Welcome! You may complete the parent survey if you wish to tell me a little more about your child.

7th and 8th Grade Math Teacher Back To School Night 2016 Mrs. Jennifer Kuwahara 7th and 8th Grade Math Teacher “24” Math Club Advisor

B.A. in Psychology and English Literature M.S. in Education P.A. Teacher Certification, Math 7-12

Contact Information Best way to contact me is through email: jkuwahara@wssd.org Phone number: 610-892-3470 ext. 7114

Remind I will be using this text-based app to communicate to the whole class by sending reminders about upcoming test, quizzes or assignments Visit my webpage for directions on how to sign up (can use text or email)

On Line Resources: my.hrw.com Math 7 Username: jdevlin109 Password: a4a9u Math 8 Enriched Math 8 Username: filir Password: x5j4r

Teacher Web Page Daily homework assignments (secondary resource) Required Materials Information about the Math curriculum Department Re-Test Procedures Miscellaneous Class Notes & Answers (includes PDF’s of worksheets your child may be missing).

Classroom Expectations Be respectful of your classmates and your teacher Raise your hand when you want to speak Contribute to class discussion positively Be an active participant in the classroom NO cell phones or headphones

Classroom Supplies 3 Ring Binder (1.5”-2”) Spiral notebook and folder Loose leaf and Graph Paper (always good to have) Covered Textbook Pencil Pouch that includes pencils, erasers, calculator, ruler, and colored pencils, pens, or highlighters

Required Calculators For 7th grade Math: For 8th grade Math: TI-30XIIS TI-83Plus or TI-84 Please consider donating Dry Erase Markers for your student’s use! We use individual white boards that help enhance student learning.

Classroom Routine Write HW in agenda book Warm Up Check HW from previous night (group/partner review) Begin Guided Instruction/Group Activity Independent Practice Begin Homework (if time)

SHMS Math Dept. Grading Policy Tests: 40% Quizzes: 30% (both announced and unannounced) Homework: 15% Homework is given typically Monday- Thursday night. Homework is checked daily. Homework questions will be addressed in class if students had a problem with their assignment. Other: 15% (warm-ups, graded HW, performance tasks, Enrichment Packets)

Math 7 Challenge by Choice – black diamond, blue and green leveled assessments No penalty for challenging yourself  - can always take a re- quiz or re-test at appropriate level Students who would like to be considered for Enriched Math 8 should be taking black diamond assessments and completing Enrichment Packets.

Enriched Math 8 Challenge *Challenge problems are assigned from the text book and/or Extra Practice *Identified and designed by the publisher to be more difficult *included in daily homework assignments Enrichment *Enrichment activities are extensions of content which require deeper levels of thinking and problem solving *Identified and designed by the publisher to be more difficult *Enrichment packets are assigned with each Chapter

Assignments Homework given most days Monday-Thursday. Daily homework assignments are worth 2 points each and are checked daily. The week’s HW will be graded out of 8 points. Homework is posted on the side board daily. Warm Ups are collected at the end of each week. Graded HW assignments will be assigned throughout the marking period – these are graded based on accuracy. Quizzes are given throughout a chapter (2-3 days prior notice). Chapter Tests are given at the end of each Chapter. (at least 1 week notice).

Parent Placement Letters/ Department Placement Criteria We are in the final stages of finalizing the Parent Placement Letters and Department Placement Criteria documents. You can expect them by the end of the week.

Test Corrections Test corrections must be analyzed according to an error analysis sheet. Corrections are worth 2 percentage points. Any student who scores below a 75% on a Chapter Test will have the opportunity to take a re-test (within 1 week), on which they can earn a maximum score of 75%.

Need Help? We are available for help after school on Mondays, Thursdays, and every other Tuesday. High School tutors will be available after school on Mondays and Thursdays beginning the week of 10/2. Peer tutors are also available after school

Pennsylvania State Standards Focus – Move away from “mile wide, inch deep” curricula; Narrow scope of content Coherence – Build on solid conceptual understanding; Think across grades & link to major topics within grade Rigor – Conceptual understanding; Procedural skills & fluency; Problem solving

Mathematical Practices Make sense of problems & persevere in solving them Reason abstractly & quantitatively Construct viable arguments & critique the reasoning of others Model with mathematics Use appropriate tools strategically Attend to precision Look for & make use of structure Look for & express regularity in repeated reasoning

SHMS Math Mission Statement The mission of the SHMS mathematics program is to: Inspire intellectual curiosity and aesthetic appreciation of mathematics as a body of knowledge Promote critical thinking and problem solving skills to solve real world problems Develop computational fluency and understanding of mathematical algorithms in order to apply known facts to unknown situations Encourage students to be active participants in a life-long learning process as independent thinkers

Problem Solving in Math in Focus

Looking forward to a wonderful year!! Thank you for coming!! Enjoy your evening! Looking forward to a wonderful year!!