Math is life - the rest is just details...

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It seems like yesterday you were practicing how to tell time, how to count money, even how to add and subtract.  Now you're in the SUPER DIFFICULT 6th grade, and you still have to do math!  Probably scares some of your parents too!  Lucky for you, 6th grade math is just an extention of what you learned last year.  North Carolina standards are designed to help prepare you year after year, step by step.  If you have been working hard, paying attention, and memorizing your basic facts, math will be a relatively easy obstacle for you to climb.  We will work on many of the same concepts and objectives introduced to you in 5th grade; however, we will examine them in greater depth and in multi-step problems.   My hope is that as the year progresses a passion and love for math develops in you.  In fact, studies show that when math is well taught, kids this age just love it—after all, it’s a way to discover sense and pattern in the world, and feel pretty darn smart in the process.

 

Topics we will explore in math throughout the school year include:

Number Sense: This builds directly on the basic skills of elementary school—addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, and decimals—but now more complex. We will discuss and examine questions such as: How does a fraction translate into decimals? Why do we call multiplication and division “inverse operations”? We will even begin to play with negative numbers.

Algebra: AAAGGGHHH!  That dreaded math term - the most feared math course ever! Once upon a time, when Mr. Johnson was a kid, this topic was covered once you got to high school. Nowadays, due to increased rigor throughout the education system, algebra is introduced as early as the 2nd grade.  Why am I telling you this?  I want you to see that you have been doing algebra in math class every year since you can remember, and probably every day of your life (whether you'd like to admit it or not)!!!  We will be working with the basic ideas of algebra, from variables and inverse operations, to solving simple one and two step equations.

Geometry: This should be one of the more fun units of the year, as we will do numerous hands-on activities to help us understand, explore, and work with lines, angles, quadrilaterals, regular polygons, circles, perimeter, area, circumference, need I go on???  This unit will incorporate a basic understanding of geometrical definitions and the ability to compute answers from a given set of numbers applied to a specific definition. 

Statistics and Probability: One of the more difficult concepts of the year... We will explore these concepts through coin tossing, die rolling, and sports statistics.

Reasoning, Problem solving, and Connections: Math is all around us.  From figuring tax, making budgets, saving or spending money, there is no escaping the need for math skills in our world today.  My goal in teaching math is to give you the tools so that you can approach any problem, familiar or foreign, and successfully reason an appropriate answer (exact or estimate).  Do I want you to be exactly right on every problem?  Sure I do.  But, I am more interested that you can approach and think your way towards a solution.


Still sound difficult?  No worries - my job is to make it as easy for you to understand and successfully complete! Want to make math easy? Click here to find out ways you can help yourself make math easier!