Math week 1-2-20 am 1-3-20

Hi all!

Happy New Year and welcome back! We will probably be starting middle-of-the-year NWEA testing as soon as 1-2-20. Rest up and turn on your school brains!

Homework for Week 1-6-20

7th grade

8th grade

No Homework over Winter Break!

Nope. None. Have a safe and happy holidays.

Math Week 12-16-19

ALL: This week we have lots of activities and events. See posts below for Spirit Week details and Ray Family Night info.


We still need supplies for the 7th graders' Winter Wonderland. See list here.


7th grade: We will work on finishing our unit on proportional relationships. Also Infinite Fraction Tree fun on Monday.


8th grade: We will look at how the constant of proportionality and slope are the same thing in graphs of proportional relationships. Also Infinite Fraction Tree fun on Monday.

Homework for week 12-16-19

7th grade


8th grade

Ray Spirit Week Starts next week!

12/16/19, Monday - Ugly, Beautiful Sweater Day

12/17/19, Tuesday - Character & Role Play Day OR Mixed-Up Clothes

12/18/19, Wednesday - Floor Color War Day  & Ray Warrior Family Community Night, Winter Wonderland

12/19/19, Thursday - Pajama, Story, Movie & Stuffed Animal Day

12/20/19, Friday - Dance Party, Sports, Snowball Day

*Sweater Day - Take class photos and present fun awards (write categories on the board or project from a screen)

*Character Day - Students can wear like their favorite book or movie character (must be school appropriate). Set aside for students  play charades or role-play. Staff, you can play in the teacher's during your lunch break. Or just be mixed up with clothes that don't match!

*Floor Color Wars

Annex - Yellow 

1st Floor - Green

2nd Floor - Red

3rd Floor - Blue

*Ray Warrior Community Night: story time, cookie decorating, choir performance and arts & crafts

*PJ Day - Onesie Fun, movies in class and/or auditorium on the big screen. Hopefully, our popcorn machine will be available. Grade Level Story time in the library (schedule forthcoming) 

*Friday - AM Sports/PM Dance Parties/Make paper snowballs & enjoy!

Ray Family Night!

Math Week for 12-9-19

ALL: The 7th graders are doing a Winter Wonderland (we missed our Haunted House due to the strike!) on Wednesday 12-18-19, 4-6 p.m. as part of our Ray Family Night series.


We need your help with decorating supplies! Click here for a link to our requested donations list!


The theme of the Family Night will be T'was the Week Before Winter Break. There will be our Winter Wonderland, story time, a Chicago Children's Choir performance, and cookie decorating.


7th: We will finish our unit on proportionality with looking at proportional graphs. Key ideas are that a proportional graph is a line graph that is straight (linear) and goes through the origin.


8th: Meet slope! We will look at how similar figures help us define slope and then use slope to start conceptually thinking about equations of lines-- that lines are just a collection of infinite points! Woah.

Homework for week 12-9-19

7th Grade


8th Grade

Parent Portal Training

Math Week 12-2-19

ALL: Progress reports go home on Friday, December 13. Reminder to all students that almost every assignment can be redone or corrected for more credit! Also, bonus assignment on Google Classroom is due December 6.

7th grade: We will continue with constant of proportionality and how it shows up in equations. We will then use equations of proportional relationships to solve tasks. At the end of the week we will also start learning about the graphs of proportional relationships. It's the math of things like hot chocolate. On the side we will review stem and leaf plots.

8th grade: We will explore how the concept of similarity in mathematics works. We will then use that conceptual understanding to build an understanding of slope and eventually, rate of change.

Homework for week 12-2-19

7th grade


8th grade

Math Week 11-25-19

ALL:

• Reminder that the Food Drive ends Tuesday. See link below.
• Pajama Day on Wednesday 11-27-19. Where your school appropriate jammies!

7th: We review mean, median, mode, and range. Also we talk about misleading graphs and the way people use lack of understanding of mathematics to lie to you.


8th: We will block out the sun the way Mr. Burns did on the Simpsons. Dilations, understanding circles, pattern recognition, and linear algebra.

Homework for week 11-25-19

NO HOMEWORK!


There is a bonus assignment shared in Google Classroom.

Happy Thanksgiving!

FOOD DRIVE

FOOD DRIVE:

7th grade color is red. Bring in non-perishable red food for families in need this Thanksgiving!

Math Week 11-18-19

ALL:

• PTO Game Night! Tuesday 11-19-19 starting at 5p.m. Pizza too!
• High School Fair--7th grade goes from 2:30 to 3:15. 8th grade from 3:00 to 3:45. High Schools will stay after until 4:30. Parents welcome any time between 2:30 and 4:30.
• Students need pencils and pens! Please check if your student is supplied.

7th grade: We will continue with the constant of proportionality. Real y=kx stuff!


8th grade: We will study dilations this week.

Homework for week 11-18-19

7th grade


8th grade

Math Curriculum

Hi all! Today at Parent Conferences, a parent asked about the Open-Up curriculum we are using. It is all online and had a family and student component! Check it out here: OPEN-UP MATH

High School Fair!

Math Week 11-11-19

ALL: No school Monday, November 11, 2019 for Veteran's Day. No school on Wednesday, November 13, 2019 for parent conferences. To sign up for a conference time, see two posts below.

7th: We are in our unit on proportional relationships. We will specifically look at how to find and use the constant of proportionality.

8th: We finish our short angles unit with our mostly student constructed test on Tuesday. Then we spend some time understanding dilations before we move to slope in the coming weeks.

Homework for week 11-11-19

7th Grade


8th Grade

Parent/Teacher Conference and Report Card Pick-up is Wednesday, November 13, 2019!

All conferences are 10 minutes in length on the 10’s with the first one beginning at 11:50 pm.  Conferences end promptly at 6:00 pm. I will schedule based on a first-come, first-served basis. The link to the schedule is on my blog (See below!) Please feel free to send a Dojo message or you can email as well: lalbrecht@cps.edu and I will update the schedule with your requested time.


304 Report Card Pick-Up and Conferences Schedule

Math Week 11-4-19

ALL: Quarter 1 ends this week on 11-8-19. There is no school for students on 11-8-19 for teacher professional development. Mr. Albrecht's cut-off for the first quarter for all grades, make-up, and bonus is Wednesday, 11-6-19 at 4 p.m.


Also, Haunted Cafeteria is/was cancelled do to the CTU strike.


7th Grade: We are starting our unit on proportional relationships. This week we look at ways to represent equivalent ratios and how to determine constant of proportionality.


8th Grade: Angles! Lots of different angle relationships. I really recommend the Khan videos that accompany this week's homework.

Thanks to all students and parents and guardians for their support during the CTU strike!

Homework for week 11-4-19

7th Grade


8th Grade

Welcome back students, parents, and guardians!

The strike is over and we are back to class. I am excited to see everyone returning to Ray. Look for updates on homework and class happenings to be posted this weekend. WELCOME BACK!

Affy Tapple Fundraiser 2019 - 2020

Affy Tapple Fundraiser 2019 - 2020

Orders are due by Friday, October 18, 2019. If possible, please submit payments by check or money order (cash is also accepted- if needed). Please make check/money order payable to Friends of Ray PTO.

Remember the class that submits the most orders will win a PIZZAPARTY!

Math Week 10-14-19

ALL: NO SCHOOL MONDAY 10-14-19


304: Parents/Guardians-- please contact Mr. Albrecht if you completed the CPS volunteer process last year so we can mark you as a volunteer for this year. lalbrecht@cps.edu


7th Grade: We start a unit Introducing Proportional Relationships. See the overview from Open-Up here.


8th Grade: Finishing up transformations with two projects: Flip Books and Dance.

Homework for week 10-14-19 (Due 10-18-19)

7th


8th

Parent Engagement Survey

Hi all! Parents and Guardians--please take a moment and fill out the Parent Engagement Survey: https://forms.gle/sozwrp4uKT8RiVXW8

Math Week 10-7-19

7th grade: We will be looking at how to take a scale drawing and find the actual dimensions of what the drawing represents and vice verse (think maps, blueprints, etc). Test over the first unit will be this Thursday (10-10-19).


8th grade: We continue with transformations on the grid. We will revisit M.C. Escher on Thursday. Test on Friday (10-11-19).

Homework for week 10-7-19 (Due 10-11-19)

7th grade


8th grade

Important Dates

• 10/7 & 9th - Eye Exams
• 10/8 - Picture Day 
• 10/11 - Deadline for Medical Compliance (It is acceptable for parents to send doctor appointment dates to the nurse.)
• 10/16 - PTO sponsored International Night 
• 10/25 - Hispanic Heritage Assembly
• 10/30 (tentative) - Family & Community Night

                    Theme: Fall Fun at Ray

Progress Reports

We were unable to populate a full progress reports today, 10-4-19. We are sorry for the late notice. Progress reports should be ready to go home on Monday, 10-7-19.

Helping Hurricane Dorian Survivors

Math Week 9-30-19-- AND LOTS OF OTHER IMPORTANT INFO!

UPCOMING:
1. PTO will hold International Night on Wednesday, October 16. You can sign up to host a table showcasing a country you are from or just know a lot about, contribute a dish to the potluck, or just volunteer to help plan by contacting Marcy Juarez at mkjo316@yahoo.com.


2. PICTURE DAY IS TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8. I sent order forms home last week. I still have a few extra hard copies in class if students need them. Online orders can be made through Van Gogh photograph at  www.ordervgil.com.


3. PROGRESS REPORTS: 1st Quarter progress reports go home Friday, October 4.


ONGOING:
1. Please pay your student fees of $85. These funds are used to buy technology, copy paper, art supplies, books, field trips, etc! EPay site click here.
2. Family Income Forms. The deadline was moved from December 1st to October 15th and we need these forms...they mean funds from the state! PDF COPY HERE!


MATH WEEK 9-30-19
7th: We continue to study scale copies and scale factor. We will make scale drawing this week and look at how to use a scale drawing to find actual lengths.
8th: We continue looking at transformations--the math of movement. This week we use grids to translate, reflect, and rotate. Lots of computer added graphing and drawing with Geogebra! We also will take the BOY REACH Performance task on Thursday.

Homework for week 9-30-19 (Due 10-4-19)

7th grade


8th grade

Math week 9-23-19

Hello all,


I started adding grades to Aspen. Please be checking Student and Parent portals.

PTO meeting this week on Tuesday 9-24-19 at 5 p.m.


Ray Family Night Wednesday 9-25-19 starting at 4 p.m.

7th grade continues a unit on scale drawings.


8th grade continues a unit on transformations--the mathematics of movement.

Homework for week 9-23-19 (due 9-27-19)

7th grade


8th grade

PTO Meeting

Grading Scale

As I get grades entered this week and also start sending assignments back to students, I thought this would be a good time to share my grading scale and general rubric.

PICTURE DAY is TUESDAY OCTOBER 8!

I sent order forms home last week. I still have a few extra hard copies in class if students need them. Online orders can be made through Van Gogh photograph at  www.ordervgil.com.

Math Week 9-16-19

Hello all,


It looks as if I will have full access to all 7th and 8th grade students in the new gradebook system Aspen as of 9-16-19. I will start adding grades as soon as possible. I will also work this week to make sure all students have access to their CPS email, math Google classrooms, and Khan Academy.


We plan on giving our beginning-of-year(BOY) NWEA math and ELA tests this week on Tuesday and Wednesday.


7th grade will begin a unit on scale drawings.


8th grade will begin a unit on transformations--the mathematics of movement.

Homework for week 9-16-19 (Due 9-20-19)

7th Grade


8th Grade

Mattress Sale!

Math Week for 9-9-19

ALL: Thanks to all parents who sent in classroom supplies. All the paper towels, tissue, paper, etc is super helpful!


ALL: OPEN HOUSE is this Thursday 9-12-19 from 4-5 p.m. in my room. Then 5-6 p.m. to explore the rest of the school!


7th: We will continue to work on building classroom community. Students need to work together to learn!. We will do a task involving permutations and then start our first unit on scale drawings.


8th: We will continue to work on building classroom community. Students need to work together to learn!. We will do a task involving permutations and then start our first unit on transformations.

Curriculum Map for 7th and 8th grade mathematics

Open Up by Illustrative Mathematics

Homework for the week 9-9-19 (Due 9-13-19)

7th Grade: I have set up Khan Academy for students to do homework. Details about homework expectations are in the homework link and in this FAQ. Most students who have their Khan tied to their CPS email are already added with me as their coach for this year. I will give any student not connected time in class on Tuesday to create Khan accounts and/or add me as their coach.


8th Grade:I have set up Khan Academy for students to do homework. Details about homework expectations are in the homework link and in this FAQ. Most students who have their Khan tied to their CPS email are already added with me as their coach for this year. I will give any student not connected time in class on Tuesday to create Khan accounts and/or add me as their coach

Homework for week 9-3-19

304: Students will be bringing home the Emergency Contact Form and the Student Health & School Forms Booklet on Thursday. Please fill out the Emergency Contact Form and the "All Parents Must Complete" forms from the packet, sign, and return to Mr. Albrecht.


DUE by 9-9-19.


Emergency Form

Letter from our adminstators

304 7th grade Homeroom Schedule as of 9-4-19

I will update if changes occur.


304 7th grade Homeroom Schedule

Math Week 9-3-19

Hello all,


As we get homerooms organized, I will be spending this week on routines and procedures. Students will learn how to set up math notebooks, log-in to CPS email and Google classrooms, help establish classroom expectations/consequences, and practice being a community of learners. I hope to start math content homework next week on Khan Academy. I am excited to meet so many new students and parents/guardians. I am looking forward to a great year!


--Mr. Albrecht

Welcome to the 2019-2020 School Year!

Dear Parents and Students:

Welcome to the 2019-2020 school year at Ray Elementary!  I hope everyone had an excellent and relaxing summer. The middle school team is looking forward to a school year filled with a love for learning and growth. We welcome regular and consistent communication and partnership in the education of your child. Parental support will be essential!  

The CPS vision statement is cool!

In young people, a high-quality education develops not only strong academic skills, but also a love of learning (Ray’s Vision too!), the ability to work with others, the motivation to take initiative, the experience to solve problems creatively, the knowledge to live healthy lives, and the desire to become active citizens in their communities.

Grades:

Current grades are posted weekly to communicate progress to students and parents/guardians on Parent Portal (https://parent.cps.k12.il.us ). My classroom blog includes links to homework assignments, assignment due dates, and a variety of other helpful information.

 Communication:

1. email: lalbrecht@cps.edu (best way to reach me, I try for a response within 24 hours!)
2. blog (updated weekly): http://304albrecht.blogspot.com/ (Current Supply list is posted!)
3. Parent Portal (updated weekly): https://parent.cps.k12.il.us 
4. Class Dojo: https://www.classdojo.com/ Class Codes will be sent home the first week of school. This is a great way to send text messages between home and school, monitor student behavior, and get updates about what is going on in the classroom. I usually check Dojo several times between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on school days. 

 

Sincerely, 

Mr. Albrecht

Dig this video! This is what I am hoping to see with our students!