Math News
All good greetings of the season to you! Blessings on you and your family. It's so good to feel the warmth of the Christmas season and anticipate with joy the coming of our Lord!
7th Grade Math News:
The seventh graders are finishing the second chapter, studying the basic properties of numbers, including the commutative, associative, identity, and distributive properties. We have also moved a bit into algebraic territory by generalizing these properties using variables. Also while working with variables, we have mastered the concept of "like terms" and the simplifying of variable expressions, building on the foundation we have laid down with the order of operations.
The bulk of our work this chapter has been some of the real basics of understanding of algebra. I refer to solving simple linear equations and inequalities using inverse operations (which follow the INVERSE order of operations!). The equations we have solved have had only one solution, so we have named them, but the inequalities we will solve after Christmas break have an infinite number of solutions, so we will learn to graph them on the number line. This provides a pictorial representation of all the solutions.
Thus far, the 7th graders are conquering heroes!
Now, they have taken on the heart of algebra: graphing and writing linear equations. This has brought together so many elements of understanding! Included is the concept of slope, which rests solidly on a profound understanding of proportionality and rate of change between two variables.
Along the way, we have discussed direct variation, slope-intercept form, and the characteristics of parallel and perpendicular lines and how those characteristics translate into both similarities and differences in the equations of their lines.
This is among the most difficult of the school year, so be encouraging and supportive. The students will need to be at their best to master these very demanding ideas.
Challenges await! Excitement abounds!