Tuesday, June 28, 2016

8th Grade Math - Unit 6c: Transformations


Last year I did not teach this unit before the students took the CAASPP Summative Assessment. This year I wanted to teach this unit before the CAASSP, so I replaced the Exponent Properties and Scientific Notation Unit with this unit. #gooddecision 

The unit started with a focus on Congruence and Rigid Transformations. I really wanted to focus on the fact that the figures didn't change shape or size they just moved locations.


The first rigid transformation the unit focused on was Translations.


I wanted the students to practice rigid transformations by making their own figures and transformation for each of the rigid transformations so I created a poster task. The poster task was split into parts and done over multiple days. Each time the students learned a new transformation, they would complete the next part of the task for that transformation and add it to their poster.

iMath Lesson - Rigid Transformations Poster Task - (Part One and Two)
Students showed their understanding of this concept in my Showbie Poster Task on Rigid Transformations.  Students created their own figure and translated the figure using their own rule.


iMath –  Practice in Tenmarks and Buzzmath 
Students used Tenmarks and Buzzmath to practice translations. 


The next part of the unit focused on Rigid Transformations and Reflections.


iMath Lesson - Rigid Transformations Poster Task - (Part Three)
Students continued to show their understanding of this concept in my Showbie Poster Task on Rigid Transformations.  Students created their own figure and reflected the figure using their own rule.


iMath –  Practice in Tenmarks and Buzzmath 
Students used Tenmarks and Buzzmath to practice reflections. 



The next part of the unit focused on Rigid Transformations and Rotations.


iMath Lesson - Rigid Transformations Poster Task - (Part Four)
Students contined to show their understanding of this concept in my Showbie Poster Task on Rigid Transformations.  Students created their own figure and rotated the figure using their own rule.


iMath Lesson - Rigid Transformations Poster Task 


iMath – Showbie Rotations Assignment
Students practiced rotations in my Showbie Assignment. 


iMath –  Practice in Tenmarks and Buzzmath 
Students used Tenmarks and Buzzmath to practice rotations.


  
The next part of the unit focused on Composition of Transformations.


iMath – Socrative (Self-paced) “Digital Task Cards”
Students practiced performing multiple transformations in my Socrative (self-paced) "Digital Task Cards" lesson Oops, I Lost My iPod Task


Here is my Socrative Code. Feel Free to Use. :o)
Composition of Transformations Task:  SOC-21865585

Socrative: Rigid Transformations "Team Task"
We ended the unit with my Socrative Collaborative "Team Task" on Rigid Transformations.


Unit Reflection
This unit needed more time, but there just wasn't any time.  This was the first year that my students were really understanding how to perform the transformations and use that to understand congruence. I decided not to focus on dilations in this unit and only focused on the three rigid transformations.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog.  I hope my lessons have inspired you.








Monday, June 27, 2016

8th Grade Math - Unit 6b: The Volume of Solids


The next unit in our Geometric Relationships was the Volume of Cylinders, Cones and Spheres.The first part of the unit focused on finding the volume of a cylinder and practice with basic cylinder volume problems.


Students practiced Recorder/Reporter style and the teams collaboratively solved problems finding the volume of cylinders.

iMath – Showbie “Paperless” Assignment
Students practiced finding the Volume of Cylinders in my"Paperless" Showbie Assignment. 


Math 8 - Showbie “Paperless” Collaborative Team Task
The next day the students did a my collaborative "Team Task" on Finding the Volume of Cylinders using my cylinder collection. Throughout the year I had saved different cylinders for this activity.  I labeled the cylinders and set them out on an empty set of desks. The students were very intrigued when they came in and saw the collection of cylinders.



 In the "Team Task" the students took turns being "Team Mathematician".  The "Team Mathematician" chose a cylinder from the selection and brought it back to the team.  


The "Team Mathematician" measured the height and the diameter of the chosen cylinder and read them to the team. The team then calculated the volume of the chosen cylinder together.  The students repeated this process throughout the "Team Task".  All Team Members were "Team Mathematician" multiple times throughout the task.



As you can see the students really enjoyed this task. :o)

The next part of the unit focused on finding the height or the radius of a cylinder given the volume of the cylinder.


Students did a round of Recorder/Reporter and the teams collaboratively solved problems finding the height or the radius of cylinders.

iMath – Socrative (Self-paced) “Digital Task Cards”
After practicing with their teams, students did my Socrative (self-paced) "Digital Task Cards" lesson on Finding the Height or Radius of a Cylinder.



Here is my Socrative Code. Feel Free to Use. :o)
Finding the Height or the Radius of a Cylinder:  SOC-20875587

The next part of the unit focused on finding the volume of a cone and practice with basic cone volume problems.


Students practiced Recorder/Reporter style and the teams collaboratively solved problems finding the volume of cones.

iMath – Showbie “Paperless” Assignment
Students practiced finding the Volume of Cones in my"Paperless" Showbie Assignment. 


The next part of the unit focused on finding the height or the radius of a cone given the volume.



Socrative: Finding the Volume of Cylinders and Cones "Team Task"
We ended this part of the unit with my Socrative Collaborative "Team Task" on the Volume of Cylinders and Cones.


Here is my Socrative Code. Feel Free to Use. :o)
Volume of Cylinders and Cones Review "Team Task":  SOC-20945728


The next part of the unit focused on finding the volume of a sphere and basic sphere volume problems.


Students did a round of Recorder/Reporter and the teams collaboratively solved problems on finding the volume of spheres.
iMath – Socrative (Self-paced) “Digital Task Cards”
After practicing finding the volume of spheres with their teams, students did my Socrative (self-paced) "Digital Task Cards" lesson on Finding the Volume of a Sphere.

Here is my Socrative Code. Feel Free to Use. :o)
Finding the Volume of a Sphere:  SOC-20975396

The next part of the unit focused on comparing volumes and composite volumes.  The students did well with this part of the unit because I encouraged them to leave their answer in terms of pi until the very end.


Students did a round of Recorder/Reporter and the teams collaboratively solved problems with composite volumes.
iMath – Socrative (Self-paced) “Digital Task Cards”
After practicing with their teams, students did my Socrative (self-paced) "Digital Task Cards" lesson on F
inding the Volume of Composite Figures.


Here is my Socrative Code. Feel Free to Use. :o)
Finding the Volume of Composite Figures:  SOC-21067857



The next part of the unit focused on reviewing and solidifying their understanding of finding the volume of cylinders, cones and spheres.  I created a Poster Task for the students to practice finding and comparing volumes.

iMath Lesson - Comparing Volumes Poster Task
Students showed their understanding of this concept in my Showbie Poster Task on Comparing Volumes Ice Cream Task.



Socrative: Volume of Cylinders, Cones and Spheres "Team Task"
We ended the unit with my Socrative Collaborative "Team Task" on The Volume of Cylinders, Cones and Spheres.


Here is my Socrative Code. Feel Free to Use. :o)
Volume of Cylinders, Cones and Spheres "Team Task":  SOC-21093725

Unit Reflection
This year I tried something new with this unit.  In the past my students always forgot or confused the volume formulas without their notes.  So after learning each formula, I had the students make a flashcard for that formula.  After learning all three formulas, I had the students independently practice the flashcards in iMath each day. Each day in iMath, the "Blast From the Past" assignment told the students to practice the flashcards without using their notes and to leave a comment on how they did with the formulas. This really helped the students remember the formulas for the rest of the year. 

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