Then we did an activity measuring the weight of pennies to get at the idea of slope and y-intercept. Last year I brought in 8 scales and had each group do it, but that didn't work so well. I think this year's students could probably have handled it better, but I still decided simply to do the measuring myself (figuring my goal wasn't for them to do the measuring, but to think about the mathematics). Perhaps a cop out, but that's what I did.
We ended up coming up looking at slope triangles and coming up with an equation, and interpreting the real-world meaning of the slope (weight of each penny) and the y-intercept (weight of the container). (Side note: if anyone tries this, make sure you pay attention to your pennies - their weight changed in 1982, so I made sure I had 1982 and newer pennies).
Their homework for tonight was to check the portal for the results of their assessment and make an appointment to re-assess if necessary, and then to review today's lesson to make sure they fully understood what we did.
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