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Erica McLaurin, Math Curriculum Facilitator

Erica McLaurin decided that she would become a teacher in the 2nd grade, and although she traveled on various paths, her love of math and working with students always brought her back to the classroom. She graduated from UNC Charlotte with both a B.A. and M.Ed. in Middle and Secondary Education.  Prior to Bradford, Mrs. McLaurin worked in Cabarrus County as a middle school math teacher. She lives in Charlotte with her husband, daughter, and pet hamster. She enjoys dancing, traveling, doing arts and crafts, and spending time with her family.
 
 
 
 
 
CAVE is a brand-new class being offered at Bradford Prep this year.  We will be focusing on study skills, note-taking, test-taking strategies, individual academic support, presentation skills, writing, goal-setting, and much more. Our goal in this class is to prepare our students for the demands of high school.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Posts

Upcoming Math Units

In order to prepare for future lessons, we will be speding some time in CAVE to work on slope and graphing linear equations.  After that, we will work on geometry and scatter plots.  In the meantime, here are some links to some review games for slope.
 
 
 
 
 

During the week of November 12-16, 2018 our class will be participating in a nationwide coding contest called the Code-a-thon. Students will be learning a real computer programming language using online lessons from Learning.com. You can learn more about the EasyCode curriculum that we will be using during the Code-a-Thon at www.learning.com/coding. At the end of the competition, one participating school will be randomly selected to receive $500 for a pizza party, and a year-long subscription of Learning.com’s digital literacy and coding curriculum!

CAVE students are completing a math and reading assessment via Istation this week.  This information, along with the results from the NC Check-Ins, will help identify specific needs for each student.  Each month, we will take the assessment and track our progress for growth.  In addition to the websites I have listed on my page, students are encourage to download the Istation app or work online for addition practice.  Students have their login info for all of their websites used in class pasted in their agenda.
Welcome to the 2nd Quarter!! It's time to embrace a new beginning and the opportunity to either continue our good habits or try out a new plan towards success.  We spent first quarter focusing on goal setting and reflection.  This quarter we will add on to those topics by learning about perseverance and stress management.  
This week, we will be learning about growth mindset in class as a part of a Khan Academy program called LearnStorm. In this series of activities, your child will learn how the brain is set up to learn and grow, how to overcome frustrations with different learning strategies, and how to positively work through mistakes.

OPTIONS FOR GRAPHING CALCULATOR

Several students have asked about calculators.  There is no need to splurge on a brand new TI84 Plus, a simple 4 function or scientific calculator is just fine for now.  You can even use calculators on most smartphones (you may have to rotate your phone to access exponents, roots, etc).  However, it is encouraged that you purchase some type of graphing calculator at some point before starting Math 1.  In the meantime, here are a few options available to use online or as an app.
 
1. Desmos is a free program that you can use online https://www.desmos.com/
You can also download the app for iOS or Android
 
2. Wabbitemu is a TI84 emulator found here http://wabbitemu.org/ It allow you to use a virtual version of the calculator used in class.  There is also an app for Android.
 
3. For quick calculation, you can simply type in your math problem into Google.  It will also graph equations!

Mid-Quarter Update

😎Last week, CAVE students took a survey about career interests.  We will use this info to start exploring various jobs, especially options that students would normally not research. 
 
📚This week, students will continue working on goal setting as well as spend time preparing for their upcoming Fraction Test.

Video about our Multiple Intelligence

Yesterday, students complete a survey and learned about their learning styles.

Welcome back everyone!!

I hope everyone had a restful Labor Day Weekend and returned ready to go! Last week, students worked in groups to create Sierpinski's Pyramid.  It is currently on display in the US Office.  Today, students completed their vision boards.  Some students wanted some more time to add some more inspirational pictures and thoughts so I will try to arrange for extra time later this week.  The purpose of these boards is to encourage students to stay positive and motivated to work towards their goals.  This will lead into our lesson for the rest of the week on multiple intelligence and goal-setting.
 
**As a reminder, students will need a notebook to keep in class for their journal entries by next Monday, September 10th.