Middle School Mathematics

St. Clare Mathematics Curriculum reflects the Common Core State Standards and Mathematical Practices

We emphasize mathematical practices as we approach each area of content.

St. Clare’s advanced math course of study compacts four years of math into three by increasing the pace of instruction and allowing students to leave middle school having covered math content through Algebra 1.   Multiple pieces of evidence including  previous teacher recommendations and a placement test given at the beginning of 6th grade help determine the proper course of study for each student. Students planning to attend Catholic high schools will be well prepared for the Algebra 1 Challenge Exam given by the high schools in April.  Scoring well on this exam will allow them to begin high school in Geometry.

Mathematical Practices

  1. Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
  2. Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
  3. Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.
  4. Model with mathematics.
  5. Use appropriate tools strategically.
  6. Attend to precision.
  7. Look for and make use of structure.
  8. Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.

Ratios and Proportional Relationships

  • Understand ratio concepts and use ratio reasoning to solve problems.

The Number System

  • Apply and extend previous understandings of multiplication and division to divide fractions by fractions.
  • Multiply and divide multi-digit numbers and find common factors and multiples.
  • Apply and extend previous understandings of numbers to the system of rational numbers.

Expressions and Equations

  • Apply and extend previous understandings of arithmetic to algebraic expressions.
  • Reason about and solve one-variable equations and inequalities.
  • Represent and analyze quantitative relationships between dependent and independent variables.

Geometry

  • Solve real-world and mathematical problems involving area, surface area, and volume.

Statistics and Probability

  • Develop understanding of statistical variability.
  • Summarize and describe distributions.

Ratios and Proportional Relationships

  • Analyze proportional relationships and use them to solve real-world and mathematical problems.

The Number System

  • Apply and extend previous understandings of operations with fractions to add, subtract, multiply, and divide rational numbers.

Expressions and Equations

  • Use properties of operations to generate equivalent expressions.
  • Solve real-life and mathematical problems using numerical and algebraic expressions and equations.

Geometry

  • Draw, construct and describe geometrical figures and describe the relationships between them.
  • Solve real-life and mathematical problems involving angle measure, area, surface area, and volume.
  • Understand congruence and similarity using physical models, transparencies, or geometry software.
  • Understand and apply the Pythagorean Theorem.
  • Solve real-world and mathematical problems involving volume of cylinders, cones and spheres.

Statistics and Probability

  • Use random sampling to draw inferences about a population.
  • Draw informal comparative inferences about two populations.
  • Investigate chance processes and develop, use, and evaluate probability models.
  • Investigate patterns of association in bivariate data.

The Number System

  • Know that there are numbers that are not rational, and approximate them by rational numbers.

Expressions and Equations

  • Work with radicals and integer exponents.
  • Understand the connections between proportional relationships, lines, and linear equations.
  • Analyze and solve linear equations and pairs of simultaneous linear equations.

Functions

  • Define, evaluate, and compare functions.
  • Use functions to model relationships between quantities.

Seeing Structure in Expressions

  • Interpret the structure of expressions
  • Write expressions in equivalent forms to solve problems

Arithmetic with Polynomials and Rational Functions

  • Perform arithmetic operations on polynomials
  • Understand the relationship between zeros and factors of polynomials
  • Use polynomial identities to solve problems
  • Rewrite rational functions

Creating Equations

  • Create equations that describe numbers or relationships

Reasoning with Equations and Inequalities

  • Understand solving equations as a process of reasoning and explain the reasoning
  • Solve equations and inequalities in one variable
  • Solve systems of equations
  • Represent and solve equations and inequalities graphically