Mr. F's Geometry Blog 2007-2008

Events for Week 5

Jonathan Fjelstrom — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 19:28:50 +0000

Monday (4):

Check #11

Return BMs

BM Review sheet (#25-32)

First Block (5/6): [Note: CAHSEE Begins]

Return Tests

Demo Moodle forums again

HW: Moodle virtual lounge and Choice

Moodle chapter 8 Rev Test opens

Moodle Quiz 9.6 Opens

Second Block (7/8):

9.6 Cont. Word Problems

Geo_9.6_Notes.key

Application Problems
Me Vs. You?

HW: #12 Trig Test Prep (skip 5, 9) Geo_TrigTestPrep.pdf

Check #12 and warm up on BM 29, 32

Law of Sines

Rule
Examples
BM 33

HW: #13 Law of Sines WS

For next week, grade report due Thurs/Fri block.

Events for Week 4

Jonathan Fjelstrom — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 04:36:59 +0000

Monday (28):

Review and take BM 25-27, 32

First Block (29/30): Book Day

New Seats

9.5 Trig Ratios

Ratio (sine, cosine, tangent)
Solving
BM 29
Finding the angle (inverse)

HW: #10 page 562 #11-39 (o), 40-42 (all)

Second Block (31/1): Book Day

9.6 Solving a Right Triangle

inverses
finding all 6 parts

HW: #11 page 570 #11-21 (odd), 22-33 (odd), 38

For Monday: BM 25-27 Retakes and BM 29 and 32

Review of Pythagorean Theorem

Jonathan Fjelstrom — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 17:51:31 +0000

In Class: #6 Similarity Review Geo_Similar_WS.pdf

9.2 Pythagorean Theorem Review

Copy examples 1-3 from text

HW: #7 page 538 #7-18 (all), 25-30 (all), 34

Another change in plans

Jonathan Fjelstrom — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 17:46:47 +0000

Hello everyone. You may notice that those last 2 posts do not have questions. It was my goal with this semester as with last semester to keep on top of posting our class events and getting feedback from you. I have enjoyed reading all 1400 comments so far this year. At this pace, we would hit over 3000 comments, with just 3 classes! Last year there was 3300 comments with 5 classes. This is truly amazing. I think this blog had a lot to do with how well we did as a class on the fall final. Not only that, but due to the increased traffic to the website, I’m now hit #1 on Google!

However, I am juggling too many things right now. At school I’m trying to update blogs, add moodle activities, grading papers, grading benchmarks, making lesson plans, and all the other stuff associated with being a teacher. At home I am trying to keep up with my 2 sons’ activities, write my Master’s Thesis on Educational Technology (50+ pages of writing and research), as well as prepare our home for a new baby due to arrive in June. I can’t keep up with it all.

So I have decided to use the blog only for listing HW and the day’s activities. But don’t worry, we will still have our posting for points! I will be using the forums on Moodle to create discussion on our current topics of study. This has benefits that the blog does not. For one, you can see your “grade” for the comment. This will then give you an opportunity to fix/add to it. It is also more of a discussion, so dialog can go back and forth if needed. It will be easier for me to track so I won’t have 110 emails I have to read and record. Plus with the practice benchmarks on Moodle, a calendar for upcoming dates, and all the other features, it just makes sense.

So thank you all for the comments. Happy Moodling!

Similar Solids

Jonathan Fjelstrom — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 17:40:28 +0000

So what happens to a solid’s perimeter, area, and volume if you double the edge length? That’s what we looked at today. We started class going over HW #4 review on the board. We then did a quick investigation followed by some examples of BM 26. Here are the notes and the HW is #5 Similar Solids WS.

BM 25-27 Review

Jonathan Fjelstrom — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 17:36:44 +0000

First off, we check #3 from over the weekend and went over it. The we took our first HW Quiz (#1). After that, we just continued to review for BM 25-27 on similar triangles.

Homework: BM 25-28 Review (BM 28 is optional right now). Also, bring a calculator if you have one.

8.4-8.5 Similar Triangles

Jonathan Fjelstrom — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 23:01:08 +0000

Now the benchmark problems!

Today we looked at similar triangles. The main way to prove triangles are similar, some additional ways to prove they are similar, and some examples of the upcoming benchmarks (BM 25, 27, and 28). Notice there are a lot of “proving” triangles are similar? Don’t let that get you down, it’s our only “proof” benchmark.

The assignment for today is #3 483 #9-27 (odd), 39-47 (odd), 50-53, 55, 62-65. We will continue with these sections next week.

Coming Up: HW Quiz on Monday, 1/14

Posting for Points Question:

What are the various ways to prove triangles are similar?

8.3 Similar Polygons

Jonathan Fjelstrom — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 22:54:28 +0000

Armed with our knowledge of proportions we started looking at similar polygons, which will lead us to similar triangles (which are our benchmarks for this unit). Like congruency, similarity uses corresponding parts to match up, so when we write a similarity statement the order matters. Our assignment today is #2 page 476 #9, 15-23 (all), 29-41 (odd), 44, 59-67 (odd).

Coming Up: Book Day tomorrow and HW Quiz #1 on Monday, 1/14

Posting for Points Question:

Write a similarity statement and list the congruent and proportional parts.

Example: Triangle ABC ~ Triangle PQR, so angle A = angle P, angle B = angle Q, angle C = angle R, and also AB/PQ = BC/QR = AC/PR.

Here we go again!

Jonathan Fjelstrom — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 22:54:10 +0000

Welcome back to all of you! I hope you had a happy holidays. While I didn’t get an iPhone for Christmas, I did get a lot of projects accomplished around the house and really enjoyed the time with my family.

After a few announcements and information about some policy updates, we jumped right into the curriculum. Today we started looking at similarity. In order to understand similarity, we need to understand proportions. After a few examples of setting up proportions, we got our assignment: #1 page 461 #11-47 (odd).

Coming up: Book Day tomorrow and our first HW Quiz on Monday, 1/14

Posting for Points Question:

What is a proportion? How do you solve a proportion? Give an example.

Potential Grades

Jonathan Fjelstrom — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 23:20:36 +0000

While I still have a few misc. assignments to record (and you have a few benchmarks to retake!), I have put a few grade reports up so you can see how the final can affect your grade.

Best Case Final (if you were to get 100% on the final)

Worst Case Final (if you were to get a 0%)

Practice Final (your practice final grade as your actual final).