Since Sam and I have only worked together in Physics once, I am still reviewing some basic concepts necessary in Physics 1. Today, we talked about a scalar versus a vector, and finding the magnitude and direction of a vector given its components (this required some review of some basic trig topics).

I am reviewing some topics that Sam may have not seen in a while that are important for other math courses. Today we started working on linear equations. I introduced the 3 main forms of linear equations, the slope formula and graphing lines using slope intercept form and using intercepts.

Sam read "Lord of the Flies" critically to analyze the interactions between individuals, events, and ideas in the text. She completed a comprehension activity.

Sam was working on a question regarding a book she is reading.

Today, Sam took "Greetings" test(multiple choice). Then Sam took a Vocabulary quiz (Dictionary). I reviewed her quiz and she wrote wrong spell words three times each. Sam and I highlighted new vocabulary from the dictionary. We started a new unit "Bienvenidos a Miami" (pages 26-31). Then, Sam read aloud "Las Islas Galapagos" Gran zoologico del mundo (Wrap and cool down activity- Part 1). She is improving her reading skills.

I am going over some basic concepts in physics to get an idea of what she knows. We are going over unit conversions.

I explained the process of dividing and simplifying radical expressions to Samantha. I emphasized that no radical should be found in the denominator of the answer. I demonstrated two procedures to rationalize denominators of fractions and we did several problems where this was required. There was no assignment.

I outlined on the whiteboard certain express powers of Congress ,and we discussed how the "elastic clause" authorized Congress to enact statutes related to or "necessary and proper" to implement the express powers. We further discussed the tensions between the states and the federal government due to the expansion of federal powers under the "elastic clause". Specific topics and statutes discussed were Social Security laws, mail fraud, and the Affordable Care Act. I explained how small businesses challenged the Affordable Care Act arguing that the commerce clause and the elastic clause did not empower Congress to enact the law and how ultimately the US Supreme Court upheld the law because Justice Roberts found the law to be ,in effect, a lawful tax. Sam offered interesting comments on the topics and participated in class discussion. For homework, we have a test/quiz on Monday on the Bill of Rights and reading from the text on the powers of Congress as discussed in class today.

Sam attended the holiday party during this time.

I showed Samantha how to break down expressions in radicals into factors that could be taken out of the radical expressions. We worked with square and cube roots. We then did some multiplication of radical expressions followed by simplification through factoring and extracting roots. There was no assignment.