October in Mrs. Vitovitch’s Classes
 

September passed so quickly for all of my classes as we spent a lot of time learning classroom etiquette, procedures and getting to know one another.

 

The back wall of room 203 features a poster of the class pledge:
“In this classroom, we are respectful; we are responsible; we are ready; we are safe. We show love for self, each other and God.”

The front wall of the room features a “word wall” of math vocabulary terms. You should see your child studying flash cards as he or she reviews for tests! Math has a language all its own, and it is my goal to make my students fluent in it!

Almost every day my students can hear me call out my slogan, “Show me the math!”, and they all know that it means
to write out their work on each problem (except for those verbal mental math drills).

Likewise, all of my students should know my homework policy by heart:
Assigned homework must be COMPLETE and ON TIME to receive credit!

“Complete” means every problem MUST BE TRIED!
“On time” is necessary as we review the homework each day, and it is completed and corrected before being placed in a student’s math portfolio for later reference. Homework left at home on the kitchen table, work done on discarded scrap paper, or ignorance (“That was the homework?!”) results in 0 homework points for the day.
Homework is announced during class, written on the side board and
posted on the web site each day.

A written grading policy was sent home after Back to School night with all students, and they were asked to show it to parents.

The two 6th grade math classes are following the same curriculum, but at different paces.  After the initial review of the Order of Operations, we had moved on to Place Value, Exponents and Estimation.  We’ve used a variety of in-class practice techniques, including independent work, partnered work and whole-class using white boards or random volunteers.  In addition to the lessons presented in Chapter 1, we have been performing a “spiral review” of previously-learned topics.  We practice problem solving strategies using “Problems of the Day”, and we practice standardized test taking with sample test problems.

The 7th grade math class began the school year by jumping into Estimation and Decimal Operations.  Visual and audible reminders to “line up the buttons” (the decimal points) and to “fill in the egg carton” (with place holder 0s) help the students to negotiate the sometimes confusing operations with decimals, including addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. We’ve named, defined and applied the various Properties of Addition and Multiplication.

Initial quiz grades on decimal operations were disappointing to most students.  So after a renewed effort on their parts, the students took a second quiz and achieved higher levels of proficiency.  (Ask your student this question: “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?”  You should hear the answer: “Practice.  Practice.  Practice.”)  We’ve just begun working with Absolute Value and Signed Integer Operations!

My 7W religion students are given many opportunities to reflect upon the Gospels and Jesus.  While they only recently started writing the weekly Gospel Reflections required for Confirmation, they have indeed been writing reflective statements.  I was quite impressed with the Admiration essays they wrote for me in September about people who have influenced them in a positive way.  I look forward to equally thoughtful efforts this month on Family Faith Traditions and more.

Office Hours and Contact Information:  I will stay after school on Tuesdays until 3:00 to help students with math or religion.   Kindly let me know ahead of time so that I can plan accordingly.