Day 12: The Greatest Common Factor

6th Grade Math Standards: Find the greatest common factor of two whole numbers less than or equal to 100 and the least common multiple of two whole numbers less than or equal to 12. Use the distributive property to express a sum of two whole numbers 1–100 with a common factor as a multiple of a sum of two whole numbers with no common factor. For example, express 36 + 8 as 4(9 + 2). MA.4.a. Apply number theory concepts, including prime factorization and relatively prime numbers, to the solution of problems.

Objective: Find the greatest common factor of two or more numbers

Quote of the Day: "Routine, not-so-interesting jobs require direction; nonroutine, not so interesting work depends on self-direction. If you need me to motivate you, I probably don't want to hire you." - Daniel Pink

Question of the Day: "What's the difference between a factor and a multiple?"

Agenda:

1. Fabulous Factors
2. Pass back weekly quizzes 
3. Review the homework & Pepper as students go to the board 
4. Greatest common factor notes
5. Writing the divisibility rules and testing various numbers for divisibility 
6. Greatest Common Factor homework practice

Assessment: During the notes students would try problems independently. Last week's weekly quiz was graded. Homework was checked. Cold calling.

Glass Half-Full: Slowly the students are making adjustments to middle school, my classroom, and each other. It's not coming together as fast as I remember it coming together last year, but it's coming together. Today as a small for instance, I got the chance to work with two students at lunch. They worked, and I asked them questions away from the topic of math. One of the two is a Seahawks fan as it turns out, so immediately we changed the subject back to math.

Regrets: Not getting to fabulous factors as part of Friday's class hurt us a little today because this was not the best warm-up activity. It took too much instruction and the students still could not write on the side that they needed to. Not enough of them were colorful either. This is what happens in a country where standards are everything. The kindergarten in them never existed. That was a touch of sarcasm, but in all honesty the past two classes liked this activity more than this year's batch.

Homework: Greatest common factor practice (6 normal problems, one problem with three numbers as factors, one problem with hard to find numbers, and four word problems). Probably too much, but I did not feel like students were utilizing the divisibility rules well, and I want them to suffer through many problems to recognize the worth of the divisibility rules. Go ahead call me out.

Link of the Day: The magic hexagon. Perhaps as a bonus give the students no information about it and ask why it is magical.