What's Going On? December 14-18th

Hour of Code

Thank you to all of the students that participated in last week's Hour of Code event.  As I write this blog post, over 166 million students from 180+ countries participated in this worldwide Hour of Code event.  If you were not able to join us or you would like to find out more about computer programming, you can check out the code.org website or the Hour of Code website that I used for our event.



Polygons and Quadrilaterals

This week we will be finishing up our Polygons and Quadrilaterals unit.  We will talk about how we can prove which type of figure we are dealing with by taking our shapes to the coordinate plane.  We will talk about how we can write a formal two-column proof to show which type of quadrilateral we have.  We will finish up the week by reviewing and completing our unit 6 summative.  If you have any questions, please make sure to get them answered this week.  Also, if you would like to be test-retake eligible, please check out Infinite Campus and make sure that you are up to date with all assignments for the unit.

What's Going On? November 30-December 4th

Relationships in Triangles

As we completed our Kahoot review game last week it seemed like we could all use a little extra practice on our unit about the relationships that exist within triangles. On Monday we will spend another day going over last minute questions in preparation for our summative assessment.  Students will take the summative on Tuesday (for 1st and 2nd period) or on Wednesday (4th period).

Students have until class on Monday to complete the unit 5 practice test.  If you haven't finished it yet, be sure to take care of it during break.

If you still have any questions, please be sure to ask!  I am here to help!




Polygons and Quadrilaterals

Once we have wrapped up our fifth unit we will transition into our next unit on Polygons and Quadrilaterals.  In this unit, students will learn about interior and exterior angles in polygons. We will also learn about characteristics of different types of quadrilaterals.

What's Going On? November 23 and 24th

Thanksgiving Week

This is just a reminder that we have a shortened week this week.  Since we will only be in school on Monday and Tuesday of this week we will be running a "Monday" style schedule on both days.

Unit 5 Summative Assessment: Triangle Relationships

We have completed our study of relationships that exist within triangles. We have talked about how to construct points of concurrency including incenters, circumcenters, centroids, and orthocenters. We also refreshed our memories on properties of midsegments, triangle inequalities, and side-angle relationships.

Now that our quick unit has come to a close, it is time for us to review and complete our summative assessment.  On Monday students will play a quick review game and work on our unit 5 practice test.  Students need to make sure that all of their questions are answered before our summative assessment on Tuesday.  On Tuesday all classes will complete our summative assessment.

Please see me ASAP if you have any questions!

Unit 4 Summative Assessment Retakes: Triangle Congruence

Please make sure that if you are interested (and eligible) for a test retake, that you have completed it by Monday!

What's Going On? November 16-20th

Unit 4 Summative Assessment: Triangle Congruence

Last week we finished up our fourth unit on triangle congruence relationships.  Students who are interested in a summative retake must have this completed by Monday, November 23rd.  A student must:

• Make corrections on the original assessment
• Complete the customized extra practice 
• Please e-mail me to let me know which sections you plan to retake. I will then send you your personalized extra practice.
• Complete the retake by Monday, November 23rd.

Please note, the score on the second assessment will be recorded in Infinite Campus even if the score is lower than the original assessment.  Please see me if you have any questions.

Relationships in Triangles

Last week we started our fifth unit on relationships in triangles. We reviewed a little bit about the properties of the midsegments of a triangle as well as the triangle inequality theorem.  This week we will continue our study into the other relationships that exist within triangles.  We will further investigate angle-side relationships.  We will also talk about points of concurrency that exist in a triangle. (Basically this is a fancy way to say that we're going to look at a point where a bunch of lines meet.). 

For this investigation we will be constructing points of concurrency so students will need to have a compass and a straight edge.  We will also try to complete some of these constructions electronically, so students will need to have the "Geometry: Constructions Tutor (Lite)" installed on their iPads. This is a free app available through the App store.

This will be a quick unit that we will finish up prior to Thanksgiving break.  Please make sure that you are staying on top of your homework assignments and please ask questions as they come up!

What's Going On? November 9-16th

Proving Triangles Congruent

This week we will finish up our fourth unit on triangle congruency.

 Students have been hard at work working on two-column proofs to show that triangles are congruent and have learned how to show that their corresponding parts are congruent using CPCTC.

We will review for our summative assessment during class on Monday and take our assessment during our second class of the week.  If students would like some extra help, please request a pass to come see me during Monday's AE session.

After we complete our unit 4 summative we will continue on to unit 5 where we will investigate some more triangle properties.  In this unit students will learn about a triangle's exterior angles.  We will also construct the four different points of concurrency that exist in a triangle.

On Tuesday, November 10th North will be hosting parent-teacher conferences.  If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please stop by to see me.

What's Going On? November 2nd-6th

Triangle Congruence

This week we will continue our study of proving triangles congruence.  At the end of last week we talked about two triangle congruence shortcuts: SSS and SAS.  This week we'll talk about two more shortcuts that can make it easier to show a relationship between two triangles.

Once we have figured out the shortcuts, we will dive into proving two triangles congruent with a two-column proof.  When we are able to prove that two triangles are congruent, we can then use the CPCTC Theorem (Corresponding Parts of Congruent Triangles) in order to show that their parts are congruent.  It seems like a lot of work to do, but we'll take it step by step with a couple of formative checks along the way.


Unit 3 Summative Retake 

This is just a reminder that students who are interested in a retake on the unit 3 summative on parallel lines must complete corrections, extra practice, and the retake by Wednesday (11/4).  Please see me if you have any questions!

What's Going On? October 26th-28th

Important Reminder for All Students

This is a short week where students have school Monday through Wednesday.  We will be following a "Monday-style" schedule for all three days with school beginning at 7:35am each day.  During our AE sessions, students are free to work with teachers and get extra help.  If you would like some extra time in the lab, please let me know and I can issue you a pass.  Students must have a pass prior to the AE session in order to leave the room.


Unit 3 Summative Retakes

We just got the results of the unit 3 summative assessments on parallel lines.  If students are interested in a test retake, the retake process (corrections, extra practice, retake) must be completed by the end of the day on Wednesday, November 3rd.  Please see me if you have any questions.


Unit 4: Triangle Congruence

We are beginning our unit on triangle congruence.  We ended the week by "discovering" properties of isosceles triangles.  This week we will talk about midsegments of triangles (connecting midpoints of the sides of triangles) and triangle inequality.  We will end the short week with a quick formative on triangle properties and by discussing two triangle congruence shortcuts: SSS and SAS.

What's Going On? October 19th-23rd

Practice ACT

Last week we took a shortened version of a math ACT practice test.  This test was made up of 36 questions related to Algebra and Geometry and will serve as our baseline data for the year.  Some of the concepts have been learned already, and others will be taught in the future.  I have analyzed the results from this practice test and found that the class average score was about 22 out of 36.  I have picked out the 14 most commonly missed questions.  The plan is to use ACT-style questions as a warm up question during the week so that we can brush up on our Algebra skills and also prepare for a high-stakes standardized assessment.  By practicing these skills on a weekly basis, we should see some growth on the benchmark assessments that we will take in January and again in April.  Ultimately, this should help us prepare for the ACT test that students take during their Junior year.

Parallel Lines

We have been working hard on crafting our two-column proofs and I think we're starting to get the hang of it.  We have also made the connection between coordinate geometry and parallel lines by writing equations of parallel and perpendicular lines.  This week we will finish up our unit on parallel lines.  Typically we explore Euclidean geometry in this class, but this week we will explore a little bit of spherical geometry.  Students will learn about "lines" in spherical geometry which look more like circles.  We will then review for our summative assessment which will occur on Wednesday for 1st and 2nd period and on Thursday for 4th period.

If you have any questions, PLEASE ASK!  I am here to help!

What's Going On? October 12-16th

Reasoning and Proof

Last week we finished our second unit on "Reasoning and Proof".  This unit introduced students to the art of creating a proof.  We will continue to build on this concept throughout the semester.  If you have questions, please get them answered ASAP!  We need to build a good foundation for proof because we will be expanding on it all semester.

Just a reminder, if you are interested in a test retake for our second unit you must complete it by Wednesday.  In order to be eligible for a retake, you must following complete the following:

• Complete all formative work before the day of the summative assessment
• Make corrections on your original assessment
• Let Mrs. Kamenar know which section(s) you would like to retake. 
• Complete the extra practice
• Retake the test by the due date

Please note that the score of the retake will be entered into Infinite Campus even if the score is lower than the original assessment.  If you have questions, PLEASE ASK! I am here to help.

Parallel Lines

At the end of last week we started our third unit on parallel lines.  We talked about angle relationships that exist when we know we're dealing with parallel lines.  We also talked about how we can prove that two lines are parallel.  This week we will start the week with a practice ACT.  We will take a shortened version of the math portion of the ACT: 36 questions in 36 minutes.  We will use this baseline assessment to determine what we need to focus on in order to prepare you for your ACT during your junior year.  I know it seems like a long way off, but junior year will be here before you know it!

On Tuesday we will take a formative assessment that covers our new knowledge of angle relationships.  We will spend the first half of class reviewing and then take the formative during the second half of class.

Later in the week we will review some important Algebra concepts: including slope and writing equations for lines.  We will then connect this to Geometry by discussing equations for parallel and perpendicular lines.

What's Going On? October 5th-9th

Reasoning and Proof

It looks like we weren't quite ready for our second unit summative assessment on "Reasoning and Proof" so I decided to push it back a bit.  We will continue to review geometric proof on Monday and then students should be prepared for our summative assessment on Tuesday (1st and 2nd period classes) or Wednesday (4th period class).  Students must have all of their formative assignments completed before the test in order to be considered retake eligible.  Please check Infinite Campus to make sure that you are up to date with all of your assignments.

As you prepare for your summative assessment, please check out the video library created by students in first and second period.  They created videos to go along with a lot of the content and some sample problems for the unit.  You can check out the shared document on our BlackBoard class site.

Once we complete the second unit summative assessment we will move onto our third unit: "Parallel Lines".  Students will continue to study two-column proof and learn how to craft a logical argument.  Students will also learn more about special angle relationships that exist when two parallel lines are cut by a transversal.

Please let me know if you have any questions.  If you would like some extra assistance in the morning I am available most days.  Please let me know when I can expect you.

Have a great week!

What's Going On? September 28-October 2

Great Northstar Spirit!

During Homecoming week it was great to see students show so much school spirit!  Students really got into the different themes for the week. Hopefully we can see this enthusiasm for North will continue well beyond Homecoming week!

Unit 1 Test Retakes

This is just a reminder that if a student in eligible and interested in a test retake, the retake must be completed by Monday.  To be eligible for a test retake, students must complete the following:

• All homework for unit 1 must have been completed before the test
• Corrections were made on the original assessment
• Completed the extra practice for the section(s) the student would like to retake
• Retake the test by Monday (1 week of receiving the original results)

Please note that the retake grade will be entered into Infinite Campus even if the score is lower than the original assessment.

Reasoning and Proof

This week we will be finishing up our second unit on Reasoning and Proof.  In this unit we have talked about the difference between inductive and deductive reasoning.  We have worked with conditional statements, indirect proof, Algebraic proof, and started working with Geometric proof.  On Monday we will continue to practice two column Geometry proofs.  We will then review and take our second unit assessment.  Students in first and second period classes will have their test on Wednesday.  Students in the fourth period class will have their test on Thursday.

What's Going On? September 21st-25th

This week in Honors Geometry we will begin our second unit on "Reasoning and Proof". Students will be introduced to logic statements and learn the basis for forming a logical argument. In this unit, students will also be introduced to two-column proofs.  We will connect this new topic to something students learned in Algebra: solving equations.  Students will learn about two column proof by justifying each of their steps in solving a basic Algebra equation.  Once students have a firm grasp on this, we will then apply our knowledge of two-column proof to Geometry.

Last week, students completed our first summative assessment on the Basics of Geometry.  If a student is not happy with their grade, he or she may choose to retake one or both learning targets on the assessment provided that all of their homework assignments were completed prior to the start of our test.  If a student is interested in a test retake, they must following the following procedure:

1. Make an appointment with Mrs. Kamenar before school, during lunch, or during class work time to correct the mistakes made on the original assessment.
2. Let Mrs. Kamenar know which learning targets you would like to retake. Mrs. Kamenar will then send personalized extra practice to help reinforce the concepts missed.
3. Students must complete their retake within one week of receiving the results of the original assessment. Please note that the score of the second assessment will be recorded in Infinite Campus, even if the retake score is lower than the first.

Please see me if you have any questions!

What's Going On? September 14th-18th

Welcome to the first full week of school!  This week we'll be finishing up our first unit that introduces students to the Basics of Geometry.  We will start the week by discussing how the coordinate plane connects to Geometry.  We'll investigate the concepts of "midpoint" and "distance" and talk about how they connect to Geometry and the coordinate plane.  We will also talk about the properties of polygons that will serve as a foundation for a lot of work that we will do throughout the course.

We will spend a day of class reviewing and preparing for our first summative assessment which will occur on the last class period of the week this week.  I would like to take this time to remind students about the retake policy for this course.

Students must have all of their homework for the unit completed by the day of our summative assessment.  You can view the homework schedule here.  If all work is completed before the summative, students can be eligible for a test retake.  

If a student takes the test and is not happy with the outcome, here are the steps that must be taken:  

1. The student will make an appointment with Mrs. Kamenar before school or during lunch to make corrections on the original assessment.  
2. Students will let Mrs. Kamenar which section or sections they would like to retake.  Mrs. Kamenar will email the student with personalized extra practice to help prepare for the retake.
3. Retakes must be completed within one week of receiving the results of the initial assessment.

Please note that the score of the retake assessment will be entered into Infinite Campus, even if the retake score is a lower score.

What's Going On? September 8th - 11th

The Basics of Geometry

This week in Honors Geometry we'll continue our study on the basics of geometry.  We'll continue to talk about consistent naming conventions. Last week we talked about the way to correctly name and label points, lines, and planes.  This week we'll take a look at how to indicate relationships between geometric objects, such as how to label M as the midpoint of AB.

We will have our first "formal" formative this week in order to make sure that everyone is starting the semester on the right foot.  Our formative will cover the following learning targets:

• 1a: I can precisely define geometric terms
• 3a: I can apply the segment and angle addition postulates

In order to help students prepare for this assessment, a review and answer key have been posted to our BlackBoard class website.

This week we will also take a look at Geometric construction.  Students will need to bring a compass and ruler in order to participate in class.  We'll take a hands-on approach to precisely constructing angles, perpendicular bisectors, and a few more.

Welcome to the 2015-2016 School Year!

Welcome back to school!  My name is Mrs. Kamenar and I will be working with you in your Honors Geometry class this year.  This will be my eleventh year teaching at Waukesha North.  This year I will be teaching Honors Geometry, Fundamentals of Programming, Programming the Web 1 & 2 and Yearbook.  In addition to teaching at North, I am also an assistant women's cross country coach and the school's yearbook advisor.

I hope that everyone had an enjoyable and relaxing summer.  This summer went by too fast, but I guess it always seems that way.  This summer I got to spend a lot of time with my husband and my two kids, Jack and Laura.  We spent our time going to the zoo, the children's museum, going to the library and swimming.  My husband and I took a few days to visit Hawaii where we were able to visit Pearl Harbor and have a lot of fun in the ocean snorkeling, kayaking, and cliff jumping.

My goal is to keep you up to date with what's going on in the classroom through this blog.  Between the blog and our class schedule of events that will be posted on our BlackBoard class website, it is my hope that all students and parents will be informed about what's going on in the classroom.  This week we will begin our study of some basic geometric terms.  We will ease into the year by talking about inductive reasoning and patterns.  We will also talk about some of the basic building blocks of Geometry and their naming and labeling conventions.  We will finish up the week by going over measurement and learning the properties of segment and angle addition.

I am really excited to get to work with you this year.  I hope we are all able to learn a lot and have some fun along the way!  If you have any questions as we move through the year, please don't hesitate to contact me.