14 days left. Only math review homeworks for next two weeks.

This testing regimen has sure eaten up the better part of a month. For humanitarian reasons, I just cannot bring myself to assign homework when the kids are testing and schedules are weird. So for the last month, homework has been fairly sporadic: I've been sneaking it in when there isn't testing, but generally there has been some kind of testing.

So now that the testing barrage is behind us, for the next two weeks there will only be homework for items that students get wrong on their daily math reviews. What does that mean? Everyday when the kids come in, they have 4 math problems to do on the board. They have 10-15 minutes to complete them and then we go over the answers. Any that students get correct, they place a star on. Any that are incorrect they place a big H on it -- which means that problem is now a homework problem.

And so for this week and next, those will be the only homework problems students have from me. So keep an eye out daily! MONDAY THROUGH THURSDAY, your child should bring home a piece of notebook paper with four math problems on it and they should be marked with stars or with H's.

EXCEPTIONS TO THE SCHEDULE:
On Tuesday and Thursday the green group has music during their math time, so they will not have math reviews then. On Wednesdays and Fridays, the red group has PE during their math time, so they will not have math reviews then.

I will not be checking these homeworks in, myself. They are an expectation and an opportunity for practice and I hope that you will encourage your child to be diligent in practicing their math.

Sixth Grade PRoficiency Assessment: Thursday 5/26/2011 9:45 AM.

The middle school sixth grade proficiency assessment will be administered to Larrabee students on Thursday 5/26/2011 starting at 9:45 AM.

The test comes in two 1-hour parts: multiple choice, and short answer/completion.

Calculators are not allowed.


Students taking the assessment need to be on time to school that day. Attendance will be taken in their normal first class of the day and they will be excused to a testing location within the school.

LarrabeeSchool.Org and KhanAcademy.Org and Math and Literacy... oh my!?

I just wanted to let you know what we're up to this week in math. Testing is not yet done (though we are through with most of it), so we launched a few experiments this week.

LarrabeeSchool.Org
Before leaving, Eric Paige gave us the okay to experiment with Google Apps for Education, Google's suite of productivity tools free and branded with your school district. Because of district email policies, we have disabled Gmail, but students have a docs account, a sites account, and a calendar account. So we are experimenting with using these online tools and this online storage system. It's very exciting and the kids have started experimenting on their own with some of these tools!

KhanAcademy.Org
The KhanAcademy is a site that I've shared about this year before as a collection of hosted videos of "how to do math." Self-admittedly, Sal Khan (the creator) learned in a very traditional and algorithm-based method of mathemtatics which is what he imparts to students in his videos. I believe that these videos are a poor substitute for a proper introduction to the concepts behind the math, but they serve as great reviews and reminders of how to do the formalized abstract representational stuff on paper.

The innovative thing about the Khan Academy is that now we can log in with our larrabeeschool.org accounts. Students have added me as their coach (they can add you, too, if you have a Google or a Facebook username) and I can see what they have been up to and where they are struggling. For their part, students collect points and badges -- kind of like in a video game -- as they work through the lessons and practices at their own pace. It's a very cool resource and so we are trying it out this week.

I think next Monday sees the end of our testing windows (MSP is done, MAP is in progress for reading, and DRP is open until Monday) and we can get back to a more normal schedule by then. Until then, my plan is to get students up to where they are currently comfortable on the Khan Academy so that I can see how it helps me identify needs and differentiate for students.

Grade 6 Math Proficiency Assessment Thursday 5/26/2011

Do you believe that your child is ready to skip 6th grade math and go right into 7th grade pre-algebra? If so, please contact Anne Flinn at Larrabee ASAP to let her know that you want to nominate your child for the assessment to demonstrate mastery of grade 6 mathematics. The assessment will be administered here at Larrabee (the time is not yet established, nor do we know who is proctoring it) and calculators are not allowed.

Again, please contact Anne Flinn at Larrabee to nominate your child for testing.

Cheers,

Brian

FOR KIDS: Open Eyes, Dozing Minds - Science News

FOR KIDS: Open Eyes, Dozing Minds - Science News

MAP Testing this week...

This week we are administering the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) computer-adaptive assessment to our students. The MAP is administered three times yearly.

The Red group tests Tuesday 5/17 at 9:30 AM.
The Green group tests Wednesday 5/18 at 1:00 PM.

Yes, taking 6th grade math CAN lead to 12th grade AP Calculus!

Please be aware that a false rumour is being spread amongst parents from Larrabee, Lowell, and Happy Valley (and probably other elementary schools). The rumour is that students who take 6th Grade math cannot make it to calculus during their high school career. Some fact checking and inquiry at the middle school yielded this document from our curriculum department that outlines the various secondary mathematics sequences in the Bellingham School District. Please download and read this document:

BELLINGHAM SCHOOL DISTRICT
SECONDARY MATHEMATICS SEQUENCES

This document clearly delineates that in our district:
REGULAR 6th grade math leads to
REGULAR 7th grade pre-algebra leads to
REGULAR 8th grade algebra 1 leads to
REGULAR 9th grade geometry leads to
REGULAR 10th grade algebra 2 leads to
REGULAR 11th grade pre-calculus leads to
REGULAR 12th grade calculus 1 OR AP Calculus (AB/BC)

I implore all parents to share these facts instead of the
rumour that has caused anxiety and panic amongst
parents and -- certainly -- amongst students.

Thank you so much for all you do to support your child's education.

6th Grade Placement Test and Math Acceleration

About Grade 6 Math Acceleration

First of all, please be aware that there is no such thing as "accelerated 6th grade math" in the Bellingham School District. Our middle schools offers these math classes:

• Grade 6 Math
• Grade 7 Math (Pre-Algebra)
• Grade 8 Math (Algebra)
• Grade 9 Math (Geometry, but taught at FMS)

Students entering Bellingham Middle Schools who are identified to have mastered 6th grade math concepts and topics are eligible skip 6th grade math and enter Grade 7 Math.

Identifying Students for Acceleration

There is a process in-place to allow for this kind of personalization.

1. Students who meet the following criteria will be automatically invited to take the Grade 6 Proficiency Assessment.
   A Level 4 on the Grade 4 Math MSP
   orA 239+ on the MAP test
   These students will be eligible to take Grade 7 Math if they score 75% or higher on the proficiency assessment.
2. Students may be invited to take the Grade 6 Proficiency Assessment if their teacher recommends them for Grade 7 math.
3. Students may be invited to take the Grade 6 Proficiency Assessment if their parents nominate them for testing (contact your building principal).

When is the Grade 6 Proficiency Assessment administered?

• The assessment takes place on May 26, 2011. (Time TBD).
• Assessments will be administered here at Larrabee and the materials will then be forwarded to the middle school staff for evaluation and placement discernment.
• Results of the assessment along with student recommendations will be completed by June 3rd, 2011.

Math homework this week...

This is yet another state testing week for our students at Larrabee!

Because I want them to have lots of energy, I want students to take the 20-30 minutes that they would normally have as homework and instead go to bed 20-30 minutes earlier... or read 20-30 minutes more... or spend 20-30 minutes more talking with their parents or playing card or board games with their parents and siblings as a family.

Take the time to destress the home and help your child be well rested.

Cheers! 

Grade 6 Math Matriculation... information coming soon... I hope.

Just an update to the Fairhaven math matriculation post [link]:

Well, the updated mathematics matriculation was slated to be sent to principals (not to teachers) and that is roughly when Eric left for Carl Cozier. I have sent a request to the Fairhaven principal for that information and should have it posted here soon.

In the mean time, if you have information for me that is not in my blog, please let me know so I can share it with the community!

Cheers!

No homework during testing window...

Okay... MSP season is upon us and I wish I'd remembered to post this earlier. Sorry for any miscommunications.

On Monday my students had a graphing homework assignment [link]. But what about for the rest of this week and next week?

Nothing from me. I won't assign homework during the testing window because I want students to take that time out from math homework and use it to go to bed a little earlier... or eat a little healthier... or relax and read with their family.

So no math homework from me until Monday 5/16/2011.

5/2/2011 Tonight's Homework

I forgot to hand out planners this morning. So I'm going to post the homework assignment here.

Today in class the students collected data comparing two things (like right hand length vs. left hand length). They collected this data for each kid in the class.Their homework tonight is:

1. Graph your data [centimeter paper].
2. Describe your data:
   For each half of your graph (top and bottom) calculate the range, find the mode, and find the median [math dictionary].
3. Analyze your data:
   Does your graph say the two things are different, or does the graph say the two things are the same? Give details about the range, the median, the mode, or the shape of the data to explain why you think they way you do.

No homework tonight but...

Normally we assign homework every night. But tonight what I want students to do (if they have computer access) is to go to Edmodo (http://larrabee.edmodo.com) and read their assignment. They may want to go and look up the data they will need to have in class tomorrow.

Symmetry Mandalas

Practicing the vocabulary and the look of symmetry through circular designs.

Present Topic: Data Descriptions

In Red/Green math we are expanding on the kids' fourth grade experiences to examine data sets and identify certain benchmarks in the data:

• The Range
  The span of values from the minimum to the maximum.
• The Mode
  The most frequent value.
• The Median
  The centre-most value when all values are lined-up.

Our standards do not call for fifth graders to understand the average, but the students have used that particular calculated description often in their science classes. Averages are not the best way to handle data sets, however, because they contain no sense of scale of the range or possible values. In middle school, while students will know what an average is, they will be asked to use "boxplots" to compare data sets.

So right now we are just building the basic reference points in single data sets to try and describe their size and some central numbers within them.

Some thoughts about Math Matriculation for Fairhaven MIddle School

I am writing this after I'd written the earlier post not because I can give you more information about matriculation at Fairhaven Middle School (that should come on Monday), but because I want to share some thoughts about the curriculum and about "tracking" the kids once they enter Fairhaven.

There is no advanced 6th grade math
As I understand it, there is no "advanced" sixth grade math at Fairhaven Middle School. What the school offers, however, is seventh grade math for sixth graders who already know the sixth grade topics. At Larrabee Elementary School, we have begun developing only a small number of topics that are found in the 6th grade standards. District wide, we anticipate our fifth graders to be prepared to enter sixth grade math. In a few schools in our district there are students who are exposed to much more 6th grade material in the 5th grade and we suspect this is because of Math Olympiad. Of course, even at Larrabee where there is no Math Olympiad, there are always a few students who have that exposure and preparation; but it is a small number.

Connected mathematics is an excellent curriculum
During my first year at teaching at Shuksan Middle School, I had a class of 8th graders for math and at that time we taught grade 8 math with the Connected Mathematics Project (CMP) curriculum. I have nothing by the highest regard for the curriculum's goals and methods. Students are asked to make predictions about mathematical situations, to run experiments, and then to formalize the results before generalizing them to other situations. Your children will enter 6th grade and will enter into the CMP program, and I feel they are fortunate to have that opportunity. The 7th grade also uses CMP, but 8th grade no longer does -- the district having moved to the High School Algebra text for all 8th graders.


Self-pacing allows for differentiation
The CMP model lends itself well to self-pacing. From what I see on the website for 6th grade math at FMS [link], they also are self-pacing it to allow students more time to fully explore and develop skills and processes.

We have to be in the right math class for AP calculus!?
When you and I went through middle school, Algebra was the advanced course for 8th graders. Many of us still found a way to take AP Calculus. There is summer school, there's running start, there's summer at WCC, there are online courses, there are SO MANY more ways now-a-days to get there. In my opinion, you should not let any thought of AP Calculus sway your decision about what is best for your child.

The real concern is the tracking
In my opinion, the only parents who should be concerned about their child's 6th grade math placement are parents of kids who already know those topics backwards and forwards. But what this hyper-level of tracking even into the 6th grade does is affect class composition of science and elective courses. That is the real concern you may want to focus on. Rather than focussing your conversations with Fairhaven on how to accelerate your child in math, talk with them about creating opportunities for ALL kids to be in cohorts of students who are committed and conscientious.

6th Grade Math matriculation information...

Well, it's not a lot of information, but it is a little! I emailed Fairhaven Middle School about their sixth grade math placement process and this is the information I received.

There [are] criteria in place that identify incoming students for appropriate math placement. However, after tracking these students over the past few years and gathering other data, we are working on adjusting the criteria since we had some students not successful this year that had been placed in an advanced class from last year’s criteria. 

 [A teacher] will look next week [week of 4/18/2011] at the data from the students who were placed in an advanced class this year to determine a plan to change the criteria. The Middle School Principals, Jim Facciano, and four math teachers will meet with me next Friday to set the new criteria based on [said teacher's] findings from the data. We will then send out that new criteria on Monday, April 25^th, to the Elementary Principals, Counselors, Registrars and parents. [Mr. MacNevin will post it here when he gets it] 

If you have any other questions from parents, feel free to send them our way. We have orientation all this week for students and will include some of the adjusted math criteria in the parent orientations.

Welcome to 6^th grade!