Front Row: Heather Phillips, Madison Gunter, Ryan Hagen, Brittany Henegar, Sophia Watkins

Back Row:  Leigh Ann Patterson, Betsy Keller, Carrie Casey, Kate French, Madeline Carlton, Cathy Laswell

 

 

Grade 7 Mathematics

 In Grade 7, instructional time will focus on four critical areas: (1) developing understanding of and applying proportional relationships; (2) developing understanding of operations with rational numbers and working with expressions and linear equations; (3) solving problems involving scale drawings and informal geometric constructions and working with two- and three-dimensional shapes to solve problems involving area, surface area, and volume; and (4) drawing inferences about populations based on samples.

 

  

Accelerated Grade 7 Mathematics

The Grade 7 Accelerated course has been carefully aligned and designed for middle school students who show particular motivation and interest in mathematics. In Grade 7 Accelerated, there are six domains: (1) Ratios and Proportional Relationships; (2) The Number System; (3) Expressions and Equations; (4) Functions; (5) Geometry; (6) Statistics and Probability. Grade 7 Accelerated has the additional domain, Functions, due to the merged content from Grade 8 and Intermediate Algebra with Probability. The algebra focus is on linear relationships in an effort to prepare students for the Grade 8 Accelerated course.

 

 

Grade 8 Mathematics

In Grade 8, instructional time should focus on three critical areas: (1) Formulating and reasoning about expressions and equations, including modeling an association in bivariate data with a linear equation, and solving linear equations and systems of linear equations, (2) Grasping the concept of a function and using functions to describe quantitative relationships, (3) Analyzing two- and three-dimensional space and figures using distance, angle, similarity, and congruence, and understanding and applying the Pythagorean Theorem.

 

Accelerated Grade 8 Mathematics

The Grade 8 Accelerated course has been carefully aligned and designed for middle school students who have completed the Grade 7 Accelerated course and show particular motivation and interest in mathematics. In Grade 8 Accelerated, there are five domains: (1) The Number System; (2) Expressions and Equations; (3) Functions; (4) Geometry; and (5) Statistics and Probability. The algebra focus is on quadratic relationships. Students who successfully complete this course will be prepared to enter Geometry with Statistics in Grade 9 and then accelerate directly into Advanced Algebra in Grade 10, thus providing them with an opportunity to take additional specialized mathematics coursework, such as AP Calculus or AP Statistics.

 

Geometry with Statistics

Geometry with Statistics is a new course developed for inclusion in the 2019 Alabama Course of Study: Mathematics. It is the first course in high school mathematics, taken by all students in Grade 9, giving them access to the same mathematics and building on their experiences in the middle grades. Geometry with Statistics is important for the development of mathematical knowledge and skills through visual representations prior to the more abstract development of algebra. Leading with Geometry with Statistics in Grade 9 offers high school students the opportunity to build their reasoning and sense-making skills, see the applicability of mathematics, and better prepare for further studies in algebra. In Geometry with Statistics, students incorporate knowledge and skills from several areas of mathematics, leading to a deeper understanding of fundamental relationships within the discipline and building a solid foundation for further study. Students perform algebraic calculations that build on foundations of algebra from Grades 7 and 8. They also extend their earlier understanding of congruence, similarity, and linear equations to explore coordinate geometry concepts, including transformations. An emphasis on reasoning and proof throughout the course promotes exploration, conjecture testing, and informal and formal justification. Building from earlier work in analyzing data and creating linear models, students will focus on univariate quantitative data on the real number line (shape, center, and spread) and bivariate quantitative data on a coordinate plane (approximating regression lines and measuring residuals). A variety of tools including technology should be incorporated to complete geometric constructions to explore and identify properties of geometric shapes.

 

 

Intermediate Algebra with Probability

Intermediate Algebra with Probability is newly-designed for inclusion in the 2019 Alabama Course of Study: Mathematics. It may be taken in Grade 10 after Geometry with Statistics, or in Grade 9 along with Geometry with Statistics. Its content is also incorporated into the Grades 7 and 8 accelerated mathematics curriculum, which is available to students who show particular motivation and interest.  Algebra is a collection of unifying concepts that enable one to solve problems flexibly. The study of algebra is inextricably linked to the study of functions, which are fundamental objects in mathematics that model many situations in life that involve change. The study of algebra provides experiences for students to see how mathematics can be used systematically to represent patterns and relationships among numbers and other objects, analyze change, and model everyday events and problems of life and society.  Parallels are drawn between conditions vs. events in probability, and inputs vs. outputs of functions. Emphasis on functions in Intermediate Algebra with Probability include linear , absolute value, quadratic, and exponential; and functions as explicit and recursive .