What's Going On? October 3rd through 7th

Monday: Unit 1 Summative Assessment Retakes are Due!

Students who are interested in retaking the unit 1 summative have until Monday to do so.  Please remember that students must follow all steps of the process:

1. All formative work must be complete for the unit (please verify this in Infinite Campus)
2. Corrections must be made on the original assessment
3. Students should e-mail Mrs. Kamenar to request extra practice for the section(s) they would like to retake (kkamenar@waukesha.k12.wi.us)
4. Students must complete the retake before our next summative (Due by MONDAY 10/3)

If you have not made arrangements with me for a time to complete your retake, please do so ASAP!

Finishing Up Unit 2: Reasoning and Proof

For Monday's class, students will need to bring in their completed unit 2 practice test.  We will make sure that we clear up questions that students have before our summative assessment on Tuesday.  Once we have answered questions, students will play a review game called "Castle Attack". Each team will start with 5 castles. Students will work in teams to solve problems like they will see on Tuesday's summative.  If a team gets a question correct, they can choose to either add two castles to their own team or remove two castles from other teams.  (There is a maximum of 5 castles per team).  The team at the end with the most castles wins!

During Tuesday's class, students will complete our second summative assessment.  For this assessment, we will cover two learning targets:

• 1b: I can use the basic language of logic
• 1d: I can prove theorems about lines and angles.

Students will demonstrate their understanding of logic statements and indirect proof in the first section of the test.  On the second section, students will demonstrate their knowledge of basic algebraic and geometric two column proofs.

MAP Testing

On Wednesday of this week, freshmen will complete the MAP test.  We will meet in the West Lecture Hall in the junior hallway to complete this assessment.  Students will need to have the NWEA MAP app installed on their iPads before Wednesday's class.






Unit 3: Parallel Lines

On the last day of class for the week, we will start our study of unit 3.  In this unit, students will examine patterns that are formed when two parallel lines are crossed by a transversal.  Students will then apply their knowledge of these relationships in order to prove a relationship between two angles.

What's Going On? September 26th through 30th

Unit 1 Summative Retake Policy

This past week students took our first summative assessment for our first unit on the Basics of Geometry.  I would like to take a few moments to remind everyone of some of our policies regarding grades and retakes.  Students who are interested in retaking one or more sections of the assessment must complete the following steps:

• Make sure that all formative work is complete for the unit.  This includes all homework assignments and formative check-ins.  Students can check out Infinite Campus to check the status of work completion for the unit.
• Students should make an appointment to complete their corrections on the original assessment.  These corrections can be completed before school, after school, or during lunch.  Please contact me to arrange a time.
• Students should send me an e-mail requesting extra practice for the section(s) they would like to retake.  For example:

                 Mrs. Kamenar,

                 This is Sam Smith from your 1st period Honors Geometry class.  I would like to retake the                    1a section from our Unit 1 Summative.  Could you please send me some extra practice?

                 Sincerely,
                         Sam Smith

• Students should make arrangements to complete the retake of the assessment before our next summative assessment (Unit 2 assessment is scheduled for Tuesday, October 4th).
• Please note that the retake score will be entered into Infinite Campus, even if the score is lower than the original assessment.
• Also note that a score of "IE" in two or more learning targets will result in a failing grade for the course.  Students who scored an "IE" on our last assessment should start preparing for a retake. 

MAP Testing

Freshman students enrolled in Honors Geometry will be completing our math MAP test soon in order to chart student growth in mathematical understanding throughout the year.  Students will need to have the "NWEA MAP" app installed on their iPads in order to complete the assessment.  I will start checking iPads this week to make sure that all students have the app installed before our MAP testing window opens on October 4th.

Unit 2: Reasoning and Proof

This week we will continue our unit on the introduction to reasoning and proof.  Last week students were introduced to logic statements and we started to apply proof practices to solving Algebra problems.  This week we will continue to work with logical reasoning statements in order to formulate our logical reasoning in Geometry.  Students will be able to walk through a proof problem step-by-step and justify their reasoning for being able to perform each step.

What's Going On? September 19th through September 23rd

Our First Summative Assessment!

This week Honors Geometry students will take our unit 1 summative assessment on the Basics of Geometry.  In order to prepare for this assessments, students should make sure that they Unit 1 Practice Test is complete by Monday's class.  If students have questions about the review, they can check out the answer key posted on BlackBoard.  Additionally, students created a class library of videos walking through each problem.  So, if a student is stuck on problem #19, they can view the problem #19 video.  The video links were posted on BlackBoard and are also accessible by clicking here.  During class on Monday we will go over questions and play a review game.  Our summative assessment will take place on Tuesday.  Students need to make sure that they have the necessary tools for the summative, including a compass, straight edge (ruler), and a calculator.


Unit 2: Reasoning and Proof

After our summative assessment, we will move on to our second unit: Reasoning and Proof.  During the last two class periods of the week, students will work with logical statements.  Students will work on writing logic statements and will examine if the statement is true or not.

For example, we might look at a conditional statement such as

"If I just ate a whole pint of ice cream, then I'm not hungry".  

Students will find that this original statement is true.  Students can also write a converse of the statement where the first and second part of the statement switch places.  The converse of this original statement would be "If I'm not hungry, then I just ate a whole pint of ice cream."  Students can list a whole bunch of other reasoning why someone is not hungry rather than just eating a pint of ice cream, so this statement would be considered false.

We will use this idea on our examination of logic statements to evaluate geometric definitions.  For example: 

"If a figure is a square, then it has four equal angles."

Students will learn how to examine statements like a mathematician in order to form logical arguments.  This unit will lay the foundation for our study of proof that will continue throughout the first semester.

What's Going On? September 12th through 16th

Unit 1: Basics of Geometry

This week we will continue our study on the basics of Geometry.  Since this is our first full week of school, we will meet four times.  During these four class periods, we will look at angle relationships that exist when we have two intersecting lines.  We will also take our knowledge of geometry to the coordinate plane.  This study will allow us to study the relationship between geometry and algebra while we look at the distance and midpoint formulas.  For our last concept with the unit, we will define a "polygon" and be able to classify a shape based on its number of sides.  We will finish the week by reviewing the concepts learning in unit 1 to prepare for our first summative assessment that will occur early in the following week.  We will discuss more details about the summative assessment as we progress through the week.

I would like to take this opportunity to remind you about our summative retake policy.  If a student completes a summative assessment and is not happy with the results, the student may be eligible for a test retake.  In order to complete a retake, the following steps must be followed:

1. All of the formative work for the unit must be completed.  You can find a list of our formative work here.
2.  Corrections must be made on the original assessment.  This must be done at school, so please schedule a time with Mrs. Kamenar before school, during AO, after school, or during lunch.
3. Complete the extra practice problems assigned by Mrs. Kamenar.  (Please e-mail Mrs. Kamenar at kkamenar@waukesha.k12.wi.us to request this customized extra practice).
4. Complete the retake before the summative assessment for our next unit.

Please remember that the score of the retake will be entered into Infinite Campus even if the retake score is lower than the original assessment.  Also, a summative retake is a privilege, not a right.

I am here to help, so please see me if you have any questions or concerns.

What's Going On? September 6th through 9th

Basics of Geometry

This week we will continue our study of the basics of Geometry.  We will start the week by talking about the Segment and Angle Addition Postulates.  Basically, we'll be talking about how the pieces of a segment (or angle) and be combined to talk about the entire segment (or angle).  We'll also check in to make sure that students are able to accurately measure line segments and angles.

On our second day of class for the week, we will continue to talk about more basic geometric vocabulary and how to mark in relationships that exist within figures. We will learn to use markings to show that segments are the same length, angles have the same measure, and how to show parallel and perpendicular relationships.

On our third day of class for the week, students will complete a formative assessment to check in to make sure that we are on the right track.  Students will have the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge of the segment and angle addition postulates and their knowledge of basic geometric vocabulary.  Once this is complete, students will learn some basic geometric constructions using a compass and a straight edge.  Students will need to have these tools for class!

I hope we are off to a great start to the school year.  Please contact me if you have any questions!

Welcome to the 2016-2017 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 twelfth year teaching at Waukesha North.  This year I will be teaching Honors Geometry, Math Readiness, 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 family and I took a few days to visit Portugal where we were able to visit a castle, an oceanarium, and spend some time on the beach.


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.

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.  If you have questions, feel free to e-mail me at kkamenar@waukesha.k12.wi.us.  You can also follow me on Twitter: @MrsKamenar.

Final Exam

Final Exam Week Schedule

Our final exam is here!  Here are a few reminders about the week.  Below you will see our exam schedule.  Please make sure that you arrive at our exam ON TIME!   If you would like to have additional help, I will be at school every morning at 7:00am.  Our first exam does not begin until 9:30, so that would give you lots of time to check in.  You do not have to arrive at the beginning of the help session and you do not have to stay until the end.  This is an informal help session.  I would be more than happy to answer last minute questions at this time.  If I am not in my classroom, please check computer lab 300 as I might be helping some of my programming students.


What's On the Exam?

You are required to take the following 4 sections:
Learning Target 1g: I can prove theorems about similar triangles and their properties. (Triangle similarity shortcuts: SSS similarity, SAS similarity, AA similarity)Learning Target 3d: I can solve right triangles. (Special Right Triangles and right triangle trig: SOH, CAH, TOA)
Learning Target 3c: I can compute, solve and analyze geometric shapes and measure.  (Area)
Learning Target 3g: I can use volume formulas to solve problems. (Volume)You must also complete 2 additional sections.  Please check Infinite Campus to see which sections in which you would like to improve your grade.  Please remember that a grade of "IE" in two or more learning targets means that you will need to repeat the course.

What Should I Bring to the Exam?

For the exam, be sure to bring something to write with, a calculator, and your "cheat sheet".  This cheat sheet can be a standard 8 1/2" by 11" piece of paper that includes formulas, sample problems....just about anything that you want.  Your cheat sheet must be handwritten and will be turned in at the end of your exam period.  You should also bring something to do for after the exam.