Overview
I was a first-year teacher at DCP-Alameda during the 2008-2009 school year. I was in charge of planning and teaching a remedial math class called Numeracy. As a first year teacher, the curriculum changed throughout the year as I tried to discover myself as a teacher. For example, I did not consistently give warm-ups until the second unit (but they do appear sporadically in the first unit). Also, I introduced "minute quizzes" halfway through the first unit, and I continued using them for the rest of the school year. Eventually, the format I (usually) settled on was: minute quiz → warm-up → notes → classwork (just a couple problems from the homework) → ALEKS. To make grading the warm-ups and notes easier, I created a Warm-up & Notes Checker. I also color-coded the checkers to make them easier to distinguish week-by-week.
Minute Quiz Generator
I created an application (using Automator, which comes with Mac OS X) that generates minute quizzes. You can download the disk image for it here. It contains three files: the application, a template, and a readme file. Please consult the "readme.txt" file for instructions on installing and using the application.
Calendar & Standards
The following documents provide an overview of the school year. Note that Numeracy tends to have fewer units than other classes, but each unit is longer (particularly the unit on fractions).
The following documents contain DCP's and California's standards.
- DCP Numeracy Standards
- California Math Content Standards
- Grade K Edusoft Standards
- Grade 1 Edusoft Standards
- Grade 2 Edusoft Standards
- Grade 3 Edusoft Standards
- Grade 4 Edusoft Standards
- Grade 5 Edusoft Standards
- Grade 6 Edusoft Standards
- Grade 7 Edusoft Standards
Semester 1
Unit 1 - Integers
- Unit 1 Calendar
- Lesson 1-1 - Math Autobiographies; Beginning ALEKS
- Lesson 1-2 - Cornell Notes; Zero Pairs
- Lesson 1-3 - Portfolios; Adding Integers
- Lesson 1-4 - Subtracting Integers
- Lesson 1-5, 1.6 - Adding & Subtracting Big Integers (Base 10 Blocks)
- Lesson 1-7 - Quiz; Multiplying Integers
- Lesson 1-8 - Multiplying Big Integers
- Lesson 1-9 - Multiplying Positive and Negative Integers
- Lesson 1-10 - Multiplication Tricks
- Lesson 1-11 - Division with Manipulatives
- Lesson 1-12 - Partial Quotients
- Lesson 1-13 - Long Division
- Lesson 1-14 - Unit 1 Review
- Lesson 1-15 - Unit 1 Comprehensive Test (not available)
Unit 2 - Fractions
- Unit 2 Calendar
- Lesson 2-1 - Intro to Fractions
- Lesson 2-2 - Improper Fractions
- Lesson 2-3 - Plotting Fractions
- Lesson 2-4 - Equivalent Fractions
- Lesson 2-5 - Prime Factorization
- Lesson 2-5a - Grade Conferences & Stand and Deliver
- Lesson 2-6 - Simplifying Fractions
- Lesson 2-7 - Least Common Multiple
- Lesson 2-8 - Comparing Fractions
- Lesson 2-9 - Review (Substitute)
- Lesson 2-10 - Adding and Subtracting Fractions
- Lesson 2-11 - Multiplying Fractions
- Lesson 2-12 - Multiplying Special Fractions
- Lesson 2-12b - Ninety-Nine Game
- Lesson 2-13 - Dividing Fractions
- Lesson 2-14 - Review of Fraction Operations
- Lesson 2-15 - Square Fraction Regions
- Lesson 2-16 - Weird-Shaped Fraction Regions
- Lesson 2-17 - Whole-to-Part Conversion
- Lesson 2-18 - Part-to-Whole Conversion
- Lesson 2-19 - Fractions of Collections
- Lesson 2-20 - Unit 2 Review
- Lesson 2-21 - Unit 2 Comprehensive Test (not available)
Unit 2 Continued - Fraction Circles (Manipulatives)
As evident on the unit 2 comprehensive test, many students were still struggling with fractions, so I decided to continue the unit rather than start a new one. This time, however, I made greater use of manipulatives (fraction circles).
- Lesson 2-22 - Adding & Subtracting Fractions Review (Substitute)
- Lesson 2-23 - Don't Add Across (Fraction Circles)
- Lesson 2-24 - Adding Differing Denominators with Fraction Circles
- Lesson 2-25 - More Adding Differing Denominators with Fraction Circles
- Lesson 2-26 - Least Common Multiple
- Lesson 2-27 - Adding Differing Denominators without Fraction Circles
- Lesson 2-28 - Adding Differing Denominators Review
- Lesson 2-29 - Multiplying and Dividing Fractions
- Lesson 2-30 - Whole-Part Conversion & Fractions of Collections
- Lesson 2-31 - Semester 1 Review
Semester 1 Final
- Numeracy Semester 1 DCP Standards
- Proctor Instructions (not available)
- Semester 1 Final A (not available)
- Semester 1 Final B (not available)
Semester 2
Unit 3 - Decimals
- Unit 3 Calendar
- Lesson 3-1 - Diagnostics Test; Integer Division
- Lesson 3-2 - Intro to Decimals
- Lesson 3-3 - Decimals as Base-10 Fractions (Substitute)
- Lesson 3-4 - Fractions-to-Decimals (Base-10 Fractions)
- Lesson 3-5 - Fractions-to-Decimals (Long Division)
- Lesson 3-6 - Plotting Decimals
- Lesson 3-7 - Ordering Decimals (Part 1)
- Lesson 3-8 - Ordering Decimals (Part 2)
- Lesson 3-9 - Rounding Decimals
- Lesson 3-10 - Review of Decimal Concepts
- Lesson 3-11 - Adding Decimals
- Lesson 3-12 - Subtracting Decimals
- Lesson 3-13 - Multiplying Decimals
- Lesson 3-14 - Dividing Decimals by Whole Numbers
- Lesson 3-15 - Dividing by Decimals
- Lesson 3-16 - Multiplying and Dividing by Powers of 10
- Lesson 3-17 - Unit 3 Review (Day 1)
- Lesson 3-18 - Unit 3 Review (Day 2)
- Lesson 3-19 - Unit 3 Comprehensive Test (not available)
Unit 4 - Polynomials
The purpose of this unit is to prepare students for the Algebra 1 STAR test (since all Freshmen are in Algebra 1). I chose to do STAR prep has a regular unit to prevent students from being inundated by STAR prep in all their classes. That is, we were doing STAR prep without them knowing it.
- Unit 4 Calendar
- Lesson 4-1 - Intro & Representing Polynomials
- Lesson 4-2 - Simplifying Polynomials
- Lesson 4-3 - Algeblock Perimeter Problems
- Lesson 4-4 - Adding and Subtracting Polynomials
- Lesson 4-5 - Multiplying Polynomials
- Lesson 4-6 - Multiplying Polynomials with Tables
- Lesson 4-6b - Math Riddles (Substitute)
- Lesson 4-7 - Factoring Polynomials
- Lesson 4-8 - Dividing Polynomials
- Lesson 4-9 - Unit 4 Review
- Lesson 4-10 - Unit 4 Comprehensive Test (not available)
Unit 5 - Percents
This unit is based on Prentice Hall California Pre-Algebra, chapter 6: Ratios, Proportions, and Percents.
- Unit 5 Calendar
- Lesson 5-1 - Percents Diagnostics Test
- Lesson 5-2 - Ratios & Proportions
- Lesson 5-3 - Similar Figures & Scale Drawings
- Lesson 5-4 - Percents to Fractions and Decimals
- Lesson 5-5 - Decimals and Fractions to Percents
- Lesson 5-6 - Solving Percent Problems using Proportions
- Lesson 5-7 - Solving Percent Problems using Percent Equations
- Lesson 5-8 - Percent of Change; Discount
- Lesson 5-9 - Practice Test
- Lesson 5-10 - Unit 5 Comprehensive Test (not available)
(Unit 6) Exhibition - "A Day in the Life"
For this project, students determine the percent of time they spend doing various activities in a 24-hour cycle and present it as a pie chart graph. Students spend half of each class period working on ALEKS and the other half working on the exhibition.
I got the idea for this project from a colleague. Her master teacher first created this project, although I created all these worksheets.
- Project Handouts (a collection of the various handouts from each lesson)
- Sample Exhibition Project
- Minute Quiz 6-0
- Lesson 6-1 - Introduction & Time Logs
- Lesson 6-2 - Categories & Pie Charts
- Lesson 6-3 - Reflections & Closure
Semester 2 Final
Since polynomials are an Algebra 1 topic rather than a Numeracy topic, I decided to only test students on decimals and percents. Also, I created the unit on polynomials to prepare students for the Algebra 1 STAR. The semester 2 final is simply the unit 3 (decimals) and unit 5 (percents) tests put together. In fact, the practice test is the unit 3 practice test and unit 5 practice test put together, and the actual test is a mixture of problems from the unit 3 and 5 actual tests.
- Final Exam Skills List & Standards
- Proctor Instructions (not available)
- Semester 2 Final A (not available)
- Semester 2 Final B (not available)
- Semester 2 Final Answer Keys (not available)