Google Meet (aka Hangout) for Tuesday 4/21 and Friday 4/24

The scheduled times for Tuesday, April 21 and Friday, April 22:
11-11:30am – 2nd hour and 4th hour together (with Ms. Beydoun- yeah!)
11:30am-12pm – 1st hour, 5th hour, and 6th hour together

Looking forward to meeting with everyone today! Please make sure that you login to Google Classroom a few minutes before we are scheduled to start to find the link/code needed to join the Meet (also known as a Hangout). Be sure you mute your mic when you join!

If your device allows you to see the link near the top, in the header area below the title of our classroom, you can just click the link to join. 

If you can’t locate the link, here is another way to join our Meet:

  1. Get to https://meet.google.com.
  2. Click Join a meeting.
  3. Enter the nickname/session name that I post in Google Classroom.

There are some other ways for joining a Meet that depend on what kind of device you are using or whether you are using the Google Meet app (meaning, if you use your phone to access the website, if you use the Google Classroom app on a phone/iPad/tablet or if you use the Google Meet app on your phone/iPad/tablet, it would be slightly different, but just as easy to join). I can talk more about this during our time together on the chat if needed.

If, when you attempt to get on the Google Meet, nothing seems to happen, it is most likely because I haven’t started the meet yet. You will need to wait patiently until I get on, which “opens it” for students to get on. (This quite possibly will occur if your class is scheduled for the second time slot on any day, as I will need time to get off the first chat and to get on the second chat.)

During this first Meet we will, of course, take some time to “catch up” with each other! However, I definitely need to take time to go over questions you may have about the assigned work, how we will be using Google Classroom and what resources I included so far on Google Classroom that may help you with your math work. Also, I would like to briefly go over the expectations for when we are having a Meet/Hangout. Finally, I will attempt to give you an overview of what the rest of the year for math class may look like. If we run out of time, we can continue the discussion at our Meet on Friday.

Talk soon!! 😉

Assignments- Week of 4/20/20

(ALSO POSTED BLOG LINK ON GOOGLE CLASSROOM)

Assignments: Khan Academy (listed below), IXL (listed below). We are NOT going to work on I-Ready for this week.

These assignments are due THIS FRIDAY, April 24 (although you will notice the Khan ones say June 8….ignore that…I did that so they would never get moved to the “Past” assignments.) Before Friday, you may attempt each skill in IXL or on Khan as many times as you would like so that you can earn the highest grade/score possible. I suggest you use a notebook/looseleaf to show your work so that in the event you have questions, you are prepared to ask them during a Google Hangout with an example of a specific problem.

We are working on 1 step equations. This should be review from last year.

The KHAN ASSIGNMENTS are:
* Video: 1 step addition & subtraction equations
* Video: 1 step subtraction equations
* Exercise: 1 step addition & subtraction equations
* Video: 1 step addition & subtraction equations: fractions & decimals
* Exercise: 1 step addition & subtraction equations: fractions & decimals
* Video: 1 step division equations
* Video: 1 step multiplication equations
* Exercise: 1 step multiplication & division equations
* Video: 1 step multiplication & division equations: fractions & decimals
* Exercise: 1 step multiplication & division equations: fractions & decimals

The IXL assignments are:
6th grade skills:
* Z New! (Solve one-step addition and subtraction equations with whole numbers)
* Z New! (Solve one-step multiplication and division equations with whole numbers)
* Z6 (Solve one-step equations with whole numbers)

Points earned for each skill is based on IXL smart score or Khan Academy percent:
75 – 100 = 5 pts
60 – 74 = 4 pts
40 – 59 = 3 pts
1 – 39 = 1 pt
0 = 0 

**Reminders for logging in to Khan Academy and IXL: Be sure you go through CLEVER to get to Khan Academy or you will not see the assignments from me! If you have other family members that have school accounts or that use Gmail AND use the same device as you, make sure they they are signed out of their account before you go into CLEVER otherwise you will login to Khan with their account and not your own. Be sure you are logged in to IXL or your smart score will not be saved and I cannot see it to give you credit! If you don’t see the assignments in Khan Academy OR you don’t remember your login info for IXL please email me and I will help you out.

**More Reminders for Khan Academy: To show that you completed a video assignment, be sure you watch it from start to finish. Do not fast forward to skip parts…let it play to the end. Your goal for the practice assignments is to score 70% or higher. If you need to use the hints or watch the suggested videos that are below the practice problems to help you, take advantage of that support, then retry the practice again to try to earn 70%. If you have tried the practice 3-4 times and are still struggling to get 70%, be sure to join the Google Hangout to get your question(s) answered and get on the right track or email me to ask your questions about specific problems.

A Few Things About This Week

*Original Post 4/20 around 2am
*UPDATE 4/20 at 6:30pm.. A few revisions were made for clarity.

I hope everyone is doing well!

The weeks ahead will be something new for all of us. Please be understanding if things don’t flow as smoothly as we hope this first week. I’m sure we will make adjustments as needed along the way.

SCHEDULE
The weekly schedule of live classroom availability for all subjects is from 11am-1pm each day, with a focus on two classes per day. It does not mean you are not able to contact your other teachers those days, just that you want to make those two classes a priority…and the teachers of those two classes have priority for scheduling Google Hangouts between 11am-1pm. Per teacher discretion, there may be other Hangout sessions available for extra assistance (i.e. help sessions), but they would be at different times and/or on other days and be optional.

  • Monday:  English Language Arts and Social Studies
  • Tuesday:  Math and Science
  • Wednesday:  Social Studies and Extended Core
  • Thursday:  English Language Arts and Science
  • Friday:  Math and Extended Core

7th grade math schedule will look something like this:

  • Monday: Check Google Classroom page for the assignment(s) and possibly a video explanation.
  • Tuesday: Google Hangout 11am-12pm*
  • Wednesday: continue working on assignments; email teachers if needed; optional Hangout help sessions may be offered
  • Thursday: continue working on assignments; email teachers if needed; optional Hangout help sessions may be offered
  • Friday: Google Hangout 11am-12pm*

*Specific times for each hour to join a Google Hangout will be posted on Google Classroom/blog/Remind/email; Links/Codes will be posted on Google Classroom a few minutes before the start times. I will have more specifics tomorrow!

In addition to Google Hangout meetings with students, I will, of course, be checking my email throughout the week and supporting students to the best of my ability, whether it may be responding to questions by email, calling home to help resolve a question, or possibly scheduling a Google Hangout at an alternate/additional time if needed.

Regarding Assignments/Grades: 

The work in I-Ready and Khan Academy that you did over the last several weeks will be entered into the grade book this week, however anyone that was not able to get online before for any reason or did not complete the work still has the opportunity to get the full credit. Please let me know if you need support! Any work going forward will also be graded. If you still don’t have access to technology or have some other issue that will prevent you from participating in our Google Hangouts or completing the assigned work, please let me know via email, Google Classroom, Remind, or even call the school office and leave a voicemail so someone can pass the information on to me (and your other teachers) and we can provide you with an alternative solution to the online work. Parents, please encourage your son/daughter to complete their work to the best of their ability, to use the resources I provide, and to get in touch with me by email and participate in our Google Hangouts if they still have questions that you are not able to help answer.

Staying Organized with Your Work:

It would be helpful for students to have a notebook for the rest of the year for math, however even having looseleaf or plain paper would be sufficient. The notebook DOES NOT need to be brand new…if you even have a partially unused one or one that is smaller in size that would be perfect. Students can date any work done in the notebook or on looseleaf, including any notes taken while watching a video from me or one I suggest online, taking notes or writing down any examples during a Google Hangout, or even completing any assignments that you can’t print. The 7th grade math classes will be using Google Classroom, Google Hangouts (online chats), Khan Academy, and IXL, and Ms. Osak’s and Mrs. Furlow’s classes are still piloting I-Ready.  

Lessons/Standards We Will Be Working On:

Each week we will be focusing on one standard, or a couple of very similar standards. The 7th grade math teachers have a rough schedule figured out, but we are not going to share it all at this time in order to allow us flexibility in the event we need to change anything including our pacing. This week we are beginning the Expressions and Equations Unit, which is what we planned on doing had the school closure not occurred. This first week, the week of April 20, we will be focusing on SOLVING ONE STEP EQUATIONS. This was done in 6th grade, but now we are including integers (positive and negative numbers) and possibly fractions and decimals. Students need to be able to do these before week 2, as we plan on going into two step equations the week of April 27.

Any questions, please email me: furlowd@dearbornschools.org 

The next blog post will have your assignments for the week of April 20!

Please sign up ASAP…

…for Google Classroom for our math class. I am going to start using this so that I am able to share resources with you, create assignments, and invite you to Google Hangouts. It would be helpful for you to get this done by Monday night so you can get the information you need for our FIRST Google Hangout that I’m going to schedule this week. To sign up, make sure that you are signed into Google Classroom. Near the upper right click on the “+” symbol, select “join a class” and enter the code for your hour below. If you don’t remember how to get to Google Classroom, here are a few different methods: type in the address bar classroom.google.com OR go to google.com, look near the upper right and click the icon (the 9 dot square) to show the list of all the Google Apps and click on Google Classroom OR you can choose to download the app to your iPad/tablet/phone.  

1ST Hour:  2mhdpx3

2ND Hour:  wxcjefx

4TH Hour:  ecsmhuv

5TH Hour:  ung35vi

6TH Hour:  pc6vcfy

I will be posting more information about math for this week in a separate blog post! Thanks in advance!

Monday, 4/13/20

Hello everyone! Welcome back from Spring Break!

I hope all is going well with you and your family! I celebrated Easter with my family yesterday (just the 5 of us, of course), but wished we could have spent some time with my parents and my husband’s parents like we usually do for Easter. At least we talked over the phone!

If you have not had the opportunity to see the video that was shared by Mr. Denison last week from our Bryant staff, you can click the link below to watch it. All of us miss our students!

Video: Bryant MS Staff Misses You

Here are some updates for this week:

1) Online learning/Assignments– At this time I-Ready and Khan Academy will continue for math, the same work that I assigned each week before spring break (see below). Over the next few days I will update the grade book with the assignments from weeks 1-3 in order to provide some feedback to both students and parents.

WEEK 4 (April 13-17)
I-Ready – Complete 45 minutes (about 2 lessons) on your Path
Khan Academy – Complete a minimum of 30 minutes. Make sure you do the “assignments” in Khan Academy if you have not already completed them! To access the assignments, click “Assignments” (at the left side of your screen). When the page opens, be sure to click “Past” (near the upper right) since the assignments are “past due” at this point. Email me if you have trouble finding the assignments.

2) Advisory class– Teachers have been asked to send out an email containing a link to a technology survey to our advisory students (regarding internet access and whether you have a device at home to access the internet such as a tablet, iPad, computer, Chromebook…not including a phone). So, whether you are in my advisory or not, please check your district email and look for an email from your advisory teacher. Then click the link for the survey….it should only take you 1-2 minutes to complete!

3) Finally, the district “Continuity of Learning” plan is the topic of discussion at our staff meetings this week. The 7th grade math teachers will also be meeting with each other and our district math coach to decide what adjustments (if any) to our current weekly plans need to be made in order to support students. I expect that I will have more information by Monday, April 20th and will be sure to post it on the blog, as well as send it via email. 

Please do your best to stay on top of your online work or to get caught up on your work! Email me if you have any questions or concerns! Stay Safe! Stay Inside!

Mrs. Furlow

Monday, 3/30/20

Grades for Marking Period 3 are nearly all updated! More students emailed me some of their missing work over the weekend and today, so I’ve been working on and off today to get those entered in the grade book…almost done. If anyone still has a concern about their grade or wants to submit something, please email me. Final grades for MP3 will be submitted tomorrow!

THANK YOU to those of you who have been doing your online learning on I-Ready and Khan Academy! Keep up the great work! If you have not started or have not been keeping up, it’s not too late. You can catch up this week and, if needed, you could even continue/finish next week, as there is nothing assigned since it is technically spring break.

Statistics for online learning…
1) I-Ready (45 minutes/2 lessons each week)

  • 33 students (29% of you) have completed 90 minutes or more for the first two weeks (or at least completed 4 lessons)…you met the goal for the 2 weeks. CONGRATS!!
  • 27 students (24%) have done some practice
  • 54 students (47%) have not tried getting on I-Ready at all

2) Khan Academy (30 minutes each week, including the assignments)  

  • 39 students (34%) have completed 60 minutes or more for the first two weeks…you met the goal for the 2 weeks. CONGRATS!!
  • 31 students (27%) have done some practice
  • 44 students (39%) have not tried getting on Khan Academy at all. 

Please let me know if there is any way that I can support you in doing your online learning. You can review my previous posts on the blog as well.

As always, I hope you are doing well!  Mrs. Furlow

Saturday, 3/21/20

Dear Parents and Students,

This first part is only for those students that were not able to finish the Diagnostic test in I-Ready and therefore were getting a message that they had no assignments…  You now have assignments!! On Friday evening, due to the I-Ready Diagnostic test being disabled by the company, I assigned a handful of individualized lessons to students that needed them. I referred to students’ NWEA scores to gauge what lesson level was appropriate for each student. The lessons should be review/enrichment, but please email me if you feel they are too easy or too difficult. I will also monitor the online practice as students work through the lessons over the next week to help me decide if I should adjust the level of the lessons that I selected for each person. You will notice that there are probably more lessons assigned than you/your child will be able to complete (if only doing 45 minutes/2 lessons a week), but my goal was to make sure there were more than enough lessons for any students interested in going “above and beyond” the minimum suggested lessons/minutes.

ALL STUDENTS are encouraged to work to complete 45 minutes/2 lessons in I-Ready whether you are working on your Path or working on teacher assigned lessons. Don’t forget to check out the assigned skills in Khan Academy and practice for 30 minutes there too!

Remember, any practice that you are able to complete while we are away from school these next few weeks will help you maintain the skills we have worked on this year in math. Everything is meant to be review/enrichment!

Finally, marking period 3 is scheduled to end next Friday, March 27 as planned. Grades will be based on assignments that were due before March 13. If any students still have missing assignments, you may take a picture of your completed work (or scan it) and email it to me by next Friday, March 27. If you need any copies of book pages or math menus, etc. please email me and I can send you a digital copy. Unfortunately, I am unable to provide retakes for any quizzes.

I hope you and your families continue to stay in good health!

Mrs. Furlow

Friday, 3/20/20

Dear Parents and Students,

Apparently, there are some changes that the company (Ready Common Core) has made to I-Ready in order to help teachers and students during this time away from school….which means the Diagnostic test will no longer be available from home during this time.

Please be patient as I make some adjustments in I-Ready for those students that had not completed the Diagnostic test and were not already assigned a Path. I will be selecting some “Teacher Assigned” lessons for those of you that do not have a “Path”.

Students that did complete the Diagnostic test, you will continue to do what you have been doing….work on your Path.

I will be reaching out to families/students by early next week to see what I can do to support you!

Thank you in advance! Mrs. Furlow

Math- Online Learning

Dear Parents and Students,

The following assignments should be done during the school closure. Students are asked to complete 45 minutes (about 2 lessons) each week in I-Ready. Some students will need to re-start and complete their Diagnostic Test (see below) in order for their Path to be created and shown. Their Path is specific skill practice at their level based on how they perform on the Diagnostic test. Additionally, students are asked to complete a minimum of 30 minutes a week on Khan Academy, which includes completing the review work that has been assigned. Students will be able to see the assigned work on their Khan Academy home page, by checking the “Assignments” tab on the left, or by clicking their name in the upper right and checking the notifications. To access both I-Ready or Khan Academy, students need to go to the Dearborn Schools page, select the Student Portal under the “Home” tab, Click on Clever, and scroll down to click on the app they want.

WEEK 1 (March 13-22)
I-Ready

1) Complete the Diagnostic test if you have not already completed it. (FYI- students worked on this before mid-winter break for about 4 days, but if anyone did not finish it then or within 21 days of their start date, it automatically reset and needs to restarted). Once in I-Ready, students should see the icon for the Diagnostic test and click it to begin. The Diagnostic test will take about 2-3 hours to complete. If students prefer to break up their time to complete it over multiple sessions, that is fine. Students can exit/close I-Ready whenever they choose, as the next time they login to I-Ready, the Diagnostic test will continue where the student left off. Students can only work on it between the hours of 8AM and 3PM on weekdays (Monday-Friday), so please be aware of that when budgeting time to complete the diagnostic.

2) If students already have the diagnostic test completed…. Complete 45 minutes working on their Path. This will be accomplished by completing about 2 lessons for the week.  Each lesson will take a different number of minutes to complete, so it is possible that more than 2 lessons will need to be completed in order to get to 45 minutes. The practice on I-Ready for the week can be spread out over several days/sessions if you prefer, instead of completing it on one day, in one lump sum of time. Students can exit/close I-Ready whenever they choose, as the next time they login to I-Ready, the Path will continue where the student left off.

Khan Academy
Complete a minimum of 30 minutes for the week, which includes completing the 13 review assignments. You will notice the assignments have the same due date (April 12 by 11:59pm). You can decide which assignment(s) you want to start with and complete each week! If you choose to complete all of the assignments in week 1, you will still need to complete your 30 minutes of practice on Khan Academy for week 2 and week 3, but you will have the flexibility to work on your “MAP Recommended Practice” or topics of your choosing that are close to your math level based on NWEA.

WEEK 2 (March 23-29)
I-Ready – Complete 45 minutes (about 2 lessons) on your Path
Khan Academy – Complete a minimum of 30 minutes (see above)

WEEK 3 (March 30- April 5)
I-Ready – Complete 45 minutes (about 2 lessons) on your Path
Khan Academy – Complete a minimum of 30 minutes (see above)

**Extra Credit Opportunity **
(these are review skills and enrichment skills that could help you prepare for lessons we will begin when we return, as well as M-Step or Spring NWEA)
IXL Skills- Unit 2 Ratios/Proportions/Percent Problems (Extra Credit)
IXL Skills- Unit 3 EXPRESSIONS & EQUATIONS (Extra Credit)

Please email me if you have any questions about anything, including needing support on logging into Khan Academy or I-Ready through Clever, how to find the assignments in Khan, username/password for IXL, NWEA Winter Scores for “Map Recommended Practice” in Khan Academy, any questions about using I-Ready.     furlowd@dearbornschools.org 

As of today, the end date of marking period 3 has not been changed. If any student has late work that they are interested in submitting, he/she needs to contact me via email….any book page will need to be scanned and emailed to me (or a photo can be taken of the page(s) and sent to me via email). If any copies of book pages or math menus or whatever are needed, please email me and I can send those as well since they cannot be posted on the blog.

Please check your email or my blog periodically for updates or additional information. Thank you for your support and patience through these next few weeks! Stay healthy!

Mrs. Furlow 

Homework
1) See above for each week. 

Important Dates:
Friday, March 13-Sunday, April 12 — SCHOOL CLOSED
Monday, April 13 — Students return to school (decided as of 3/13/20…please check the Dearborn Schools or Bryant websites for any updates)

Detroit Zoo Field Trip on 3/4/20

Huge THANK YOU to all the parents that joined us on our field trip today! Hopefully everyone enjoyed the day….and we were even lucky to see the sun by the afternoon!!!

If any parents or students have some pictures from today they would be willing to share, feel free to email them to me and I can post them on the blog for others to enjoy. Pictures can be of groups of kids hanging out and having fun or pictures of any animals or interesting things you noticed. Thanks in advance!!