COURSE SYLLABUS 2021/2022

ARITHMETIC A

School: BASIS Scottsdale Primary - West Campus

Instructor: Kendall Storms
Email: [email protected]

Course Description
SPORK Arithmetic A is the first part of a two-year course focusing on fundamental arithmetic skills and knowledge. Students further
practice their number sense, understand place value up to millions and decimal place values up to ten thousandths and learn the concepts
of the Greatest Common Factor, the Least Common Multiple, and prime factoring. Students also build their arithmetic foundation by
practicing addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of whole numbers, fractions, mixed numbers, and decimal numbers. They apply
these skills to solve word problems, which help them develop critical thinking. Students will understand that a part of a whole can be
expressed as a fraction, decimal number, or percent, and they will practice conversion between these three representations. Ratios and
proportions are introduced, and students apply them to solve simple ratio and rate word problems. The course also introduces students to
the U.S. customary and metric systems of units and will do simple conversions within each system. Students will understand basic
geometry concepts such as lines, angles, and polygons. They will be able to find the area and perimeter of quadrilaterals and triangles.

Grading Policy
The following break-down will be used to determine the students' grades:

Classwork: 25 %

Participation 15%

Homework: 10 %

Assessments 50%

Total- 100%

Class Policy

Notebooks: Students are encouraged to keep detailed notes that are organized and accessible in a notebook. They will copy down what
is on the white board. Students will take notes almost every day. This is a way for students to learn and practice the new concept, and
practice their note-taking skills. Students are encouraged to use their notebooks at home for help with homework, and to study for quizzes
and tests.

Homework: Homework assignments will be assigned to reinforce concepts learned within class. All assignments are due at the beginning
of the class period. Homework will be mostly a completion grade with an occasional accuracy grade. Students can access their homework
questions on a device by going to Spork for All (https://spork.school/schedule). Homework should be done on graph paper.

For completion grades, students will check their work in class using the tablets, and put their score out of 15 on the top of their paper.
Completion grades will be out of 5 point. Students will get 1 point for completing all 15 problems, showing work for every problem, circling
or boxing their answer, a correct 4-line BASIS header, and organizing their paper neatly and using graph paper. An example of the BASIS
header will be given the first week of school.

For accuracy grades, 5 problems will be randomly chosen to grade. Students will need to show complete work for these problems to get
full points. For graded homework assignments, students have the opportunity to do homework fixers. Students will get full points back for

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each question they redo correctly. Homework fixers must be turned in the next day and stapled to their homework assignment in order to
get credit. Homework fixers will not be accepted late.

Classwork: During class students will complete explorations and other activities that will go towards their classwork grade. This will also
include participation. Participation points will be weekly. Students can lose participation points for not completing the Do Now's, not paying
attention during class, not writing in their CJ's, and not bringing all of their class materials.

Showing Work: The correct format for math assignments will be clearly modeled by the teacher the first week of school and is expected to
be followed. Work must be shown for each problem. If there is a table, diagram, etc., in the problem, then the student is expected to copy it
onto his/her homework. For an algebra problem, the original equation should be written with at least one step of work added. During notes,
students will be reminded how to show work for each lesson and examples will be given.

Late Work Policy: Students have one extra days to turn in late work for full points when having an excused absence. After that it goes
down 25% a day. off. After two days, it will be a zero. Students are still encouraged to do their homework after the two days, as homework
is meant to practice new and old skills. No named quizzes/tests will also lose 10% off their grade.

Quizzes: Quizzes are meant to frequently test knowledge on the lesson’s being taught in class during a unit. Quizzes may or may not be
announced ahead of time. Students are expected to know the content. They should be reviewing their notebooks nightly. Quiz fixers are
always an option for quizzes. It is an opportunity for students to learn from their mistakes and get a half point back for each question they
redo correctly. Quiz fixers must be signed by a parent/guardian, and stapled to their original quiz. Not adhering to these guidelines will be
given no credit. They will be due three days after the quiz was handed back, and will not be accepted late.

Tests: Test are given at the end of a unit to measure a student’s mastery over the given unit. Some tests may spiral and have previous unit
questions. Tests will be announced at least five days in advance and students will be given the whole class period to complete it. A review
will be given one to two days before the test. There are NO test fixers.

Organization/Preparation: Students are expected to be on time, be prepared, attend class with the correct materials, ask questions,
follow directions, work hard to stay on task, treat others with respect, promote a learning environment, and most importantly HAVE FUN.

Absences: To support learning, the parent is strongly encouraged to align all family vacations and personal events with the school
calendar. The school academic program is very rigorous, so absences of any length may jeopardize academic performance. If a student is
absent, it is the student’s responsibility to follow up with the teacher about material that was missed after class. They can also check the
Absent Folder in class for what they missed. Students should find a friend to copy down missed notes or ask the teacher for a copy of
notes. It is the student's responsibility to remember to turn in missed assignments, take down missed notes, and make up missed quizzes
and tests.

Instructional Materials
SPORK Math – Arithmetic A (completed on tablets)

Other Information

Student hours: Student hours is a way to reinforce concepts taught in class in a smaller class setting. If a student is struggling with a
lesson or getting lower than a 70% in the class, they should come to Student Hours.

Tuesday 3:30-4:00

By invite only.

Parent hours: If you would like to meet with me please email me to set up a meeting on one of the following days:

Days:

Monday and Tuesday from 11:50 - 12:20

Contact Information:

Name: Kendall Storms

Email: [email protected]

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Materials: Students are expected to bring their Communication Journals (CJs), math notebook, graphing paper, grading pen, pencil, expo
marker, and math folder every day. This can be kept in a binder to make it easier to carry around. Materials such as handouts or
worksheets should be saved in their math folder until the end of each grading period. Students will lose participation points if they do not
have these materials for class.

* Tablets will be used during class, and should never leave the classroom.

CJ: Students must bring their CJs each day. The CJ is the primary method of communication between teachers and parents. Students are
expected to write down homework assignments (HW), objective for the day (I.C.), announcements, and upcoming or past tests, and
grades. Parents, please review and sign your student's CJ every night as this is an easy way for us to communicate to each other and so I
know you have seen their CJ. There will be random CJ checks each week to make sure students are writing in their CJ that will go towards
their participation grade.

Materials for Arithmetic A:

#2 pencils

CJ

Red or Blue pen (use for grading homework)

Dry erase markers and eraser

Spiral Notebook (lined or graph)

Graphing paper (double sided)

Pocket Folder

Ruler (used at home for homework)

Protractor (used at home for homework)

Math Compass (used at school and at home for homework)

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Syllabus Outline Lesson Units

First Week Of School
Students will practice and demonstrate the class rules and procedures.

Unit 1: Basic Arithmetic

Students will review basic arithmetic concepts from previous year: addition, subtration, multiplication, and division of whole numbers. They
will also apply these operations to solve word problems.

Unit 2: Introduction To Geometry

Students will be introduced to the basic objects in geometry - lines, rays, line segments, and angles - and the basic measurements of
polygons (perimeter) and circles (radius, diameter, circumference). They will use a ruler to measure line segments and a protractor to
measure angles.

Unit 3: Multiples And Factors

Students will explore the properties of natural numbers. They will understand the concepts of multiples and factors and apply this
knowledge to find the prime factorization of a number, and the least common multiple or the greatest common factor of two given natural
numbers. Students will also be introduced to the arithmetic and geometric sequences. They will identify the patterns in these sequences
and find the missing numbers in these sequences. They will also round natural numbers to the given place value.

Unit 4: Fractions
Students will learn all the basic operations with proper fractions. They will reduce fractions to their lowest terms, find their common
denominators and the least common denominator. They will add, subtract, multiply, and divide fractions. Students will also apply the
obtained skills to solve word problems with fractions.

Unit 5: Mixed Numbers

Students will identify all parts of a mixed number. They will express improper fractions as mixed numbers, add and subtract mixed
numbers, and solve word problems using mixed numbers. Students will also graph fractions and mixed numbers on a number line.

Unit 6: Decimal Numbers, Part 1

Students will understand the decimal place values up to ten thousandths. They will apply this to graph decimal numbers on a number line,
compare them, and round them. Students will also add and subtract decimal numbers and apply addition and subtraction to find missing
values.

Unit 7: Polygons
Students will identify polygons and classify them according to their properties. They will understand the relationship between interior
angles and use it to find the missing values. They will identify line or rotational symmetry. They will also find the area of rectangles and
squares. In addition, they will understand the concept of the square and square root of a number.

Unit 8: Decimal Numbers, Part 2

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Students will multiply and divide decimal numbers and express them as fractions or mixed numbers. They will apply their arithmetic skills
with decimal numbers to solve problems with money and averages. In addition, they will interpret bar and line graphs.

Unit 9: System Of Units, Circles

Students will understand the basic US customary and metric units of length, weight, and volume. They will solve arithmetic problems with
these units. They will also understand the meaning of the constant pi and use it to find the circumference of a circle. They will solve
elapsed-time problems. They will revisit their knowledge about angles and apply it for measuring turns.

Unit 10: Ratios And Proportions

Students will understand how ratios and rates describe the relationship between two quantities. They will solve ratio and rate word
problems by organizing the information in a ratio box, setting up a proportion, and solving the proportion to get the answer.

Unit 11: Percents

Students will understand that 100% represent a whole. They will express fractions and decimals as percentages and vice versa. Students
will also find complementary percentages, and find percent parts of given numbers. They will apply all this knowledge to solve word
problems.

Unit 12: Mixed Numbers, Part 2

Students will multiply and divide mixed numbers. They will also multiply or divide three fractions or mixed numbers. Besides that, they will
find missing factors that can be expressed as mixed numbers.

Unit 13: Advanced Arithmetic

Students will be introduced to the advanced arithmetic concepts that will be further studied in the Arithmetic B course. They will understand
and apply the order of operations in numerical expressions with addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, squares, and square roots.
Students will also add, multiply, and divide both positive and negative integers (subtraction of negative numbers is not included in this
course). At the end of the unit, students will be introduced to the basic idea of probability.

Review Week
Students will review how to add, subtract, multiply and divide fractions and decimals, converting between percentages, decimals, and
fractions, geometry topics incliuding angles and circumference, and finding the LCM and GCF.

Project Week
Students will participate in a school project of their choice during the last week of school. An opportunity for learning outside the normal
classroom schedule.

Tests And Reviews

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