QN: Procedures

~ Leave work out on desk when done
~ What communicating is (during a test)
~ What cheating is
~ Copy 1 problem at a time
~ Don't number ahead of time
~ 2 columns down on paper
~ Front of paper
~ Respecting materials
~ Fire drill
~ Tutoring & other rooms
~ Calculator use
~ Calculator respect

QN: Procedures

More things to teach next year:

How to read a clock
Keeping your hands to yourself
How to tear paper out of a notebook without leaving trash on the floor
What is recyclable and what isn't (i.e. gum)
How to behave during a fire drill
What a pencil is (erasable pen is not a pencil)
What you shouldn't throw in a classroom (everything)
Who you shouldn't hit during class (everyone)

HOW DO YOU MAKE THEM LISTEN?????

AIMS testing in the morning.

4 - yes, FOUR - fire drills in the afternoon.

No student with an attention span of more than 5 seconds.

What do you do???????????

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QN: Scientific Notation

I haven't written on this blog in months, but then, I haven't done a LOT of things in months!

I'm thinking that I can use this as a place to store "Quick Notes", because I have tons of ideas right after a lesson but little time to put them into effect. So, for myself next year, here are ideas about teaching scientific notation:

(Note: This is both a HOW (process) and WHY (concept) lesson.

Scaffolding: I'm thinking that a worksheet with several examples of the most basic things will start things off right.

Identifying Decimal:

Notes: A decimal point on a whole number is _______ (at the end).

Practice:

A section full of numbers (both whole and with decimals) and then kids have to identify where the decimal is by circling it. That way ALL the kids are forced to see that whole numbers have an "invisible decimal" at the end. So it could be examples like 600 and 45.6 and 0.04 and they would have to change 600 to 600. and then circle the decimal.

Identifying Scientific Notation:

Notes: Scientific Notation has a single 1-9 in front of the decimal, and then a "times ten to the ____" at the end.

Practice:

Have a bunch of numbers in exponential form (plus some others) and have then identify which ones are already in scientific notation. Put MANY examples with 0 at the beginning. For example: 6.5x10^2, 87x10^3, 0.5x10^2 (and only the first one has a single 1-9 before the decimal).

Have them circle all the numbers in correct scientific notation, and point out that 0.anything is NOT correct. Also include examples of 10^0

Only AFTER that, start practice on changing scientific notation to decimals. Positive = bigger and negative = smaller was, thankfully, easy for them to grasp and I didn't see many kids this year resisting thinking and saying "I've already memorized LEFT and RIGHT rules!".

Then, use the do-and-undo method. Maybe first a short activity about things like "what's another way of saying 3 feet forward? 3 feet forward and 1 foot forward and 1 foot backwards."