I began by reviewing Sasha's homework folder (which was from last week). I re-tested her on her spelling words; I was pleased that she retained the knowledge, missing only one word. She read the oral reading fluency passage with good fluency and comprehension. Next, Sasha read a Robert Frost poem, "Fireflies in the Garden." The poem is rich with figurative language, comparing fireflies to stars while contrasting their transience. We discussed literary vocabulary such as main idea, compare/constrast, and analogy. Sasha answered the comprehension questions with confidence. To conclude, Sasha read a passage from RazKids.com, "Owls Overhead." She really enjoys nonfiction texts about animals and is both animated and curious. She took the associated quiz and earned 150 points for her efforts.

JPaul was able to access his Unit 8 Daily videos but the Topic Questions will not be accessible until Ms. Megan has AP Coordinator access. Instead, we worked on practice tests. I found online the 2023 and 2023 Free Response Questions and printed out the scoring guidelines for each question. I also found a multiple choice test with answers so JPaul can check them. This will be great review content for JPaul.

PJ had a great class today. We worked in the textbook on comparing quanities using ratios and fractions. We looked at different data sets and answered what the ratios are when comparing two quantities. PJ was able to set up the ratios using the 3 methods we discussed yesterday. Today I let him choose which to use and he chose to practice all 3. We discussed how to reduce ratios like 9:21 by finding the GCF (in this case 3) and reducing it to 3:21. PJ mastered this content and is ready to move on.

Assisted by discussing Philip's output from his latest essay for World History class. Continuing to talk about Unit Six Epic Journeys.

Today Aiden and I discussed triangles, their side lengths, and their orientation. We began by considering a triangle with side lengths 6inches, 8inches, and 10inches. I asked Aiden to consider if there was any way to create these triangles with a different shape. Aiden understood that if two triangles with the same side lengths were created, that only it's orientation could change, but not the actual size or shape. In other words, we would be able to rotate or reflect the image so that it fit directly on top of one another. We got out straws and cut them to the given measures. We practiced rearranging the lengths to create newly shaped triangles but realized we could not. Next, the problem asked us if we could create a triangle with side lengths 4 cm, 3 cm, and 8 cm. With the straws, we could see that the tops of the 4cm and 3cm straws would not meet. In other words, if one side was 8cm, either the 4cm side or the 3cm side would have to be longer in order to touch. Aiden on his own said, "The two sides of the triangle have to be larger than the 3rd side". I said "OMG you just proved a theorem!" The next slide said exactly that. The sum of two sides of a triangle must be greater than the third side!

Carson was absent for class. The time was used to prepare materials.

Today Ben Bero was scheduled for Math MAP Testing. We had a bit of spider drama followed by some technical difficulties.
As we were about to begin the test, I reached to throw away trash and a HUMUNGOUS Spider was on the ground. I'm not THAT afraid of spiders but this was the size of a softball! I jumped, Ben sprung into superhero mode, I got Jordy, and long story short Ben saved his life and released him to the wild. During that adventure our testing paused. I tried to get Ben logged back in and while doing so, I clicked "next question" and it went to Question #2. I could not figure out a way to go back to Question #1 . I saved the test session and tried to restart it again to see if it would restart the test, but it did not. So then I deleted the session. I realized this then deleted the entire Test session! I tried to restart the test one more time but it wasn't available. We contacted Meg and she will have to recreate the session. Ben will have to be rescheduled for the test next week.

Today Andrew and I completed an activity regarding cross sections and nets of polyhedrons. The activity showed us various 3-D figures with a plane sliced through it. The questions asked us to identify what shape the cross section would make on the intersected plane. These problems were difficult yesterday, but today we started to get into a groove of being able to visualize it. We also discussed nets, which are like the unraveling of the surface area of a figure. We visualized figures from the top, front and sides, and compared the outlines. Andrew was really good at seeing it (better than I was, he could visualize it quicker!).

Today JPaul and I worked on signs of trig functions depending on which quadrant the terminal side lands in. First we recalled that sine goes with y, cosine goes with x, and tangent is y/x. JPaul asked why this is true, so we went back to previous notes, and I reviewed with him the proof involving the Pythagorean Theorem. Next, we practiced problems where the sign of a trig function was given and then it asked which possible quadrants the terminal side could land in. JPaul had to consider if the x or y values were positive/negative in those quadrants. JPaul understood the content, but was a little slower than usual with his responses. I asked him what time he went to bed last night and he said 10:04. (LOL on the specificity). Perhaps this was more challenging for him, so we will review again tomorrow to ensure he truly gets it before building on it.

Christopher wrote sentences for his spelling words. He typed on his script. I pointed out where to put punctuation and capitals.