Curriculum
In grade 6, students will work with the Connected Mathematics 3 curriculum for 7th graders. CMP3 aligns with the Common Core State Standards for math by focusing on problem solving and process, reasoning, communicating mathematically, fluency, and depth. Each unit is problem-centered and promotes inquiry-based learning through a meaningful sequence of tasks and questions. CMP requires students to reason effectively using graphic, numeric, symbolic, and verbal forms and move flexibly throughout these different mathematical representations. Each investigation is centered around real-world situations and students work to solve problems in collaborative groups before sharing strategies and generalizations as a whole class.
Units of Study
- Data About Us - Statistics and Data Analysis
- Shapes and Designs: Two-Dimensional Geometry
- Accentuate the Negative: Integers and Rational Numbers
- Stretching and Shrinking: Understanding Similarity
- Comparing and Scaling: Ratios, Rates, Percents, and Proportions
- Moving Straight Ahead: Linear Relationships
- What Do You Expect?: Probability and Expected Value
Homework and Veto Power
Expect that the students will have some math homework every night. In general expect a little continuation within the book investigation for homework. Some students will finish enough in the classroom where they only need to work on the ACE questions, but feel free to have them show you the problem they worked on in class - although it doesn't usually apply step by step procedures for you to see what they are working on it should be helpful for you to understand how they are approaching the problems. Many of the standard algorithms that we learned as students will be "discovered" by them while working through these problems. These algorithms will be solidified in summary discussions after the students have gone through the investigations. Our goal is to push for a deep understanding of why these algorithms are working.
I will be giving about 3-6 homework questions every night, but some may have multiple parts to it. I try to make sure that the homework won't last for more than 30 minutes, but sometimes a problem takes longer than expected or it might be one that a student is struggling with. If you see that your child has been working hard on math homework for 30 minutes and you'd like them to stop just write "30 min veto" on the assignment and sign it - they will receive full credit (10 points). The following day their partner will help them catch up with the material they didn't finish. If you really want them to work longer please limit it to about an hour - I'm sure you are all busy!
Homework is graded according to effort (see below to know how the HW Check Up assess more than effort) - which includes showing their thinking and/or work. We talk a lot about how the work is there so that they or others can go back and look at it to see how they were thinking through a problem. It is very helpful when discussing homework with a partner so they can not only see what went wrong if they got different answers, but so they can see how they worked through the problem differently even if their answers were the same.
If a student does not fully complete their assignment they will get a portion of the 10 points, but can complete it later for more points. If a student did not work on a homework assignment they will receive a late slip that must be signed by a parent/guardian to get partial credit. There grade will be lowered by 10% each day it is late. It will be a 0 if it's more than 3 days late.
Grading Policy
15% homework
25% classwork
10% participation
50% assessments and projects
Problems of the Week
One student from each class will be responsible each week to bring in a problem that they are interested in. It could be like my problem from the first week that is something a bit more open-ended where students can explore, make conjectures and try some basic proofs. It could be a logic puzzle. It could be a challenging word problem. They can find the problem online or create one themselves. Every student will be required bring a problem in throughout the year and all other students will be required to put some time into thinking about it throughout the week. The problem will be introduced on Monday for a couple minutes and then the student will get more time on Friday to discuss how students have been working on it. All 4 problems will be posted so the students will be able to investigate other problems as well. We will also do some longer Problems of the Month or some more open-ended problems like the Uber problem, Costco problem, Water Watch program, etc.
Students will receive a full 15 homework points for working on the problem for at least 10 minutes total throughout the week (due Fri). They will receive 20 classwork points for participating well on Friday when the student in charge leads a discussion. The student in charge will receive up to double the points to receive some extra credit for their hard work.
Homework Check Ups
HW is not graded for accuracy since the students might not have it mastered that night, but is graded for effort. After discussing with their partner/teacher the following day students should have the correct answer and evidence of their thinking.
We will have HW Check Ups once every week or two to grade for accuracy and for correctly following the classwork procedures of reviewing HW (fixing mistakes, showing work, learning/assessing other strategies).
About 10 questions will be selected. Students will have to be organized to find their answers in their binder and show their work.
The score will be split into two categories: HW and Classwork
These Check Ups are assessing their process and organization and not simply if they are understanding the concept. During the Check Up the students can't look at the book and read over the problem. It will say "look at your homework tab, write your answer for #7 from Tuesday night's assignment and show how you got it". You can ask to look at their Check Ups and see where they were struggling the most, but here are the four main ways students have struggled in the past::
1) They didn't get the answer correct - which means they didn't spend enough time going over the homework with their partner and fixing their mistakes (or asking for help if both partners were struggling) - the correct answers will also be posted on the board.
2) They didn't answer all the questions or lost their homework
3) They got the correct answer, but didn't show their work or explanation
4) They spent most of the Check Up time searching for their homework because it wasn't organized and didn't have enough time to complete it (each assignment should be labeled with the date and should be in order in their homework tab)
I've talked to the class about how one low HW Check Up grade is not going to affect their grade much, but if the pattern continues it will start to hurt the grade. These HW Check Ups are entered into their classwork grade in addition to their homework grade since I'm also assessing how they are completing the classwork which involves going over problems from homework, having discussions about methods and fixing mistakes.
Test Make Ups
students are able to make up tests if they didn’t master the concept YET. I want students to go through the correction process so they understand the concepts better.
- Explain their error
- Show correct work and answer
- Create a similar problem and solve it correctly with work
How do you help with homework?
Visit:
https://connectedmath.msu.edu/
http://mymathuniverse.com/cmp3
Ask them: How are you thinking about it? What have you tried? How can you convince me your answer makes sense? How are you organizing your work? Help me understand this part. How does the math in this problem relate to that problem? What questions should you write down so you can ask your classmates tomorrow? Many more in the links above!
