3/20/12

4 more days until Spring Break!!!  I am sure that everyone is very excited.

This week in math, we are working with volume and surface area.  These are standards that most likely will not be seen on FCAT, but are things we need to go over before seventh grade.  Yesterday, the kids learned how to calculate the volume of triangular prisms.  The lesson went well and everyone seemed to catch on quickly.  In order to calculate the volume of a prism, you find the area of the base, not matter what shape it is.  In this case, they were triangles, so you would do the base times the height, times 1/2 or divided by two.  Then you multiply that area times the distance between the two bases, or the height of the prism.  We did a few examples in class, and then they had about 10 minutes to work on their homework.

Today in math, we are going to be talking about how to find the volume of a pyramid.  It is very similar to that of a prism, but after you multiply the area of the base with the height of the pyramid, you must divide your answer by 3.

In social studies, I introduced a little bit about a project we are going to be working on in social studies.  This project will not be due until after FCAT and should mostly be done in class.  Students will be picking groups no bigger than 4 people.  They will be choosing an ancient culture that they want to know more about.  They are going to teach the class about their ancient culture.  The only requirement that I have is that they make some sort of assessment to assess whether or not the kids learned anything from their presentation.  We are going to be making a rubric together as a class on the expectations of this project.  There will be more information to come.