Lines, Lines, Everywhere Lines!

MATH
This week we tied up our loose ends in the Talk or Text lesson highlighted in last week’s newsletter. Students wrote equations for Plan A and Plan B and subsequently graphed both of the equations on the coordinate plane. Some students used the standard form (Ax + By = C). Other students learned to convert the standard form to the Slope-Intercept Form (y = mx + b) and used the y-intercept and slope to graph the lines. Once we had graphed the system of equations, we discussed the following:

• Under what circumstances is each cell phone plan better?
[Plan A is better when you talk on the phone more. Plan B is better when you send text messages more.]
• What does the graph of each equation represent?
[combinations of texts and minutes that cost exactly $25]
• Can you use quadrant II, III, or IV?
[No, because you cannot have negative minutes or negative text messages.]
• What other factors might you consider when choosing a cell phone plan?
[Answers vary, but consider things such as activation fees, mobile-to-mobile minutes, weekend or evening minutes, cell phones available, or "extras" like voice mail and ring tones.]

Later in the week, we reviewed how to solve and graph inequalities through an interactive PowerPoint (click here to view).

Next Monday and Tuesday we will be reviewing for our cumulative assessment which is scheduled for Wednesday/Thursday. Each student is currently working on a study guide which is intended to help him/her prepare for this exam. If students have questions about the material, they should come to class prepared to ask specific questions. Please check in with your child regarding his/her preparation process. Below I have included some study techniques that we’ve discussed in class.

Ideas for Studying For a Test:
• Review Daybook notes and re-work examples.
• Visit www.mrsv.org (What We’re Studying Right Now) and (Class Notes). Watch video tutorials, go through interactive PowerPoints, and visit interactive websites for extra practice.
• Make flashcards with important vocabulary or different types of problems.
• Review past homework assignments. Re-work a couple of problems from each assignment.
• Review past Exit Slips glued in daybook. Analyze your mistakes and correct your errors.
• Ask your teacher(s) about anything you are not sure of.

If students feel confident about the study guide, then they are amply prepared for the “test”! I look forward to helping them celebrate their success in this process! I appreciate your involvement at home as it truly makes all the difference!

SCIENCE

Pieces of me, what can you see? Cell organelles and cell processes were our topics this week in science! We had an amazing time observing our own cheek cells in a laboratory investigation that compared our cells and plant cells. Students were able to create wet mount slides of Elodea leaves and animal cells. This gave us an opportunity to discover major shape differences in our cells. You children observed how many chloroplasts were in each tiny plant cell. Cheek cells looked like tiny fried eggs, the only thing visible with our light microscopes were the cell membranes, cytoplasm, and nucleus. Your children were thrilled to observe their bodies in a new and different way! They also found some interesting bacteria and food particles under the microscope too! We are studying the different organelles that are in our cells and how they allow the cell to preform the cellular activities of growing, repair and mitosis. We will be continuing to grow in our knowledge of cell organelles and how they work together for the cell just like our organs work together for our bodies!

Another Egg-citing Eggs-periment! Diffusion and osmosis were the cell processes we began to study this week. We are using eggs (haploid cells) to observe osmosis, which is movement of substances across a membrane. The eggs have been placed into two beakers, one containing tap water and one containing a salt water solution. We made predictions of the cells increasing or decreasing in size. We will observe these cells early next week to determine if osmosis did occur and in which solution!

Cello Jello is our fun activity planned for next week. I will be providing jello for each student. We will use candy to represent different organelles and describe how they work together in the cell. This will be a yummy activity! I am asking the students to bring in a small bag of candy to share with the class on Monday and Tuesday of next week. Any hard candy (gum balls,skittles, red hots, sweet tarts, licorice,....) will work beautifully. Chocolate and peanut butter candies will not work well. Thank you again for all your support of the science curriculum!
I would also like to share with you that the administration has given the science department and your children an amazing holiday gift-oodles of laboratory equipment!!! This week we had many boxes delivered that were full of beakers, flasks, petri dishes, prepared slides, chemicals and pipets! We are going to have so many fantastic learning opportunities ahead of us!!!

Do You See What I See?

SCIENCE
Cells, Bacteria and Yogurt!!! We have started a new unit in science and we are having a fantastic time! Our unit is on LIFE SCIENCE and we began with the study of prokaryotic cells. The week of Thanksgiving Break we recreated Louise Pasteur's broth experiment. Your children took boiling broth and put the broth into two containers. One container was sealed immediately and the other was left open. The open container had LOTS of life grow in the broth while the sealed did not appear to allow bacteria or fungi to grow. We were able to determine that the life in the broth came from the air in the classroom, not the broth. This lead us into cell theory, scientist that contributed to cellular breakthroughs and the modern microscopes that lead scientist to the discovery of the very small world that is not seen with the naked eye!

Yogurt is so good for us because it is full of living cultures of bacteria. We were able to observe this in a laboratory investigation this week. Your children loved looking at the cocci bacteria as it moved all over their slides on the microscope! We were able to catch some amazing motion in our yogurt samples! I was impressed at how well everyone did this week! We learned all the parts and how to use our very impressive microscopes. We included how to focus slides, how to make correct drawing of microscopic organisms and how to create wet mount slides in this week too! Please take a minute and talk to your children about cells. They were so invested in their learning that I am sure they will impress you with their knowledge and curiosity!

I was planning about making yogurt in class but due to our limited time before winter break, I decided not to make this a class activity. Many students expressed an interest in making yogurt at home so I am including a recipe. This is delicious and very healthy!

Homemade Yogurt

4 tablespoons plain, low fat yogurt
6 cups 2% or whole milk
Fruit, your choice!

Bring milk to boil. Let cool slightly, add yogurt. Mix well. Cover pot and place in the cool oven. An oven light will allow the yogurt to have a little warmth. Leave the pot alone for 8 hours. Add fruit and refrigerate. Enjoy!!!

MATH
This week we began our investigation of linear equations. In order to make this new learning pertinent to students’ lives, I used a fabulous lesson from NCTM entitled, Talk or Text. In this lesson, students compared costs associated with two different cell phone plans. In this lesson, students were informed that their parents would prepay $25 each month for the cell phone plan of their choice. They were also given the costs for text messages and voice minutes for two separate plans and asked to determine which plan would work best for them personally. In other words, are they more of a talker, more of a texter, or do they engage in both fairly equally? After we concluded the pros and cons of each plan based on our mathematic calculations, we took a short break from the lesson to learn more about graphing linear equations. All students learned the standard form of graphing equations in which they pick a value for x or y and then solve for the other variable. We also discussed the meaning of slope, and to differentiate this lesson a step further, some students participated in a lesson where they learned the formula for determining slope (m=the change in y/the change in x) and the y-intercept form of graphing equations (y=mx +b). Next week we will be returning to the Talk or Text lesson where students will be writing equations for both cell phone plans, graphing each of the equations, and subsequently looking for a point of intersection. Fun, fun, fun!

Reminder:
The end of unit Algebra Test is scheduled for December 16th/December 17th. Each student received a study guide this week for homework. This study guide is intended to be a means of reviewing for this cumulative test. Please remember that http://www.mrsv.org/ is also LOADED with tons of helpful information, as are the Math On Call reference book and the Problem-Solving and Reflection daybooks. Please join my efforts to ensure a successful testing experience for your child by helping him/her prepare adequately. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me.