Welcome to my Blog page for 6th grade math for the 2015-2016 school year. By now, you should have received a welcome letter from me that I gave out the first day of school and went over with each and every class. In that letter, I listed some avenues for success in math class for this year. Some of the highlights were to be prepared every day with all materials ready to go (including homework) and have a good attitude when I begin class. Since we have over 80 minutes of class this year, it is my plan to give each class some time (hopefully about 15-20 minutes) to begin their homework before leaving for the day. In some cases, they may be able to complete the assignment, if not, then your child is expected to have it completed by the start of the next class. I grade homework on an effort basis, and I expect to see work or answers for every problem I assign. I do not grade homework for a numerical grade, I am just checking to see if it has been completed. I want to see all scrap work, so they are required to show me that as well.
I WILL NOT be posting daily homework on this blog page, and do not intend to do so this year. I clearly define what is expected for homework in class before I dismiss each class. Each child was given a handbook with a daily planner in it which should be used to write down daily assignments for each class. In addition, I will be available via email (jmatisoff@neusecharterschool.org) until 10pm each night to answer questions about the homework. I do not usually bring home extra copies so please do not ask me to send you a copy if you left it in class.
Because of the flexibility I have with longer class times and leveled classes, each of my 3 classes may be on a different topic and have different assignments to complete each day. That is also the reason that I am not able to give out homework weeks (or even too many days) in advance. My homework is based on what lessons we cover in class and how much practice I feel is necessary to master the concepts. I do not give homework for the sake of giving homework, it is to practice a skill or skills we learned in class that day. Most times, the homework is just like the practice problems I did on the board in class. For most lessons, I do multiple examples, complete with all steps worked out, and expect all examples to be copied into the students notebook. That way, parents can see what we are working on in class and the examples can be used to help solve additional problems I have assigned.
One thing that I stress every day is the importance of knowing the relevant vocabulary to the lesson we are covering. I put vocabulary words on the board nearly every day and expect the kids to learn them just as if it were for language arts class. In a lot of cases, just knowing the key vocabulary in a question will give you direction to solving the problem.
Lastly, as I have stated many times, knowing the basic skills of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of numbers 1 through 12 will be extremely beneficial to being successful in math class this year. I will be posting useful webpages and websites that I find that may be helpful in your students mastering these basic concepts, as well as pages that offer videos that demonstrate the same concepts we cover in class. Please check back here often to see what is new, and please feel free to drop me a line if you have any questions or concerns or have found some useful websites that you would like me to share.
Again, welcome to 6th grade and I hope it will be a very pleasant and enriching year for everyone.
Mr. Matisoff
I WILL NOT be posting daily homework on this blog page, and do not intend to do so this year. I clearly define what is expected for homework in class before I dismiss each class. Each child was given a handbook with a daily planner in it which should be used to write down daily assignments for each class. In addition, I will be available via email (jmatisoff@neusecharterschool.org) until 10pm each night to answer questions about the homework. I do not usually bring home extra copies so please do not ask me to send you a copy if you left it in class.
Because of the flexibility I have with longer class times and leveled classes, each of my 3 classes may be on a different topic and have different assignments to complete each day. That is also the reason that I am not able to give out homework weeks (or even too many days) in advance. My homework is based on what lessons we cover in class and how much practice I feel is necessary to master the concepts. I do not give homework for the sake of giving homework, it is to practice a skill or skills we learned in class that day. Most times, the homework is just like the practice problems I did on the board in class. For most lessons, I do multiple examples, complete with all steps worked out, and expect all examples to be copied into the students notebook. That way, parents can see what we are working on in class and the examples can be used to help solve additional problems I have assigned.
One thing that I stress every day is the importance of knowing the relevant vocabulary to the lesson we are covering. I put vocabulary words on the board nearly every day and expect the kids to learn them just as if it were for language arts class. In a lot of cases, just knowing the key vocabulary in a question will give you direction to solving the problem.
Lastly, as I have stated many times, knowing the basic skills of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of numbers 1 through 12 will be extremely beneficial to being successful in math class this year. I will be posting useful webpages and websites that I find that may be helpful in your students mastering these basic concepts, as well as pages that offer videos that demonstrate the same concepts we cover in class. Please check back here often to see what is new, and please feel free to drop me a line if you have any questions or concerns or have found some useful websites that you would like me to share.
Again, welcome to 6th grade and I hope it will be a very pleasant and enriching year for everyone.
Mr. Matisoff
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