For their final Portfolio Eligible Project students have the choice to complete the Geometry Scavenger Hunt or complete a choice project.

For the choice project, students should chose an area of their life or the world that relates to geometry.  For the project, they will create three labeled diagrams showing the connection between their topic and the 8th grade geometry standards (pythagorean theorem, properties of perpendicular lines, congruence and similarity, and volume of cones and cylinders).  Students will turn in the drawings and a 1-2 page reflection explaining why they choose the topic they did, how they think it connects to geometry, and the process they used to complete the project.

This week we will be focusing on energy transfers through radiation, convection, conduction and waves.  As a part of that study we will discuss the electromagnetic spectrum.   To learn more, explore NASA’s resources and BBCs resources.

Interactive Simulations

Waves 

Light

Heat/Phases of Matter

Also, this week and next students will be teaching review lessons on the concepts in the Common Core standards for 8th Grade Math. Teams of 2-3 students will take on a concept from the last 8 months and teach a 5 minute lesson and then assist students along with Mr. Beavers and me as the class practices that skill.  We are looking forward to what students will bring to the table and know that this review will help students to remember concepts and to build fluency and confidence with skills.

Today, students worked with Mr. Beavers to understand what the exponents and subscripts in chemical symbols and equations represent and how they can use the law of conservation of matter to balance equations.

Students also practiced applying the pythagorean theorem to solve for the length of the side of a right triangle.  Students were surprised to find that the square root of any number squared is that number. They also watched a vi hart video about the history of pythagorean theorem.  We used this video as a segway into a discussion of rational vs. irrational numbers.

Today, we reviewed the difference between an element, mixture and compound, and students modeled the difference between these three with nuts and bolts and legos.  They also observed 10 samples and determined whether each is a compound, element, or mixture.  If it was a mixture they also had to speculate as to whether the are heterogenous or homogeneous.

We are continuing to work towards a solution to our problem about the actors at the Fox.  We are using right triangle rotations to build slant line squares and are using our knowledge of exponents and square roots to find their areas.

As an introduction to geometry, we began with the following problem.

Erik and Kim are actors at the Fox Theater.  Erik lives 5 miles from the theater and Kim lives 3 miles from the theater.  Their boss, wonders how far apart they live.

Students looked at the problem in various ways.  Some thought that the actors must live 8 or 2 miles apart.  Others determined a range, such as the actors must live between 2 and 8 miles apart.  Still others drew circles to represent the area where each actor could live.  We will continue to work on the problem through the week as we gain new knowledge and understanding.

Today, we continued our unit on geometry by exploring the area of triangles. We also reviewed triangle properties of angles and side lengths.   A good review of this information can be found here.  We used our reasoning skills to take given information and determine the are by deciding on appropriate bases and the appropriate place to measure the height or altitude of the triangle.  At this point, students should be able to take any given triangle, measure the appropriate segments, and determine its area.

Mr. Beavers continued to work with students to understand how the organization of the periodic table informs us about how elements form compounds and to understand the difference between ionic and covalent bonds.  By this point, students should be able to build any of the first 20 elements on the periodic table and explain which elements would be most likely to join to form compounds.  Students should be able to explain the octet rule and the importance of valence electrons.  Here is a flash animation that explains the two main types of bonds.  Here is another animation of bond types including hydrogen bonds.

Please remember that Khan is reinforcement and practice.  You should work for at least 30 minutes per night on the following skills AND on anything else that you know you need to review or practice.  It may take some longer than others to feel confident with these concepts.  Make sure you are comfortable with the work.  We will have an assessment on Friday, April 5th.

Goals for the next two weeks:

- I can define and explain the difference between an irrational and rational number.

- I can find the area of a triangle.

- I can rotate figures.

- I can state and use the Pythagorean Theorem to solve problems.

Skills- These will be assessed on Friday, April 5th, 2013