Hello Middle School Parenting Adults, 

It has been a whirlwind start to the school year, and now we have begun to settle into routines and increasingly interesting math concepts. Math is a topic we know we must approach with a particular focus on mindset. Students tend to enter middle school math with an idea of who they are as mathematicians. We aim to nourish their curiosity, encourage them to make mistakes, and have fun in the process. We know that building relationships and helping students to enjoy math instruction is key to them being successful in math here, high school, and beyond. 

6th grade math began by building a collaborative, prepared community of mathematicians. Students practiced academic habits and tackled open-ended questions on vertical whiteboards, exploring the value of different perspectives through “productive math arguments.” During our unit on area and surface area, they enjoyed playful applications—measuring sunlit shapes, “wallpapering” houses in The Sims video game, and considering a prank to cover a file cabinet with sticky notes. The stage is set for a fun, growth-focused year in math.

Using erasable surfaces, these sixth graders make collaborative notes, placed on our classroom bulletin board, to be memorialized in their Math Notebooks.

A sixth grader teaches their peers how to calculate how much surface area our class video game character would need to cover to wallpaper their house (ever played the Sims?)

In 7th grade math, students began the year experimenting with scale factor and have now moved into a more abstract analysis of proportional relationships. We began with a fun Barbie project where we scaled up a Barbie doll using height and then foot length. It was highly entertaining and an engaging activity to get students thinking about how they see scale factor being utilized regularly in their day-to-day lives. 

How do the proportions of a Barbie doll compare to those of real human beings? 7th graders take measurements to find out.

8th grade started off the year with a quick review of how to solve one-step and two-step equations. This has led them into learning how to solve inequalities graphically and using an algorithmic approach. They are excited about taking on the challenge of algebra, and their work ethic has easily matched that energy. 

The industrious 8th graders work together to support each other in challenging work with inequalities and algorithmic thinking.

The year is off to a fantastic start in math, and students are definitely up to the challenge!

More photos:

6th graders make their thinking visible by doing collaborative math in groups of three at our vertical whiteboards. These become a way to give other groups inspiration, facilitate class discussions, and even consolidate our learning as a class.

6th graders make a spontaneous realization — our classroom window casts a sunlit parallelogram! We spotted the day’s lesson right in front of us. How much of the carpet is lit up by the sun?

Knowledge sharing at its finest! Two groups of 6th graders converge in an impromptu conference, when each got a different answer. They use math tools and our learned strategies to prove which of the two solutions accurately solves the problem.