Jessica's+Journal

Jounal entry 10th March

We are learning about time and temperature, I would like to find out more about how they calculate the time differences and how the greenich mean time works. Today i've been learning about timezones I found that englands greenich is where they calculate all the time. We will continue to look at time zones over the next week Jessica, it'll make more sense as you use them. Mrs. Breeds.

12th March 2010 ===W.A.L.T. We are learning about different time zones around the world and how to calculate time differences. Today we did a F.I.O activity about time-zones ands working out the time differences for flying and landed in different countries with different time-zones. We had to go on the computer and look up time zones and then calculate the differences ,then find what time they departed from the airport. It was very challenging at the start but as Iwent on it got alot easier.=== Jessica, this is a description of what you did today, not what you learnt. The question I asked you was to explain what time zones are and give an example from your learning today. Go back and read the notes on the main journal page and in your next journal entry try to explain how time zones work. Mrs Breeds.

__15th March 20107__ W.A.L.T we are learning to find out about different timezones arround the world and how to calculate the difference. Time zones are calculated at the greenich time zone in england. on a map greenich, england is in the middle and every country to the right is forward in time and every country to the left is back in time. This is because of how earth spins and where the sun is shining. when the sun is shining on a country making it day time there on the other side of the world its night time. I found the f.I.O activity quite challanging but as we went on it got easier. i think where i was getting confused was working out how to find what time the flight left. But in the end i worked out you find the difference take it off the arrival time then add the time they were on the flight for. This is clearer.  __18th march 2010__ W.A.L.T exchange rates and currency. When we go to places arround the world they have different currencys e.g.europe has euros, Brittan has pounds ect. this is because of their origin they decided what they wanted their money to be called like our settlers called NZ money Dollars, whe you are exchanging one countries type of money for another you buy it off the bank. the dependance on the economy changes the currency by making it go up and down. When you feel there is a reasonable rate you hand other the amount of money you are willing to pay then get the equivlent inn another country. eg. the english pound was at 0.4539 and you had 1000 NZ dollars so you would times 1000 by 0.4539 which equals 453.9 so you would get 453.9 pounds in return. If you went over to England and had 5% of your money left and you wanted to convert it back you would take away 95% from 453.9. I find converting money is really easy much easier than the time zones activities. A detailed explanation Jess.

__19th March__ W..A.L.T. we are learning about the difference etween celcius and fareinhiet for tempareture. There are 2 different types of tempreture farenhiet and celcius alot countries use celcius such as New zealand and england. Bet some countries still use farenhiet such as America. if you wanted to find out a temperature in fareinhiet to selcius you would follow three steps. step 1: minus 32 from the farenhiet number, Step 2:times your new number by 5. Step 3: now divide you number by 9. to convert celcius to farenhiet you must add 32 from the celcuis number then times it by 1.8. Good - you could also have given an example of how to use this formula from your learning today.  __23rd March__ W.A.L.T use algebraic thinking to solve decimal subtraction problems. I find using this strategy is really easy and is just like rounding. the way i have been using this strategy is to use the number you're subtracting and make it a whole number for exsample 2.65- 1.23 i would minus 0.23 from both numbers making the first number 2.42 and the second one 1. then i would minus 1 from 2.42 which equals 1.42. What ever you do you have to always minus or add the same on both numbers. I am pleased you find subtracting decimals easy when using this strategy. The real beanefit of this strategy as it works with any subtraction problem involving whole numbers or decimals. TC

__25th March__ W.A.L.T temperature as atool to help us with integer problems, Last year when we learnt about positive and negative i found it realy hard to understand but this year with a different methord i've found it alot easier, the first thing i do is use the first number and is its negative think its cold water and if its positive think its hot. for example: - 4 + + 7=+3 because you add a warm positive 7 to make the negative 4 go warmer so -4 + +4 =0 then add another +3 = +3 i find this method the best way for integers but somtimes i get muddled up. If you get muddled the best thing to do is bring it back to the idea of temperature. If I am taking away cold the temperature must be getting warmer. Thanks for your honest reflection. TC

19th april W.A.L.T use a number of different problem solving strategies to solve complex problems. Today I learnt that their are 8-10 different number strategies that can be used when problem solving. the one I think would be most guess and check. I think i will find this easy when I use fractions.

21st april. Today i learnt that I dont know much about statistics! I would really like to figure out a good topic for the stastical investigation, this will most likely become easier when I know a bit more on graphs and finding things out. The easiest graphs for me is the bar graph and pie chart. the hard things for me in statistics is the bar and whisker plot(except picking a topic!) Sounds like you are keen to learn Jess.

__26 th April__ Last week I learnt how to do a stem and leaf graph. I really enjoyed learning this and this is what i learnt. First you do the first digit of each number in order for example 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 .ect then you put 2 horizontal lines beside the numbers .Next you write the rest of the number next to the starting didgit e.g the number is 27 you put a 7 next to the 2. use a comma to separate each number. if you are comparing two different sets of data for example coloured hair in rm 3 and coloured hair in extention maths you would put one set of data on one side and the other on the other side. Good explanation of how to do this. Do you feel like we are filling the gaps for you?

27th April Today i learnt how to do a histogram, a histogram is basicly the same as a column graph but the bars are next to each other rather than appart. a histogram can either measure continuos or discrete data. on a histogram you have to remeber to have a graph name, labels and a range. the first thing you do is draw a L shape and put the range down the Y axis. e.g 0,10,20,30,40,50ect next to that put height in cm .then on the X axis put the amount e.g 1,2,3,4,5,6ect then put amount off sunflowers.2. then draw the bars touching each other and starting at the Y axis. now put the title. Histograms only show continuous data Jess. It is important that you make this distinction.

30th April this week I have learnt most of the strategies that are helpful to use in a test. I found these really helpful during he otago problem solving test. this is the order i did them in- 1st- read through the questions and start at the easiest, which is usually the 1st or 2nd question. next I thought of a strategies to solve them like drawing a diagram, guess and check and working backwards. when id done all of the questions I went back and tried a different starategy to see if I got the right answer. I did this 2 times and then the time ran out. I found number 5 really hard and ididnt really understant how to get the answer for number 3,. feedback=(26th april) i feel my gaps on graphs are filling up (27 april) now i know that a histogram only shows continuos data.

4th May Today I learnt how to reflect your data from a graph into a true statement. I found that you have to look into the future to see what would happen after a certain time peroid. First I learnt how to recognise the data I need to graph and what is and isnt important. Then I learnt what a trend is, which is a thing that is definate e.g if on a time-series graph its was 5 on tuesday and 7 on wednesday the trend is 2 more people come on wednesday than tuesday. You are on the right track here Jessica. I would like you to read through what you have written so that you can check you have said what you have meant. I think the thing you are talking about with the future are what are the implications of your findings.

5th May WALT draw and interpret a box and whisker plot. Today I learnt how to do a box and whisker plot at first I thought It would be really hard but it turned out quite the opposite. I also learnt what a higher and upper quartile is. These are the steps I followed to make a successful graph. 1- sort your data from smallestes to largest. 2- find the median 3- on the lower side find the middle this is also the lower quartille. do that to the higher side to. when you have got the median lower& higher quartille. now draw a line showing the range e.g 0 3 6 ect. now where the lower quartile is draw the start of the box then draw and carry it on to the higher quartille. Now draw a horizontial line were the median is. 4- next draw a dot representing the lowest number and the highest number(to scale). Now join the box and the dots with 2 lines( whisker). What do you understand to be the median Jess? An excellent description of what to do. **The median is the middle number.**

13th may Of the week I have completed my poster and have started my statistical invetisgation. For my statistical investigation I have completed and handed out my questionnaire to 150 people. I hope I get them all back because other wise it will be really hard to graph it. I am finding it really frustrating because I have to plan and make a mobile as well as making my statistical investigation. I think if I am on not up to where i should be i on one of these posters I will feel very presured

20th May Today I learnt how to use microsft excel I think this is the most helpful graphing program ever. I worked with tara and below is the pie graph we made. For the olympiad maths test I was very proud of myself because i got 4. I had a few aha moments during the test especially on the ant and box one I found you didn't have to make a whole square but just touch all points. Excellent reading of the question and a great time to have an aha moment. Yes you will find lots of pressure in the next few weeks Jess - it comes with the territory of being in an extension maths class.

28th may Today we did the otago problem solving test and I got 3 out of 5. I had a few AHA moments when I was doing the test, one of them being when I was doing Question 2. It was when you had to add their ages up to a hundred and then I remembered that 50 was half of 100 so I halved it and It put 1 one on each side the hardest 1 was the last 1 basically because I'm not very good at this stuff. Next time my goal is to get 4 out of 5. Do you mean that you are not good at problem solving? Is this a goal for you to become more comfortable with the strategies of problem solving and be able to use these confidently? ​Yes I don't feel very comfterble working with problems And yes I think I will Also Have the goal to become more comfterble problem s

31st may 2010 I feel I need to improve on my fractions, percentages and place value. I found this was the thing that let me down when we did the IKAN test in bank 5 as I only got 3 right. I also feel I need more practise on finding the area, volume, height and width of shaps because in the otago's, olympaid and other tests when one of these types of questions is included I always get it wrong. Another thing I would like to improve on is the marks I get on the tests like the olympaid and otago as I always get 3 or 2. Wow lots of things to look at Jess. I would suggest one thing at a time - place value being the most important thing first as without a good working knowledge of this it makes it hard to work with fractions and percentages. Have a look on the nzmaths site under families and see what activities you can find to help you. Also if you google this you may find some great online games that will help you.