INSIDE THE MATH CLASSROOM:
Jennifer Rasnic, math teacher, Excel Charter School, Brooklyn
The math that sixth- graders learn is the math of our everyday lives. When we shop on a budget, use a coupon for a discount, go out to eat, or even check the weather app on our phones, we are using math taught in sixth grade. Students learn to recognize the many situations in real life that require these practical math skills.
By the end of our year together, my students know j ust how i mportant and useful math can be each day.
Much of our year is spent studying and working with ratios and proportional relationships. In our classroom, we look at recipes for trail mix and fruit punch as real-world examples. I bring in all the ingredients needed to prepare these treats, as well as a recipe for them to follow. Working in groups, the students double and triple their recipes, then compare the finished products with those prepared by the other groups.
Students quickly learn that the ingredients must stay in proportion with one
another as the recipe is changed — and that the resulting snacks and drinks won’t look or taste right if the relationships are out of proportion.
In sixth grade, students learn about percentages and their applications in life. I start this unit by asking the class if they went out to dinner, or went shopping, or took a quiz in the past week or month. Then I explain that all of these situations involve percentages. You pay the tip on a meal, you pay sales tax when shopping, and you calculate grades using percentages. By the end of the unit, I explain, they will be able to calculate all of these things for themselves. Middle schoolers always have to know how the math they learn is useful .
They also explore negative numbers in our unit on integers. We study bank account activity to help them grasp the concept of negative integers. I usually print out records from my own bank account, my savings account with my fiancé, and a statement from my credit card.
We discuss new vocabulary words, like
“deposits,” “credit,” “refund” and “balance,” so that the class can analyze the basics of money management. Students love to talk about money, and in sixth grade we learn more about how it works in our lives.
Sample questions:
Students will complete 51 multiplechoice questions on the 2017 exam, as well as 10 open-response questions requiring them to demonstrate their use of mathematical methods.
1) Which pair of expressions below are equivalent? A. 7 (2x) and 9x B. 3x + 5x and 15x C. 4(x–6) and 8x–24 D. x+ x + x + x and x
2) Last year, Chesa made 32 one-cup servings of soup for a school party. This year, she will make two times the amount of soup that she made last year. How many gallons of soup will Chesa make this year? A. 64 B. 16 C. 4 D. 2
3. What is the area, in square centimeters, of the trapezoid below?
ANSWERS: 1. C; 2. C; 3. Two points possible.