Integers are always a baffling thing for my 7th graders and this year's group is no different. While the basics of much of the information we cover is relatively simple to comprehend, that in reality on serves to make the material seemingly that much more difficult for them to "get". Why is that the case? That is the million$ question!

We are working on absolute value.... such an easy concept- whatever the number, its absoute value is simply that number without regard for its sign, the distance the number is from 0 on the number line.. but they turn it into something much more complex....

And mix that with snippets of subtracting negative numbers they have been exposed to here and there and think they know... it is all a tumble of confusion. But they are slowly coming around... and with these kids, I have to believe it will come...

My group of 7th graders I have now... WOW!! What a contrast to the first group. This group works independently... and works... Monday and Tuesday they spent finding links about the tsunami. I was so impressed with their efforts. Then they rotated around the room looking at the sites each other had found. WOW!! again... unbelievable... they are so ON TASK... so mature compared to the last group. I wonder what the last group will be like!

I have been thinking a lot about camp lately.. We are trying to find a person to teach square dancing maybe one evening... I still would like to come up some exciting classes which do nto require so much prep from us ahead of time. It seems we are in such a rush prepping those few weeks before camp it is a whirlwind.

Not a resolution this year to blog... but I will try harder to be a regular... too many other committments... too many people/things/demands on my time...