Accelerated Math 7
I received an e-mail two days ago from a parent complimenting me on the amount of material my Accelerated Math 7 class had covered in a relatively short amount of time. I'm afraid I can't take much credit for our progress. I really do have an exceptional group of students this year. In the topic of simple equations, they have excelled. Although I'm willing to bet that most of them would argue with the term "simple" to describe the problems they've been solving. Our definition of simple equations simply means equations including a variable whose exponent is 1. But even given that simple restriction, they have been solving large and formidable looking problems for weeks now. At the present, we are hovering at the top of this particular mountain of a topic. I would like them to drill on these problems a little longer before we move on.

Accelerated Math 8
Our current topic in the Accelerated Math 8 is solving systems of equations. I wanted to begin by giving them a visual representation of their work. Therefore, they have drawn dozens of graphs in order to discover points of intersection. In the last few days we have moved on to the more difficult topic of solving those same problems without the use of pictures or graphs. We call this solving systems algebraically. It is a very difficult and abstract concept for young students but this class has made the transition beautifully. Sometimes I wish my high school math students could see this class in action. They get so excited about their work and in asking questions that they sometimes forget to show any class courtesy. But if my biggest problem with this group is that they're so excited to talk about math that they forget to raise their hands before they shout out their questions, and I think it's best I learned to live with it.