Quarter Two

In quarter two we took Chapter four which was mainly about Factors, such as prime factorization and GCF, Simplifying fraction such as 28/35 by dividing by 7 for the numerator and the denominator. Multiplying and dividing expressions, or problems, with exponents. For example, if you have x9+7 you will x16 because you add your exponents’ together to get a total of 16. And finally reading and writing numbers with scientific notation. It is when you have a number, for example, 3,000 you would say 3x103 to make it 3000 in standard form.

The purpose of the activity was to learn more about fractions, GCF, LCM, Scientific notation and so on by practicing them daily and having quizzes on them. Also, by learning new things adding on to the things that we already took about this is like Monomials and how to add and subtract exponents or how to make the exponents only positive when they are in a negative state. These lessons also help us in getting ready for Algebra in high school.

Most of the things that we took in Chapter 4 were mainly things that I have already learned but there were some small interesting new things that I took. In lesson 4.1, Factors and Prime Factorization, I was introduced to Monomials. Monomials are when you have a problem such as 12x2y. Since 12 is 4(3) and 4 is 2(2) you would write 2(2)(3). As for the x you would write it twice to make x(x) and y once, so the equation in the end would be: 2(2)(3)(x)(x)(y). Another new thing that we also learned was how to add and subtract exponents. If you have m-9m5 you would add those -9 and 5 together to get m-4.

I could have learned differently if I looked more specifically on LCM and GCF because I always had those mixed up when there were on a quiz or homework. Also, when we did simplifying fractions, I took me a long time to do for problems that I thought there denominators were uncommon like 9/8 and 27/17. Also when we did the concept of scientific notation, I would sometimes get confused when writing it in standard form by always skipping one exponent by making the number in standard form.

This does relate to my goals as keeping my homework on track because Math is all about the things you previously took before put together on top of each other. So, when we did factors in a monomial, at first it sounded hard, but after a while I realized that all you had to do was take your composite number and simplify as much as you can. After that if you have an exponent such as x4 you would write x(x)(x)(x) after the simplified number.

Quarter One

In quarter one, we started to take chapter two in our Grade Eight math book. I learned many important things such as how to add, subtract, and multiply integers. Also, we learned about absolute value and opposites and how they are important in a problem. Sometimes integer problems had a trick to them especially when subtracting integers. You had to know your rules very well or mess up the adding step in the subtraction problem.

The purpose was to fully understand how to use integers and how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide them properly with each other. Absolute value and opposites are very important because they depend on how sometimes the total comes out such as positive or negative. Another very important subject was number properties and distributive property. They both are ways of knowing how to put a problem in parenthesis such as 3(36-34) – 4(6-26) and perform those operations with multiple steps.

Something that I had forgotten was the Coordinate plane and how it was used and to plot something on the coordinate plane. Also, I forgot how the quadrants were labeled in Roman numerals and how they were used properly. Plot a point on the coordinate plane by (X, Y) and seeing they are negative or positive according to (X, Y) also caused me problems.

I could have learned differently if I did more sample questions for each page and looked better at the questions. Also, sometimes I did not check my odds causing
a loss of points.

This kind of relates to my goal of always keeping track of homework and staying on top of my homework. Also, when we had a lot of problems to work on for each section, it gave me a more understanding for chapter two. I think that my goal was accomplished because every assignment was turned in on time and I fully understood what each section meant math-wise.

Quarter One

The first major activity that we did this quarter was the perimeter and area garden project. The project was about understanding the purpose of using perimeter and area, into formatting two types of gardens with different measurements. There are two types of gardens one flower garden and two vegetable gardens.

The purpose of the project was to correctly use perimeter and area and to identify any differences by answering questions that were on the sheet. For example question A. Asks you to use either perimeter or area to identify the measurements around the border of a fence. Of course the correct way to measure the border of the fence would be perimeter using the formula (2L+2W) to find the total in inches, centimeters, etc. around the fence. The second purpose was to correctly measure the gardens on rough paper and on the final copy on the poster board.

I learned how to correctly use and actually review what I have learned about perimeter and area and use it in a fun and creative way. It was also interesting when we saw everyone else’s gardens and compare it to our own projects.

I could have learned differently if I had not crammed it at the last minute and not think correctly when I put the final copy on the poster board. Also I could have learned differently if I did the gardens in a different format such as photos etc my first draft of my project even, was done incorrectly because I did not really understand the directions.

I think my this project realtes to my "up to date" goals because I did not really accomplish the up to date goal by not doing it a bit early and finishing it at the last minute.