Scale factor

I had to repost this video because it did not appear correctly in a previous post.

If the video still does not play then it is viewable here: Scale factor

The district assessment is tomorrow

Click below to see the answers to the review we did today in class.

Open publication - Free publishing - More rational

rational number examples part2

The following are additional rational number questions (the answers will be posted shortly).

Open publication - Free publishing - More rational

Rational number operations

The following video explains how to answer the questions from the study guide. a copy of the study guide is also located below the video explanation.

Open publication - Free publishing - More rational

Pythagorean theorem applied

How could you use the pythagorean theorem if you know only the value of a leg and the hypotenuse? The following video demonstrates how to do that. If you would like more information about the pythagorean theorem you may click here: Pytyhagorean theorem

Pythagorean theorem explained geometrically 2

The following video demonstrates how the pythagorean theorem is may be applied to solve a word problem.

Pythagorean theorem explained geometrically

The pythagorean theorem may be interpreted geometrically by saying that the area of the squares on the legs of the right triangle must equal the area of the square on the hypotenuse. You may see additional information and explanations of this concept by clicking here:Pythagorean theorem

Homework assignments for this year

Below you will find a tentative copy of the Homework calendar. Homework is due the next school day after it is assigned. If you know that you have an important event happening on a particular date, please make sure to plan to due your homework in advance.

Open publication - Free publishing - More math

Welcome Back

We will discuss how to put rational numbers in order as well as how to perform operations on them. A good understanding of integers is important to that goal. To that end here is a copy of the notes that we had from our discussion.

Open publication - Free publishing - More math

Upcoming changes

This site will include a few features to allow for access by web enabled phones. For example .3gp and mp4 versions of the videos on this site will be available here.

Technology Conference

These are the links that I will use for demonstration purposes:

1. wikispaces student example

2. Link to download a sample video

3. Download winff video converter

4. Archive.org

5. Feedburner

Still counting it down

I know at this point we are probably tired of hearing about the TAKS test. Nevertheless, we only have 12 more calendar days before the math TAKS test. Please continue to study and use all of the resources you have at your disposal. Tonight's homework is to analyze the following topics in the same format as you did last night:
1. coordinate graphing
2.reflections.

Questions from the math TAKS study guide

The homework last night was to do the following for Comparing Fractions,Decimals, and Percents , Estimating square roots, Scientific notation, Sequences :
1. create an example of a question that may be asked about the topic.
2. Describe how you can solve these types of questions.
3. Describe the mistakes you might make on these types of questions.
4. Describe what you could do to check your answer and avoid the mistakes you might make.

Also, the file below is a copy of the questions that were explained in the TAKS tutorial DVD that I created.

Going through the questions in the TAKS study guide (part 2)

The following is an explanation of the remaining objectives in the TAKS study guide.

Going through the questions in the TAKS study guide (part 1)

The following video demonstrates how some of the questions in objectives 1 to 3 may be answered.

Student explanation of Benchmark questions

The following video playlist shows how some of the questions from our benchmark exam were done. In problem 3, at the end of the problem she meant to say multiply straight across instead of cross multiply.

Volume problem from benchmark part 2

For some reason itunes seems to only read the first of multiple enclosure links. Therefore the purpose of this post is to allow for the second enclosure link in the playlist below to be read by itunes.

More on volume

This post describes how to solve the volume question on our benchmark test. There are two videos in this playlist. The first video is a student explanation and the second is the teacher explanation of the same problem.

Surface area information

Although you can find out surface area by adding the areas of each face, we also may need to use a formula. The formula chart gives us various formulas we may use and the pdf below describes how we may use those formulas.

Also, the homework tonight is to complete the mastering the TAKS book pg.33 #1-5.

Friday's test on surface area

You may find a copy of the test explained in the videos below here or in the box.net folder on the lower right of the screen. The video below contains student and teacher explanations of how to obtain the correct answer for the test questions. Also, do not forget that you should do test corrections. They are due tomorrow. If you need another copy of the test correction form you may find it in the box.net folder on the lower right part of the screen.

There are several videos in the video playlist below. The following picture demonstrates how to navigate the videos in this playlist.

Counting down to TAKS

Due to some technical issues I was not able to post any new blog entries for a while. However, during that I time I was able to put some of the things that we have done and will do in a movie. The movie consists of two discs. The second disc contains objective 4 through 6 from the TAKS test. The questions explained come from here. You may also view more information about the TAKS test here. To burn a copy of the second DVD disc download the file and use programs such as nero or roxio creator and a blank DVD disc to make a DVD that can play in your DVD player.

Reviewing Transformations

I was in a bit of a hurry so I made a mistake in the last video. I called the axes by the wrong name. The x axis is horizontal (left to right) and the y axis is vertical( up and down).

Also, do not forget that you have a test tomorrow.

Objective 3 numbers 26 through 28

The homework tonight is mastering the TAKS pg. 27 8.6B numbers 1 through 3.

TAKS objective 3 numbers 22 through 25

This objective has some geometry concepts. It is important that we remember what each of the transformations are. Dilations represent an enlargement or reduction by a scale factor. Translations (slides) are when a figure is moved vertically and horizontally. A Rotation represents a turn.

The homework for tonight is the mastering the TAKS book pg. 26 8.6A numbers 1 through 4.

If you want to learn more about scale factor please click on this link.

More informations about transformations

Transformations involve a change in size or position of an object. This is similar to how the robots in the movie Transformers change their shape or transform. Transformations may be Translations (slides), Dilations (enlargements or reductions using a scale factor) or reflections( flips).



(More to come later)



The homework for tonight is from the mastering the TAKS book, pg. 20 8.3B numbers 1 through 6.

Objective 2- Patterns , relationships, and algebraic reasoning

WE should know that proportional relationship may be represented with a table, and that often we may be able to use a ratio table to solve these situations.
The homework tonight is to complete the mastering the TAKS page 16 8.2A numbers 1 through 5.

(More to come later)

Determining if your answer is reasonable

To determine if your answer is reasonable it may be appropriate to estimate your answer.


The homework tonight is to work in the mastering the TAKS book pg. 17 8.2C numbers 1 through 3.

Class Projects

The video in this post's enclosure link did not work well in iTunes, so I have reattached it to this posts enclosure link. Also, the following link contains some of the projects that were returned last semester .

More on TAKS objective 1

Please continue to study. Do not forget to work on your study island assignment.
Your Homework tonight is to complete pg. 14 8.1C numbers 1-4.

The following video explains the homework problems from last night.

TAKS practice objective 1

The homework for tonight is from the Mastering the TAKS grade 8 book pg. 13 8.1B numbers 1-4.