Mrs. Cullen's Math Pages

Visit my "Math Blog" for news and notes from the classroom.

Updated 5/18/2012

Find links to "pencasts" here.

My email address:
dcullen(AT)srcs.k12.ca.us

You'll need to replace "(AT)" with "@" in the address above when you type it into your email program.

My Homework Hotline/Voicemail # is:
707-528-5404, x2554

To access the 7th grade textbook online, go to:
www.glencoe.com/ose

The student access code is:
D4C2028333

Fourth Quarter Grades Online

Updated 5/18/2012

May 14-18, 2012	Pre-Algebra First through Fourth Periods	Math Support Fifth Period
Monday 9 Days Left...	We began a review of Chapter 9. Students will have the vocab quiz tomorrow; the Chapter 9 Test is planned for Wednesday. ~ Chapter 9 Practice Test, p. 517: 1-17 all	We also began a review of Chapter 9 today.
Tuesday 8...	Students took the Chapter 9 vocabulary test today. They have a practice test (Chapter 9 Test, Form 2A) to complete before the real test tomorrow.	We continued a review of Chapter 9 today.
Wednesday 7...	There is no new assignment.	We are reviewing in preparation for Final Exams, next week.
Thursday 6...	We are beginning a cumulative review of the year, beginning with Chapters 1-4 of the textbook. Students have two handouts to complete for tomorrow. (They had almost all of class to work on them today.)	We are reviewing in preparation for Final Exams, next week.
Friday 5...	We are continuing our review... Students have a handout (Chapters 5 & 6) to complete for Monday.	We are reviewing in preparation for Final Exams, next week.

May 7-11, 2012	Pre-Algebra First through Fourth Periods	Math Support Fifth Period
Monday 14 Days Left...	Students have a handout and are trying to decide which cell phone company is better, and when.	We worked with some of the math a farmer might use in running a farm.
Tuesday 13....	Students are writing systems of equations and inequalities. (They aren't solving them yet,.) ~ 9.6, p. 500-501: 1-10, 13 & 14	We continued working with some of the math a farmer might use in running a farm.
Wednesday 12...	Students are beginning a review of Chapter 9. ~ Extra Practice, p. 699-701, - Section 9.1: 1, 4, 7 & 10 - Section 9.2: 1, 4, 7, 10, 13 & 18 (do on graph paper, and yes, it's18 and not 16) - Section 9.3: 1, 4, 7, 10, 13 & 16 - Section 9.4: 1-4 - Section 9.5: 1, 4, 7, & 10 - Section 9.6: 1-4	Students reviewed unit rates and found how many times their hearts beat in an hour, a day, a week and a year.
Thursday 11... Ms. Crow's students went on the Armstrong Grove field trip today.	Students who were in class today watched a video (about fire-fighting math) and worked in groups to complete a handout. The assignment from Wednesday will be due on Monday.	Students who were in class today viewed Donald in Mathemagic Land.
Friday 10...	No new assignment. Students who were in class today watched part of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and answered math questions about the movie.	Students who were in class today continued watching Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.

April 30- May 4, 2012	Pre-Algebra First through Fourth Periods	Math Support Fifth Period
Monday 19 Days of School left...	Students are identifying the slope and y-intercept in linear equations and graphing them. ~ 9.5, p. 493: 1, 2, 4-6, 10-13, 16, 18 & 19 (Graph 4-6, 16, 18, & 19.)	We practiced graphing equations using slope and y-intercept today.
Tuesday 18...	Students have a handout for more practice working with direct variation and graphing linear functions. ~ 9.2 Practice and 9.4 Skills Practice	We had more practice graphing equations using slope and y-intercept today.
Wednesday 17...	Students have a handout for more practice graphing linear functions using slope-intercept form. ~ 9.5 Practice and Skills Practice	Students made a scatterplot of temperature and cricket chirps to see if there is a relationship between the two. (Can the number of times a cricket chirps really tell the temperature?)
Thursday Doghouse Project due. 16...	There is no new assignment. Students had time in class to make corrections to and/or finish their Chapter 9 quizzes and the Doghouse Project was due today.	Students did some "police math" today, investigating whether or not an arson suspect had financial motivation.
Friday	Furlough Day - No School	Furlough Day - No School

April 23-27, 2012	Pre-Algebra First through Fourth Periods	Math Support Fifth Period
Monday 24 School Days Remaining...	Students are beginning to work with functions today; they are finding outputs for given inputs , completing function tables, and writing rules for functions. ~ 9.1, p. 467-468: 1-20 all	Students are also working on completing function tables and writing function rules today.
Tuesday 23...	Students are using function tables to identify ordered pairs to graph functions today. ~ 9.2, p. 474-476: 2-5, 8-15, 24, 27 & 28 Students were given two pieces of graph paper on which to write and graph the problems for today's assignment.	Students also graphed functions using function tables and began finding slope.
Wednesday 22... I put two pencasts online, both are pretty short - one is about making function tables and graphing linear functions, the other is about finding slope from two points on a line.	Students are finding the slopes of lines today - some from pictures and graphs, some from tables, and mostly from pairs of points. ~ 9.3, p. 480-482: 1-22, 36 & 37	Students practiced graphing functions and finding the slopes of lines from graphs today.
Thursday 21... Direct Variation Equations Pencast	Students are using direct variation today. ~ 9.4, p. 486-488: 1-3, 6-8, 12-20 & 26-28 There will be a *quiz tomorrow*. Students can/should review the "Mid-Chapter (9) Quiz" in the book on page 489.	We worked with direct variation equations today.
Friday 20... Videos describing various parts of the Doghouse Project are now available! I put PDFs of the handouts online, too. Warning! The videos might take awhile to load!	Students took a quiz today. There is no new assignment, but the Doghouse Project is due next Thursday!	We worked on the Doghouse Project today.

April 16-20, 2012	Pre-Algebra First through Fourth Periods	Math Support Fifth Period
Monday	We reviewed test taking strategies for multiple choice math tests today. There is no homework.	Students worked with decimals and percents today.
Tuesday	No homework. Students in third period took the first part of the STAR math test (CST) today. Students in other periods were introduced to the doghouse project.	Students did more work with decimals and with figuring rates of pay today.
Wednesday	No homework. Students in third period took the first part of the STAR math test (CST) today. Students in other periods continued to work on the doghouse project.	Students worked on identifying information needed to solve problems today; they also solved the problems once the information was identified.
Thursday	No homework. Students in all periods worked on the doghouse project and we reviewed the scoring rubric. (All students should have a copy.)	Students worked on figuring out what information was needed to be able to solve problems.
Friday	Students should be working on the Doghouse Project. It will be due sometime after next week as some students also have a castle project due in their history classes.	Students used a diagram and determined the number of elements in intersecting and individual areas.

April 9-13, 2012	Pre-Algebra First through Fourth Periods	Math Support Fifth Period
Monday	Students need to finish the assignment from last Thursday. ~ Chapter 11 Study Guide, p. 617-620: 11-15 & 18-32 There will be a vocabulary quiz tomorrow. We reviewed the definitions of the terms on which students will be tested in class today.	Today we did some work with reading and finding distances on a map.
Tuesday	Today's assignment is short due to STAR Testing in English today. Students who did not complete the assignment in class today need to complete it at home. ~ Ch. 11 Standards Practice, p. 622-623: 1-11 all (For #11, students only need to do part a and should make a bar graph.)	Today we used divisiblity rules or tests to check if numbers are divisible by 2, 3, 5, 9, and/or 10.
Wednesday	Students took a practice test in class today. The real test will be tomorrow and will be very similar to the test students took today.	Today we practiced using factor trees to find the prime factorization of numbers.
Thursday	There is no homework. Students took a test today.	Today we practiced solving variable expressions that involved fractions.
Friday	There is no homework. We reviewed some problems from the Released Test Questions packet and "in-progress" progress grades were distributed to students.	Students worked on various logic problems today.

April 2-6, 2012	Pre-Algebra First through Fourth Periods	Math Support Fifth Period
Monday	Students are making and reading/interpreting box-and-whisker plots. ~11.6, p. 601-604: 1-5, 10, 11, 14-18, 25, 28 & 29	We worked on histograms and box-and-whisker plots today.
Tuesday	Students are making and reading/interpreting stem-and-leaf plots today. ~ 11.7, p. 608-610: 1-18 and 23	We reviewed solving proportions today.
Wednesday	Students need to finish the problems in the packet (Released Test Questions) if they did not finish it in class today.	We reviewed solving proportions today.
Thursday	Students began working on part of the Chapter 11 Study Guide today, but the assignment won't be due until next Tuesday. ~ Chapter 11 Study Guide, p. 617-620: 11-15 & 18-32	We reviewed solving percent problems using proportions today.
Friday Furlough Day	No School	No School

March 26-30, 2012	Pre-Algebra First through Fourth Periods	Math Support Fifth Period
Monday	Students need to identify and relocate the "outliers" in a comparison of Monopoly property costs and rents.	We did some work with bar graphs and histograms.
Tuesday	Students are making a histogram of the populations of the 50 Most Populous Countries (in 2000). We worked on this in class and students need to finish it for tomorrow. Students also have a handout ("Emergency 911! Bay City") and graph paper to begin analyzing ambulance response times. This mini-project will be due on Friday.	We reviewed adding and subtracting integers today.
Wednesday	There is no new assignment. Students should be working on the "Emergency 911! Bay City" project that is due Friday. They should at least have their graphs completed by tomorrow.	We reviewed subtracting fractions today.
Thursday	Students need to finish "Emergency 911! Bay City". Students are also using measures of variation today. The assignment is from the textbook. ~ 11.5, p. 595-596: 1-20, skip #s 5, 9, 13, and 17	We reviewed adding and subtracting fractions today.
Friday	Students have no new assignment. I agreed to extend the due date of "Emergency 911! Bay City" to Monday so students could have the weekend to work on it. (Extra credit was offered to students who turned in the project today.)	Students practiced using mental-math and order of operations today.

Spring Break
March 19-23, 2012

March 12-16, 2012	Pre-Algebra First through Fourth Periods	Math Support Fifth Period
Monday Since this is week is only 4 days long and is followed by Spring Break, we are going to do some "Pi Week" activities!	Students are finding the circumference and area of circles today. ~ 7.1, p. 355-357: 1-23, 39 & 40	We did a little more work with "Extraordinary Solution Prediction" (ESP) today.
Tuesday	Students are finding the volume of cylinders today. ~ 7.5, p. 375-376: 3, 4, 10, 11, 14, 15, 17, 19 & 21 (Oops! I typed the wrong problem number when I posted this Tuesday, 3/13; I had typed 20, when I really meant 21. Students who did #20 that night instead of #21 will not be penalized. Students doing make-up work should do #21!)	We practiced finding radii (the plural form of "radius"), diameters, circumferences, and areas of circles today.
Wednesday Pi Day!	Students are finding the lateral area and total surface area of cylinders today. ~ 7.7, p. 389-391: 3, 4, 5, 10, 11, 13, 17 & 23 There will be a quiz tomorrow.	We practiced finding volume, lateral area and total surface area of cylinders today.
Thursday	No new assignment.	Students made a graphing "dot-to-dot" picture today.
Friday Spring Break begins!!!	No School - Furlough Day	No School - Furlough Day

Month Days, 2012	Pre-Algebra First through Fourth Periods	Math Support Fifth Period
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday