ST. JOSEPH'S SCHOOL JUNIOR HIGH WEB PAGE

 

Can it be October already?  Wow.

 

The seventh graders are completing their work with integer operations, including the establishment of a rich conceptual understanding of these abstract ideas, using Algebra Lab Gear, conceptual drawings, and also representation on the number line.  Heavy stuff!

 

We will continue with a review of plotting points on the coordinate plane, and then move into Chapter 2, where we will explore the basic properties of numbers.  These properties include the commutative, associative, identity, and distributive properties.

 

After our discussion of these properties, we will put them to work in simplifying variable expressions, and the first of our formal work with inverse operations which we will use in solving simple linear equations.  We will even be solving inequalities before too long, representing the infinite solutions pictorially on the number line.

 

Excitement and learning await!

 

The eighth graders have indeed hit the ground running, as they are experienced veterans of the junior high math classroom. 

 

We are just finishing our review of the solving procedures necessary for finding the solutions of linear equations.  All the memories have bubbled up from last year, and have now fallen into place quite comfortably.  Procedures like ridding an equation of all fractions (by multiplying both sides by the LCM), applying the distributive property, combining like terms, and inverse operations have now become part of our working knowledge of algebra.  The students have even mastered what to do when there are variables on both sides of the equation!

 

Next, we will be developing our skills further in chapter 4, solving equations that contain absolute value, and even solving inequalities, including multi-step solving procedures and even compound inequalities.  We will of course be showing our solution sets pictorially with number lines.

 

It's shaping up to be a GREAT year!  :)