This Week: We will take a quiz over logarithms before using problems to solve real-world scenarios involving exponential growth and decay. These will mostly be problems related to interest (loans, credit cards, etc), but also to radioactivity (half-lives, carbon dating, etc.)

 

Common Core State Standard: HS.F-BF.A. Building Functions: Build a function that models a relationship between two quantities.

 

Due from last week: None

This Week: Students will take a quiz on scientific notation. From here, we will move onto absolute value functions. These often have multiple answers as quite often in the real world, the distance from a central point matters just as much as a direction. Does my function need to be -5 or 5? Doesn't matter as long as we are 5 away!

 

Common Core Standards: HS.F-BF.B. Building Functions: Build new functions from existing functions.

 

Due from last week: SN in Space project

This week: We will use scientific notation to scale down distances in space, then draw a model of the solar system using our measurements.

 

Common Core State Standard: HS.F-BF.A. Building Functions: Build a function that models a relationship between two quantities.

 

Due from last week: Operations with SN and Multiplying/Dividing with SN

This Week: We will continue using scientific notation to work with large and small value. Given the short week, we will mostly be reviewing, as well as learning how to use the classroom's graphing calculators.

 

Common Core State Standards: HS.A-SSE.B. Seeing Structure in Expressions: Write expressions in equivalent forms to solve problems.

 

Due from Last Week: Practice with Scientific Notation

With finals done, we will use this week to cover some math that may not neatly fall into the curriculum, but is fun to investigate! Classes will be learning about...

 

Binary and Number Bases: Binary is how computers process info, but did you know it is also known as "Base 2" counting? Humans mostly use Base 10 nowadays, but we'll learn about counting in binary as well as the history of how other eras of humanity have seen us using Base 12 and even Base 60!

 

Math and Beauty: Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, of course. But what if there's more to it? Bees and other pollinators are naturally attracted to flowers displaying the Fibonacci sequence. Are humans the same way?

 

Game Theory: Though also a fun youtube channel, "Game Theory" largely applies to how humans weigh risk vs. reward both in the marketplace and in social scenarios. How does human nature compare to probability? 

Students will complete their math finals the second half of this week after a day or two of more reviewing. Good luck, everyone!

 

Schedule:

Algebra 1: Wednesday and Thursday

Geometry (8 & 10): Wednesday and Thursday

Geometry (9): Thursday

Algebra 2: Wednesday and Thursday

 

Some general reminders:

1) Students may bring one page of notes (8.5" x 11"), one-sided, to the final.

 

2) If a final spans multiple days, the notes will be collected on the first day and handed back on the second. Students may NOT bring in notes the second day, though they will have access to the notes they brought at the beginning of the first final.

 

3) Given that this is the final, students will not be able to earn back points afterwards. If they have been taking advantage of this opportunity on quizzes, though, they will be much better prepared going into the final!

This week, all classes are preparing for finals, which will occur next week. Please see previous posts for topics and standards students should review! (students will also be given review topics in their classes)

This Week: In class, we will review exponents before beginning our unit on Scientific Notation. This will allow students to work with exceptionally large or small numbers, useful for tackling both large scale (distances in space) and small scale (distance between atoms) problems.

 

Common Core State Standards: HS.N-RN.A. The Real Number System: Extend the properties of exponents to rational exponents.

 

Due from last week: None

This Week: We will use our knowledge of exponents to tackle radicals and radical functions, which can be used to track decay rates in science or undo processes originally done with exponents.

 

CCSS Standards: HS.N-RN.A. The Real Number System: Extend the properties of exponents to rational exponents.

 

Due from Last Week: Properties of Exponents worksheet

This Week: We will be using properties of exponents and radicals (exponents in disguise!) to combine and simplify variables with exponents. This is a crucial step in using variables to model real-world scenarios that involve compounding growth or decay, such as population or disease spread.

 

CCSS Standard: HS.A-APR.A. Arithmetic with Polynomials & Rational Expressions: Perform arithmetic operations on polynomials.

 

Due from Last Week: Dragon's Den Presentation and Math

 

 

Hello, Wonderful Westgate Families!

I have an exciting announcement: our annual Hogwarts Day will be Friday of next week, October 27^th! Students can look forward to joining like-minded friends for a day of fun, food, and activities. Is your student a clever Ravenclaw or an ambitious Slytherin? A loyal Hufflepuff, or a daring Gryffindor? Students may join whichever group they feel most comfortable with for the day, and we encourage them to dress the part! If a student is unsure of their house or comfortable with any of the groups, we will find a place for them as well.

During the day, students will be engaging in Hogwarts-themed classes with their house (Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, etc), learning and competing to earn points towards the House Cup. Can they do well enough to usurp the reigning champion of Ravenclaw? Quidditch, a sport from the world of Harry Potter, will take place in the afternoon outdoors. Please see the attached slideshow for details!

Our schedule will be as follows:

8:00 – 8:45: Breakfast in the Great Hall (HS Commons) 

8:45 – 9:45: House Decorating

9:45– 10:45: Begin Class Rotations (2 classes) 

10:45 – 11:15: Quidditch Prep and House Time

11:15 – 12:15: Lunch

12:15 – 1:45: Class Rotations (3 classes) 

1:45 – 3:15ish: Quidditch! 

3:15: Ending Circle/Awarding of the House Cup 

Important: For our morning breakfast, we are requesting donations from any family who would like to contribute. We would be extremely grateful for anything you can donate – every little bit helps add to a meaningful start to the students’ day. Please follow the link below to find a SignUp Genius with items we need.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70A0C4BAEAE2EA7FA7-45349085-hogwarts

As always, thank you for being such an amazing part of our community and for allowing us to teach such incredible students. Even if your student is not a fan of the Hogwarts world, I hope they are looking forward to a day of activities and fun.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at [email protected].

This Week: Students will use Systems of Equations (SoE) to create business propositions for an item they develop. They will create functions for revenue and cost, then use SoE to predict the break-even point.

 

CCSS Standard: HS.F-BF.A. Building Functions: Build a function that models a relationship between two quantities.

 

Due from last week: Systems of Equations word problems

This Week: Students will be writing systems of equations problems for difference scenarios, then solving those equations using both substitution and elimination. This is all to prep us for our Dragon's Den project, which we should begin by the end of the week.

 

Due from last week: None