11/29/11

Yesterday when I got to school I was unable to give the DA math test.  I did not have the correct copies.  I improvised and we moved on with our studies in math and social studies.  That being said, the social studies midterm will now be on Thursday instead of Friday.

In math yesterday, we reviewed the order of operations: PEMDAS (parenthesis, exponents, multiplication/division (left to right), and addition/subtraction (left to right)  We did a long example on the board that was more in depth than the ones that they were required to do for homework.   I showed them how I wanted them to show their work and that they needed to show each individual step of the process.  For example:
8 x 5 + (6^2 - 8 (1 x 1)) -4 =
8 x 5 + (6^2 - 8 x 1) - 4 =
8 x 5 + (36 - 8 x 1) - 4 =
8 x 5 + ( 36 - 8) - 4 =
8 x 5 + 28 - 4 =
40 + 28 - 4 =
68 - 4 =
64
If they do it in this manner it will prevent them from making silly  mistakes.

In math today and tomorrow, we will be working on evaluating an expression when given the value of the variable and writing an expression based on word problems.  For example:
X + 4 when X = 6; I would plug 6 in for X and solve:  6 + 4 = 10  So 10 would be my answer.
The other would be something like:  Johnny went to the store and bought some apples.  Then he bought 6 oranges.  If he bought 15 pieces of fruit, how many apples did Johnny buy?
They would have to come up with the expression X + 6 = 15

In social studies yesterday, we reviewed what Rome and Greece contributed to our system of government.  We learned that Athens was the birthplace of democracy.  We also learned that Rome had a democracy that was a little bit different.  It also included separation of powers, which meant they had more than one branch of government.  We know that the forum was the most important place in Rome.  It was where they had money changers, who exchanged currency, banks, sporting events, trials, basically anything that was important was done at the forum.  We also read about the Peloponnesian war, which was started because Sparta and other city-states in the Peloponnese were afraid that Athens was gaining too much power.  It ended when Athens was defeated.

We will continue to review some important concepts today as well.