DODGEN MIDDLE SCHOOL

Syllabus 1st Nine Weeks

Course Title: 8th Grade: CCGPS Advanced Math 8 Email:

Teacher: Sheri Dennard Weblog: http://dodgenms.typepad.com/ms_dennard

Topics of Study: Georgia Performance Standards may be

Transformations, Congruence & Similarity accessed through PICASSO.

Exponents http://picasso.cobbk12.org.

Resources:

Textbook is available online. More information will be sent home when it becomes available.

Advanced Content: The curriculum and instructional strategies for this course are differentiated in content, pacing, process skills emphasis, and expectation of student outcomes from the typical 8th grade math course. Curriculum content has been designed for mastery and extension of state and district content standards and the Common Core Literacy Standards. The course is appropriate for students who have high achievement and interest in math. The district has established guidelines that identify students who will be successful with the advanced curriculum offered in math. Students are placed in this class according to specified indicators of demonstrated exceptional ability and motivation. Students must meet the continuation criteria of 80% to remain in the class.

Standards for Mathematical Practice Mathematically Proficient Students can………

1. Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them

-plan a solution pathway and adjust as needed as they work through the problem

-persevere (“First, I drew a diagram, and it didn’t help, so I tried to make a table. That worked much better because I found a pattern.”)

-explain thinking through equations, verbal descriptions, tables, graphs, diagrams and search for trends in data

2. Reason abstractly and quantitatively

-generalize based on what they observe

-“I know that rectangles are parallelograms with four right angles ….so that means this square must be a rectangle because . . .”

3. Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others

-make conjectures with support and reason through the use of objects, drawings, diagrams and actions

4. Model with mathematics

-put mathematics in the context of real world situations and identify those relationships

5. Use appropriate tools strategically

-use familiar, grade appropriate tools and know when they can be helpful

-recognize both the strengths and limitations of the tool being used

6. Attend to precision

-communicate precisely to others

-calculate accurately and efficiently, and show flexibility with strategies

7. Look for and make use of structure

-look closely at patterns and structure

-identify and understand the make-up and inclusion of number (commutative and distributive properties)

8. Look for and express regularity in repeating reasoning

-continually evaluate the reasonableness of intermediate results (“I notice when I divide 4 by 11, I get 0.36, then I keep dividing the same numbers over and over.”)

Grading Policy: Transformations, Congruence, & Similarity…40% Exponents…55% CRCT Review….5%

Work turned in late, other than for an excused absence, will not receive full credit. If a student is absent, he/she has one day for each day of absence to make up the work. (For example, a student absent 2 days would have 2 days to make up the work.) When an absence occurs, it is the student’s responsibility to check the classroom assignment notebook or the teacher’s blog to see what was missed. *All homework will be due at the beginning of the period. Late work will be accepted for partial credit after the due date.

Missed tests and quizzes should be made up ASAP by arranging a time before school if possible. Excessive tardiness could negatively impact your grade.

Extra help: I offer a Thursday morning help session from 8:15 to 8:45 a.m. See my blog for more information.

Supplies:

* Binder * Paper (notebook and graph) *Red Pen

* Pencils * Highlighter

Expectations: Be respectful Be honest Be on time Ask questions!!!