Bungee Jump Safety

One the group tasks in class this unit involved students working as a group safety commission to determine the safety of bungee jump rides at local theme parks.  For this activity, students created a mini-bungee apparatus and collected data on weight (x)  and cord stretch(y).

Students created graphs and equations for the data they collected and used the equations to make predictions concerning safety.  These predictions included things like maximum weight limits and how high to put the bungee platform from the ground.

Today in class we discussed saftety issues and the role of meteorologists and safety personnel in making decisions to protect our community.  Being a river town, Vanceburg is often at threat of flood and needs to stay updated on water levels anda flood stage.  The example below is a student's work examining data from concerning hours and water level.  In this example, the student describes the relationship, determines a lineare equation to fit the data, and makes predictions.  The predictions and decisions made are similar to real-life predictions that would be made if considering this data.

This student accurately predicted that it will take about 30 hours for the water to be at the top of the dam.

Unit 2 Resources

During this unit, I will start to make resources available on the classroom blog.  Look for help videos, bonus assignments, and our daily activities to start being posted frequently.  I will also post assignments for MangaHigh on the blog. 

Starting next week you will also  be able to ask questions about the weekly homework by posting a comment on the blog.  

I hope this site becomes an important part of your success in the class.

Weekly Homework # 3

HW3 (page1)

HW3 (page2)

Weekly Homework

Look for the weekly homework to be posted to the class blog in the next 24 hours.  I will also try to post some help and give some answers during the week.  You may ask questions about the homework in the comments section.  I will try to check the comments section every day or two.

Unit 1 Mid-Unit Quiz

Students took a Mid Unit Quiz over scientific notation, properties of exponents, order of operations, and classifying numbers.

Many students scored very well on the quiz. Some high performers included Katelyn Kamer, Anthony Clark, Trenton Walker, Tommy Parks, Carlos Miranda, Shawn Grigson, Haleigh Mack, Ethan Madden, Hailey Dyer, Derrick Switzer, Laurel Enix, Alexis Adkins, Austin Evans, Rachel Bentley, Emily Ferguson, and Shyenna Cooper.  Many others also scored A's and B's.  I'll try to mention some top performers for each quiz to honor those doing well and making improvements.

Students who are not happy with their score are encouraged to visit Manga High and access make-up assignments.  Scores can be made up for scientific notation, properties of exponents, and order of operations.  Look for an additional assignment to be posted on the blog later for students needing to replace a score for the classifying numbers section. 

Plank- Algebra 1 Common Core Curriculum Map

There are many learning targets associated with the Algebra 1 class under the new Common Core Standards that Kentucky has adopted. The following curriculum map is a way of covering those standards in a little different format than those units recommended for the course. In my experience, the following map allows for student review of critical number concepts at the beginning of the course and provides an easier vertical alignment of the content. As always, I am sure there will be fixes, changes, and some shuffling as the year goes on. Click on the document link for a better view of the curriculum document via Scribd. Plank Algebra 1 Curriculum Map