Laura Jeffrey Academy SMATH

Hello LJA Families,

Welcome to Quarter 4 Smath! This quarter we are focusing on water, the water cycle, weather, climate change, patterns, variables, data analysis, and probability! The weekly unit map for the quarter will be posted soon…

Some new things - Parents, we have created a new “Learning Target Tracking Sheet” which your daughter will complete daily for the week. This paper should stay in her Smath binder or one of the notebooks. At the top of the LTTS are listed the two Essential Questions for the unit. Below, are the two learning targets we are focusing on at the time. Daily, the students will record learning targets from class under the larger target they support. We thought this would be a good way to keep parents informed about what we are learning each day/week. Students will also record grades from assessed items on theses sheets, so they know what they should re-work and they know how close they are to “Secure” for any given target at any time.

I don’t know if the “homework” tab on this site sends subscribers an update when it is modified, so please check back if there are questions about homework.

As always, please contact Ms. Allison allisons@laurajeffreyacademy.org or Ms. Lizzie lizzief@laurajeffreyacademy.org if you have any questions.

We are looking forward to a great quarter!

This week, the girls have completed the MCA II Mathematics test! Monday and Tuesday students completed all four sections of the test. In Science, students are working on creating a “resume” for an element from the Periodic Table. The final product is due May 1st. Students will have work time in class, but may need to complete some parts at home. Math is progressing further into 3D shapes.

This week, students are continuing an exploration of chemistry and learning about compounds. A review of atoms, elements, and molecules will be followed by learning how we can combine them and create different compounds. We have also entered an exploration of area and perimeter. This will lead us into 3D shapes including surface area of these shapes, and the nets the shapes create when laid out flat. Check the Homework tab at the top of the page for daily homework updates!!

Students will be learning about 2D and 3D shapes, including how to classify shapes, volume and surface area of shapes, and angles. Smath will also include probability and data analysis such as graphing, mean, median, and range, and ratios. Students will be learning about mass, density, and volume as well as, solubility, boiling point and melting point of substances. Students will explore the Periodic Table of the Elements and will learn about the unique properties of elements. Formative assessments this quarter include quizzes, notebook entries, and group work. Summative assessments this quarter include a project on the Periodic Table of the Elements, a project on shapes, and a demonstration of learning through the creation of boats and graphing of experiment results.

Due to a scheduling conflict with the gym, Family Math Night has been re-scheduled for Tuesday, February 3rd from 6-8pm. Pizza will be served. Please RSVP to Ms. Allison by email allisons@laurajeffreyacademy.org with your daughter’s name and the total number of family members attending. We want to ensure enough pizza for all. It will be a fun night with activities for all.

Come join us for Family Math Night on Monday, February 2nd from 6:00 - 8:00! Bring your daughter and experience math with her. We will have stations demonstrating different activities like we do in Smath, as well as some activities that are fun to do at home with the family. Pizza will be served, families will experience a lesson like the ones the students do in CMP2, and there will be a question and answer time. An RSVP will be in the newsletter this week, please return so we can ensure pizza for everyone!

This week, girls are building and testing their go-carts. The goal is to create a self-propelled car that will travel at least one meter. This is a great application of the Engineering Design Loop, as the girls are building their own designs and will be gathering data in tests of their design to guide the re-design of the carts. Each student is also keeping a budget ledger for this project. They are adding, subtracting, and multiplying decimals in order to keep accurate records. As students begin to test the carts, they will be measuring the progress of the cart to the goal distance the team set. Throughout the go-cart experience the students are learning about balanced and unbalanced forces, simple machines, friction, force, motion, and form vs. function of design.

This week in Smath class takes the girls on a journey exploring black box models and angles in shapes. A black box is a system in which structure and behavior are not completely understood. Students explore the observable behaviors of the black box system and must make conjectures regarding the inner workings. A common black box system is a TV. We plug it in, watch the images, and hear the sounds, but we cannot observe the inner workings. Students are learning the relationships between angles in shapes and discovering patterns between the number of sides in a shape and the interior angles. Please continue to send in toys that we can use for reverse engineering. We only have a few samples.

Homework for today is to complete Problem 1.1 (A) in the Shapes and Designs book. Students should find as many different groups of polygons. Polygons should be grouped by the number of sides and angles, however, students should also exend themselves to find other properties to group shapes.

For the next week we are collecting toys with simple mechanisms, like the toys that come in kids meals. The toys will be taken apart and possibly destroyed. Our goal is for each student to bring in at least 2 different toys. This way we are likely to have a variety of mechanisms to explore. Baby toys that are no longer in use are another great find for simple mechanisms. In the upcoming weeks, the girls will be working on a reverse engineering project where they will observe and disassemble the toys to learn how they work. The best toys have simple mechanisms (wind-up toys, cars that are self-propelled, etc…). Please no electronic toys. Please bring the toys to Ms. Allison or Ms. Lizzie in the SMATH room. If you have any questions, please call 651-414-6000 x 106 or email allisons@laurajeffreyacademy.org or lizzief@laurajeffreyacademy.org