What's Going On? October 30th through November 3rd

Unit 4: Triangle Congruence

This week, we will continue our study of our fourth unit on triangle congruence.  We will focus on triangle congruence shortcuts.  In other words, how can we tell if two triangles are the exact same size and shape?  Once we have talked about the different shortcuts, we will apply our knowledge to form a two-column proof to prove that two triangles are congruent.  Students should expect to see a couple of formative assessments this week so that we can make sure that we are all on the right track.

What's Going On? October 23rd through October 25th

Short Week This Week!

This is just a reminder that we will run a Monday-style schedule on Monday and Tuesday.  On Wednesday, we have a shortened schedule with early release and students have the day off on Thursday and Friday.  Enjoy your time and find some time to regroup!



Unit 4: Triangle Congruence

During this short week, we will spend some time looking at our triangle congruence unit.  On Monday we will talk about the midsegments of triangles and on Tuesday we will talk about the triangle inequality theorem.  Before our long weekend, we will complete a short formative during class on Wednesday to make sure that everyone is on track with our new unit.




A Note About Grades

One of our math teachers, Ms. Vogg, recently created a blog post about the Waukesha North math department grading policies regarding the number of "IEs" a student can have and still be able to pass the course.  I think she did a really great job explaining the policy regarding passing grades in Geometry.  You can view the post here.  Please let me know if you have any questions.


College, Career and Community Resource Fair 

Monday, October 23rd, the school district of Waukesha will be hosting the 2nd annual College, Career and Community Resource Fair at Waukesha South High School.   The fair will take place from 4:30 to 7:30 PM  in the Fieldhouse and surrounding Classrooms. There are several new additions to the fair and some wonderful resources from last year will also be included.

Here is what the night will entail: 

* 50+ Colleges and Universities (public, private, in-state and out-of-state)

* Over 50 local Career Professionals ready to either share about their career or invite students to job shadow, join internships, or be hired on the spot

* 20+ Community representatives offering volunteer opportunities to students.

* Eight rotating workshop/presentations provided by the many transition services for all students with an IEP or 504 organized by many of our Special Ed. leaders.

* College Applications Assistance from High school counselors.

* Financial Aid Presentations in English and Spanish from financial aid professionals.

* Scholarship information and College Essay writing from Janet Baer and Erin Martin.

* NCAA Eligibility information provided by Paul Darling

* The list of resources go on! 

What's Going On? October 16th through October 20th

Last Day for Unit 2 Summative Retakes

This is just a reminder that the last day for unit 2 summative retakes is Monday.  I will not be available after school, so please make arrangements to complete your retake before school or during lunch.  If you choose to take this during lunch, please be sure to get a pass from me.  Also, be sure to bring your lunch with you so that you can eat while you work.

Finishing Up Unit 3: Parallel Lines

During class on Monday, we will be reviewing for our unit 3 summative assessment by playing a review game, Castle Attack!  For homework, students will have a review to complete.  I will also be hosting a ClassKick session from 8:00pm-9:00pm on Monday night.  If students have questions, please be sure to join this virtual session!  If you are not available during the session, simply log on to the app ahead of time and request that I check your work.  I am able to leave a note for you that you can check later.  Our summative will be during class on Tuesday and will cover two learning targets.

• 1d: I can prove theorems about lines and angles.
• 2a: I can write equations of lines.

Unit 4: Triangle Congruence

Once we finish up with unit 3, we will dive right into our fourth unit on triangle congruence.  We will spend one day talking about the properties of isosceles triangles and our last day of class for the week talking about the midsegments of triangles.  This will lay the groundwork for the following week when we learn how to prove that two triangles are congruent.

What's Going On? October 9th through October 13th

The End of Unit 2

Last week, we finished up unit 2.  Overall, it went really well and we added quite a few "All Stars" to our "Geo All-Stars" door. 

If the summative assessment didn't go as well as you had hoped, please make arrangements to complete a retake.  Please remember the steps that you need to take:

1. Make sure all formative work has been completed for the unit (homework and check-in "quizzes")
2. Make corrections on the original assessment.  You must make an appointment with Mrs. Kamenar to do this.
3. Request extra practice and complete it.
4. Complete the retake before our next summative.  (By Monday, October 16th)

Unit 3: Properties of Parallel Lines

With the excitement of Homecoming over, we will continue on with our study of the properties of parallel lines.  On Monday, we will review what we have learned so far about the angle relationships formed when two parallel lines are cut by a transversal.  We will also review how we can prove that lines are parallel based on angle relationships.  Students will have a quick check-in formative to gauge our level of understanding.

After that, we will focus on how we can write the equations for parallel and perpendicular lines.  This is something that students should have worked on during Algebra and we will spend two class periods reviewing these concepts.  We will end the week with a quick look at the properties of spherical geometry.  This is usually a highlight of the year, as students will be able to visualize the properties by drawing on a balloon.




Honors Geometry Gets Into the Homecoming Spirit

For each spirit day of the week, the Honors Geometry students took a group photo.  Here are the photos we took throughout the week:

Pajama Day:

Hawaiian Day:

Neon Day:

Class Color Day:

What's Going On? October 2nd through October 6th

ClassKick Session Sunday Night 8:00-9:00pm!!!

Need some extra help preparing for Tuesday's summative assessment?  Want some extra "proof" practice?  Join our ClassKick session on Sunday night!  I will be available for help through a virtual session from 8:00-9:00pm on Sunday night!  Can't make it?  Be sure to log into ClassKick before that time and leave some notes (with a hand raised) for me to check your work.  Be sure to log in with our class code.  If you need some help in the meantime, check out the summative review answer key and explanation videos on BlackBoard.


Finishing Up Unit 2: Reasoning and Proof

As you could probably tell from the first announcement in the post, we will wrap up unit 2 on Tuesday with our summative assessment.  Students received their reviews during class on Thursday.  Please be sure to have these completed by Monday so we can go through any questions that didn't get answered during our ClassKick session.  During Monday's class, we will also go over more proof examples.  Be sure to ask questions!



Unit 3: Parallel Lines

Once we make it through Unit 2, we will roll right into talking about parallel lines.  During this unit, we will talk about angle relationships that are formed when two parallel lines are cut by a transversal.  We will learn how to solve for angle measurements as well as how to prove that two lines are parallel based on angle relationships.

What's Going On? September 25th through September 29th

Unit 2: Reasoning and Proof

This week, we will continue our study of reasoning and proof.  We will start off the week by talking about indirect proof.  We will start off by applying our new knowledge of indirect proof to everyday situations.  Once we get the hang of this, we will then try to apply indirect proof to geometry.  By the end of Monday's class, students should be able to write an indirect proof showing that a triangle can have at most one right angle.

During Tuesday's class, we will check in with a short formative assessment to make sure that we are on the right track.  We will spend the rest of the week talking about Algebraic proof and then we will work our way up to Geometric proof. 




Unit 1 Retakes

Students received their tests back from our unit 1 summative last week.  If a student is unhappy with their summative score on one or both learning targets, a retake assessment is possible if the following steps are taken:

1. All formative work from unit 1 must be completed (homework and quizzes)
2. Corrections must be made on the original assessment. Contact me to make an appointment!
3. E-Mail me to request personalized extra practice for the section(s) you would like to retake.
4. Complete the retake by Monday, October 2nd.

Please keep in mind that the retake score will be entered into Infinite Campus, even if the retake score is lower! 


Need Extra Help?

I will be available on Wednesday and Thursday morning before school from 7:00am-8:00am if you would like to come in for help or to make corrections on your unit 1 summative.

What's Going On? September 18th through September 22nd

Finishing Up Unit 1: The Basics of Geometry

During Monday's class, students will be reviewing for our first summative assessment.  In order to prepare for this assignment, students will be given a practice test and an answer key.  Students are encouraged to carefully check their work against the answer key. 

Additionally, students may choose to use the app "Class Kick" in order to prepare for the assignment.  I will be available through the app from 8pm-9pm on Monday night in order to help students with any last minute questions they might have before we take our summative assessment.  In order to take advantage of this extra help session, students can login into ClassKick with our class code.  When a student has a question, they can "raise their hand" virtually through the app.  I am then able to write on that student's iPad in order to check work or to give hints for how to correctly solve the problem.  During class on Tuesday, students will complete the Unit 1 Summative assessment.

Unit 2: Reasoning and Proof

Once the summative assessment wraps up, we will spend our class time on Wednesday and Thursday starting our next unit.  We will focus on deductive reasoning on Wednesday and on logic statements on Thursday.  This will serve as the basis for our unit, when we start to form logical arguments.  Students will learn about how to create a two-column proof.  This style of proof allows students to form an argument stating "what they know" in one column and "how they know it" in the second column.