Option to Take A Test Using IXL

Students in 4th and 6th grade have the option to prove their mastery of the most recent unit by showing their stuff on IXL rather than doing the regular test.  I spoke too soon when I offered this option to the 5th graders. The material on IXL does not match up well with what we did in class. Sorry 5th graders.

So students can begin taking the test at home tonight, continue in taking the test in class tomorrow at school and take as much time as they need in order to reach a SmartScore of 80 in each skill.

In addition to taking the test on IXL students can also use IXL as a test correction.  That is if there is an area of the test that didn't come out quite as hoped then students can demonstrated their proficiency by working on IXL.

The skills for each grade are as follows:


4th Grade Optional Assessment - IXL 4th grade tab
D2                   Factors
H1                   Functions
B2, C2            Word Problems
J4, J5               Bar Graphs
G4                   Parentheses
G6                   Algebra



6^th Grade Optional Assessment - IXL 6th grade tab
N.7                  Greatest Common Factor
N.8                   Least Common Multiple
L.1                   Divisibility Rules
L.5                   Long Division



Hope this is helpful. I like to give the students choices, especially if some students have a strong preference for keyboarding over writing by hand.

Disney Chicken Dance Video

Why is this video on my blog?  Ask your 6th grade student.

Also, because it is awesome.

Algebra 1 Functions Review

7th and 8th grade algebra students

Do this review to get yourselves ready for the test on Thursday.


Here is another useful review exercise.

This ordered pairs quiz will stretch you a little bit.

Finally one more.

6th Grade Math Jeopardy!

Best. Jeopardy. Ever.

Click here when you are at the Jeopardy station!

Zombies and Diffy Q

I feel like I have been one-upped by Woolley, et al in their paper "How Long Can We Survive?". Where my in class exercise used a linear equation to model zombie populations they used differential equations and statistics.

Show offs.  Humph.

6th grade homework log forms

This week's form is here.


The regular form is here.

Strategy Division for 6th Graders

Parents might wonder why their students would need to know strategy division which is sometimes called partial quotients division.

The answer is that I am laying bricks and building a foundation for future math content. The specific content is dividing polynomials by monomials. This is what it looks like:

It is not trivial.

So I want our current 6th graders to see that 252 divided by 6 written as

means that

    252   =    120 + 120 + 12 = 

 6             6         6       6

Now we just reduce each term!  

20 + 20 + 2 = 42

You'll notice that the above has the identical mathematical structure as dividing a polynomial by a monomial in the first example.

So it is true that your clever students can get the correct answer to 252 divided by 6 using the standard algorithm for long division.  But I want to push them farther, to reach into deeper content and link to advanced concepts. Deep understanding, advanced thinking - those are some of the reasons why you are sending your children to Kazoo School.

And strategy division is part of that formula.

Our students are awesome!

School-wide starting fluency vs. current fluency

Distribution of starting and current student fluency

Video With Detailed Step-By-Step Instructions for Long Division

I think this video is brilliant.  If you have a 6th grader please have him or her give this a glance.

Discontinuity in Oil Prices

Historical oil prices are displayed in 2012 dollars.  That is, the price each year is adjusted for inflation to be equal to the same amount of money in 2012.

Here is the original graph.

Here is the same graph with some mark ups. The mark ups make it more clear that there is not only a discontinuity in the average price level but in the volatility of prices as well.

Students interested in economic examples of discontinuous prices might want to consider looking at oil prices, especially in the 1970s. Parents, do not tell them what caused the volatility.  They can figure this out in their own.

Another Example of A Piecewise Function - Ping Response Times

The 7th and 8th Graders are doing a project on piecewise functions. Piecewise functions are ubiquitous. Any time there is a dramatic, sudden change in a process you have a piecewise function. The graphs below show two stylized, textbook examples.

Here is a real world example from the world of IT from the PingER Project at Stanford.

The graphs below show how internet response rates change due to congestion. The change in response times is not just non-linear.  There is in fact a discontinuous break in the pattern,  There are two different set of rules governing response rates when the network is not congested and when it is congested.

Students interested in computers could very easily find similar examples of research in IT that shows similar types of discontinuities.

Guided Practice for Long Division

Here are a few good sites for practicing long division:


The Great Martini Company

Math Frog

Snork's Long Division (turn down the volume on this one if practicing in class)

Divisibility Rules Quizlet Flashcards

Practice these flashcards to memorize divisibility rules.  You can play scatter, space race or do regular flashcards.

6th Grade Division Video

Go here