Today PJ and I worked on a One step equation riddle activity. PJ worked using inverse operations to solve for the missing variable. Each problem had a letter attached to it. After each equation he solved, he then put the corresponding letter on the lines. The riddle asked, "Where can you always find gold?" Eventually, PJ found the answer was "In the dictionary".
Today Andrew and I continued working on quadrilaterals. Andrew is still getting some of the characteristics confused. By showing him different shapes and having him articulate the shape name and WHY has been helpful. He is starting to be able to identify trapezoids. He already is familiar with square and rectangle. But he now has to learn the specific characteristics. Like all squares are rectangles but not all rectangles are squares. He needs to be able to articulate that a trapezoid has one set of parallel sides but a parallelogram has two sets of parallel sides. With more exposure he will get more fluent.
Today Carson and I worked on the application of the Pythagorean Theorem. We started with a visual of a man standing 7 ft away from a tree. It gave us the distance from the man's eyes to the top of the tree. We had to determine how tall the man was and how tall the tree was by doing the Pythagorean theorem twice. Carson found it difficult at first to set up the problem. Once I gave him hints on how to approach it, he got on the right track and was able to solve for the missing values. While working, we ended up with a Pythagorean Triple. This is a concept that comes up in ACT/SAT prep, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to show it to him now.
Ben had a tough time getting started today. He came late and asked if he could have a few minutes to get ready. I said sure. He worked on Legos while he played a video. Then I asked him to do some math with me. He complained he couldn't understand my writing. I told Ben he needs to be pushed out of his comfort zone in order to grow - we can't stay in the same box we're in every day or we will never develop. He got upset with me and said it's his stage of development and he needs to have math class at a later time in the day so he can focus. We did ONE problem today in our 45 minute period. He said the problems were too messy and he couldn't see. So I erased them. Then he said he didn't know how to multiply -2*1. I kept pressing him to try but it was like pulling teeth. I told him tomorrow we have the class period before lunch and I expect him to be in a better state of mind so we can have some productivity.
