Quilt Design Contest - Care to Vote?

It's that time again! The 4th annual Math 8 Quilt Design. Here are the top 7 designs based on overall requirements met. I did not scan them in; I merely snapped a picture with the camera of each. Leave a comment with your favorite and I'll include these online votes with the votes of the student body :0)

Design A


Design B


Design C


Design D

Design E


Design F


Design G

A total school post

Okay, if this is MY brain, I can only imagine the brains of my Statistics students tomorrow after taking their Final Exam. Whoa----just "took" it myself, and scored 34/40. It's straight from an AP-Statistics study book. Holy cow! It's easy to get overwhelmed, so I'll have to work on the test-taking strategies for the four students (out of my seven) who are actually planning to take the AP exam in May. Study sessions need to be planned. SO....I'll have some break time after this week from Statistics, but the subject will return come April :0)

The good news: I receive an automatic A without needing to complete the written response section. Ya see, that's the deal I made with the students-----if they score 30+ multiple choice out of the 40, they would receive an automatic A. Reasoning: 100% of students who scored 30+ questions on a previous AP Exam scored a 4 or 5 overall (the best scores possible). So, I figure...it my students can score 30+, they deserve an A! Hope that makes sense, cuz it's what I'm doing.

Ugh---that makes me think about some grading strategies teachers use. I simply don't agree with some teachers. Case-n-point.....some of you may think...."HM! 30 out of 40.....that's 75% Amy! Shouldn't that be a C?"

Not to me! And obviously not to the College Board either...(Thank goodness!)

Another "issue" I have is the Zero-Factor. {{for those of you still with me....this is what I mean...}}
Most grading ranges are: A's 90-100, B's 80-89, C's 70-79, D's 60-69, F's <60.
F's <60!??!?!!?!? That's a BIG range...!!!! While all the other grade categories are only a range of 10! Seems a bit unfair to me.
How do I go about grading?? Mainly, I flat-out use a letter-grade rubric on my assessments next to each concept tested. (HW is pretty much based on total points and/or completion). BUT, for assessments, EACH problem receives a grade and the concepts are entered into the system (kinda like Standards-based grading).

A = perfect (100%)
B = decent understanding but missing some little things
C = basic understanding
D = missing too much understanding, but has a slight start to understanding
F = no understanding shown
0 - no attempt
I DO use + and - grades as well.

Naturally, our school expects the "standard" grading scale to be used, so I "get around" the Zero-factor by entering percentages for the specific "grades", BUT, the percentage entered for "F" is 50% and the percentage for "no attempt" is entered as a 40%. I know there are some who will disagree with this procedure, but.....it just doesn't seem fair to enter a 0% for a grade when the next closest percent is 60% to "not be an F."
For homework though.....this isn't used. HW is pretty simple: total points. BUT, my HW grade is only 15% of the overall grade, while the Assessment grade is 60% of the overall grade.

I USED to grade with total points, but once the "zero-factor" was mentioned to me, I said...."Hm, yeah....that doesn't seem fair." So, I started tinkering with an equal scale rubric (that I currently use).
I USED to grade tests differently and placed one letter grade on the entire test based on the average overall understanding (not total points), BUT.....I would often look back at grades (maybe at a Parent-Teacher conference) and see "Test Unit 3, C" and wonder.....hmm....what was tested???
It's only been two years now where I list EVERY concept tested with a grade for each concept. This way, when I look at a grade printout, I can clearly see which CONCEPTS were not understood.

Whew----didn't mean to put all this out here, but....it just kind of happened.

Bottom line tonight: My brain is fried. Hope my students come rested tomorrow.

Snip Snip Here....

Ummmmmmmmmmmmm.........yeah........ Allow me to introduce you to the pieces from the Maltese Star, Mystery #24 from the MysteryQuilts4Military Yahoo Group. I had NO intentions of doing this---honest engine......but when I was pressing, folding and organizing some fabric from the donation boxes last night, I came across this red, and all this white.....so I pulled some more of my blues together. And......V'IOLA! The rotary cutter just took over......and now: another quilt in the making!


In my process of going through my boxes of donations last night, I pulled out this gem. AND.....there was 3 1/2 YARDS of it!!!!! Hmm.....maybe a border? Part of the backing for Blue Ridge Beauty??? Or maybe it'll just be admired on the shelf for that next perfect project??? ;0) Nah....it'll find itself in a project soon!


Happy Monday!!!
OH! And, for those of you who had a day off today for MLK Day, I hope you enjoyed your day! I'm not quite sure why our school doesn't take vacation on this day. Anyway, today was actually a decent day; the kids were (thankfully) decently behaved for once.

Green Beauty; Rainbow Scrap Challenge; Stash Report

Green Beauty (80" x 94")

Quilted...

...and bound. Ready for gifting to Kathy.

And here is the design I was tempted to start....

...considering this pile of scraps needed some attention. BUT, instead, I pulled out only the blues and got back to work on my Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

Blue Ridge Beauty. And progress I made! Here are 80 blocks in an 8x10 layout, but I still had units and other scraps laying around, so I kept piecing until it reached a 10x10 layout

My design wall isn't quite large enough to house all the blocks right now (notice the blocks on the left are overlapped??) I'm not a big fan of square quilts, so I will make up 20 more blocks to add to the top/bottom and call it good. That would give me a center measuring roughly 60"x72"; add a border, and it'll be a good throw/snuggler.

Some images around the household today:





Stash Report: January 10 - 16
Used/week: 5.4 yds
Purch/week: 0.0 yds

Used/year: 14.4 yds
Purch/year: 0 yds

Net Used: 14.4 yds

Today

{{Aren't horses beautiful animals?!?!?}}
This is how I want to feel today, and I THINK I'm off to a good start.

Coffee in hand
have enjoyed catching up on everyone's blog
finished up (most of) my Statistics requirements yesterday
no one needs to be anywhere today, so no driving required
and the PACK did their job last night!


Yah.....today will be a good day (if only the Bears will lose.......) Go Seahawks????




Breakfast is going to get underway and then I foresee some basement time.

Happy Sunday

This week and today

Boy, I think this picture says everything, BUT change "day" to "week."

TODAY:
* I avoided temptation after dropping the girls off at a friend's house. I drove past TWO of my local quilt shops and did not turn in to either of them.

* I avoided temptation of starting a new project

* I quilted another pass of Green Beauty (before I gave up to the 60 degree temperature in the basement)

* I practiced my discipline by pulling out the Statistics books instead of waiting until tomorrow.

THIS PAST WEEK
* Who cares? It's over, and doesn't need to be lived again.

ONE WORD COMES TO MIND:

E-N-J-O-Y-M-E-N-T

That's what I want to concentrate on :0)

The Design Wall fight...

I headed downstairs at 7:00 tonight after dinner, kids homework, etc..... you know the routine.

And, I didn't feel like quilting Green Beauty....so I didn't.

Instead, I pulled out some of the blocks I had created months ago for Bonnie Hunter's Blue Ridge Beauty just to see how they were looking.....

And it wasn't long before I heard In Flight arguing with the newly placed blocks for design wall space.....

So, rather than insisting that they place nice together, I figured I might as well just bite the bullet and piece the rest of the In Flight rows together to be able to set the top aside.

And rather than just stopping at the quilt-center, I decided to continue biting that bullet and get the borders on right away before this turned into a UFO.

In Flight (67.5" x 79.5")

Yeah...pretty happy with an unexpected flimsey finish tonight!

And now my BRB blocks were happy.......

SEE! They started growing! It's not Saturday, BUT my Scrappy Rainbow Challenge finally saw some action, AND a UFO at the same time :0)

Hey....I even decided to quilt another pass of Green Beauty before heading up for the night too. Maybe that quilting will get finished tomorrow night.

MIL quilting; Green Beauty Quilting; Stash Report Jan. 3-9

This is the MIL quilt I was working on yesterday morning before my body tuckered out on me. I only had one pass left of it to finish up, so shortly after starting downstairs this morning, I was removing this from the frame. I'm not sure who she was making it for, but it's another to add to the pile of finishes to hand to her at the end of the month.

I tried out my new pantograph on it: Watercourse by Lorien quilting. I purchased this for my Green Beauty {{Jared Takes a Wife}} in mind, so I thought trying it out on a smaller quilt was a wise decision.

And naturally, it was a piece of cake, so I spent the morning hours prepping a backing and batting in order to load Green Beauty onto the frame. I've gone through 7 bobbins already and am nearing the finish. But I think this may be where I leave it for the night. My mom is spending the night and is expected any moment; but more importantly, the Packer game has started!!!



I'm not ruling out heading back downstairs later, but....I won't get down on myself if I don't.

Stash Report: Jan. 3 -9
Used/week: 5.2 yds
Purch/week: 0.0 yds

Used/year: 9.00 yds
Purch/year: 0 yds

Net Used: 9.00 yds


End-of-post update... Yup. Mom just arrived, with a GOODIE in tow! :0) Hancock Fabrics from the hometown was having a 50% off sale on batting, so I asked mom to pick me up a roll of Warm-n-Natural. Ya can't go wrong at $5.49/yard for a 20 yard roll.