Laurie Roberts, Sixth Grade Homeroom and Math

Laurie Roberts is the Middle School math teacher. Originally from New York and Connecticut, she attended Michigan State University, Duke University, and Bridgewater College. She has taught for over 20 years in Massachusetts, Florida, and North Carolina.

The Middle School math program at The Mountain Community School uses the Saxon series of incremental math and supplemental sheets in the areas of measurement, numeration, and geometry. These supplemental sheets help students who need more than one lesson to fully understand a concept. Students are divided into two math groups according to ability.

In addition to daily math lessons and supplemental sheets, all students construct broken line, bar, and circle graphs, make card games using measurement and numeration equivalents, make a math game to play with their younger math "buddies", make a floor plan in scale and architectural drawing of a room in their dream home, and work on items in scale for the class dollhouse. Since a lot of art involves math, certain art projects such as drawing buildings will be covered. In addition, all students practice some math aspects with their math "buddies". Sixth grade has kindergarten, seventh grade has first grade, and eighth grade has second grade for their math "buddies". Since we have some parents willing to help, seventh grade students will be baking cookies with their first grade "buddies". Students meet once a week to play games or work on a math project with their "buddies".

Each year a certain area is covered and related to math. For the year 2002-2003, all three grades will be doing math projects involving quilts. The students have designed quilts on paper, have made games using quilt patterns, have put together two baby quilts, have designed and put together a school quilt, and will make their own quilt after seeing some quilts at the Folk Art Center. This is great practice in the math concept of measurement. For the year 2003-2004, all three grades will be doing math projects involving geology; rocks and minerals. Students will be going on prospecting expeditions to measure rocks, identify rocks, study their geometric configurations, and share this information with their "buddies". This will coordinate with their Middle School geology curriculum. For the year 2004-2005, all three grades will be doing math projects involving astronomy. Students will be learning about the mathematical connections between math and astronomy, going to a planetarium, and share this information with their "buddies". This will coordinate with their Middle School astronomy curriculum.

For students having some difficulty with math, Mrs. Roberts offers free math tutoring on Tuesday afternoons from 3:00 to 3:45.