Hello Math Teachers and Learners. Spring has sprung! In fact, many schools in New York are on Spring Break this week, including our own of Red Hook. At eMATHinstruction we’ve been working away on materials for both our Common Core High School courses and our Next Generation Middle School courses. Of course, we’ve also published some new Add-Ons, so let’s discuss those first.
In Common Core Algebra I Add-Ons this month we have a Form C Assessment and an extra practice lesson. First, we bring you the Unit #9 (Roots and Irrational Numbers) Form C Assessment. We also have posted a Unit #10 Lesson #5.5 Practice Lesson on Two Way Frequency Tables. This short practice sheet gives your students more use in the terminology and reasoning involved in two way frequency charts. This is a great resource for students who just may need a bit more practice on these types of problems.
For Common Core Geometry Add-Ons this month we bring you an enrichment lesson and a Form B Unit Assessment. First we have Unit 9 – Lesson 10.5 on Finding the Equation of a Circumscribed Circle. This is a fantastic lesson that incorporates algebra, the equations of circles, and how we find the circumcenter. This lesson is not for the faint of heart as the algebra involved is tough. Consider using this for strong students who want more of a challenge! We also have the Unit 9 Assessment.Form B for Circle Geometry. It’s always good to have an additional assessment for this unit.
Our Common Core Algebra II Add-Ons this month are a Form C Assessment and an enrichment lesson. First, we bring you the Unit 11 Circular Functions Form C Assessment. Use this as a makeup or to help review for the Regents. Either way, it is a great resource. We also bring you Unit 12.Lesson 5.5.Enrichment Activity on Independent Events. This Lesson/Activity uses infinite geometric series to determine the probability of players winning an unfamiliar game. This lesson is a nice intersection of work students did with geometric series and work they did with probability. Although not material tested on the New York State Regents exam, it is a great lesson to show kids another application of geometric series.
Finally our Algebra 2 with Trigonometry Add-Ons are an additional lesson in Unit 11 as well as the Unit 11 Probability Form B Assessment. The additional lesson is Unit 11.Lesson 8.5 on Pascal’s Triangle and the Binomial Expansion. Our original text does not look at Pascal’s Triangle, so this is a lesson to introduce it to kids as well as show them how to use it to help expand binomials. We also explore some interesting patterns in the triangle including how the rows sum to powers of 2.
In other news, we’ve now posted the first version of our N-Gen Math™ 6 Curriculum on our site. If you haven’t gotten our email blasts about our Next Generation Standards aligned Middle School curriculum, let me give you the quick summary. We are writing courses for 6th, 7th, and 8th grade Math to align to the “new” New York State Next Generation Math Standards. The Next Gen Standards are to be fully implemented in the 2020-2021 school year. So, that means next year K-8 is still aligned to the CCSS. We will be posting our Next Gen courses for 6th, 7th, and 8th in their Beta (rough draft) forms as we “finish” them and go through a round of edits. We hope N-Gen Math™ 7 will be posted this June and N-Gen Math™ 8 by next September. That will give schools an entire year to take a look at them before the standards officially go into place. For now, here are their three awesome covers:
O.k. So that’s it for April! I hope that you all are having great Spring Breaks or will have a great break next week. As always, let us know if you have any thoughts.