Bridges 5th Grade Welcome Letter and Unit Overviews

We are almost at the end of Unit 1.  Our first assessment will be on Thursday, October 9.  

Our focus for this unit has been on using multiplication properties (commutative, associative) to represent and to find volume and surface area of rectangular prisms.  We developed multi-digit strategies for solving problems in efficient ways.  We also revisited the link between multiplication and division and extended to dividing by 2-digit divisors.  (Unit 1 overview)

We are almost at the end of Unit 2.  Our second assessment will be on Tuesday, November 11. 

Our focus for this unit has been on adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators, using a variety of strategies to find common denominators.  We used money, clocks, double number lines, and ratio tables  to rewrite fractions with common denominators.  We will conclude this unit by extending our understanding of fractions using the least common multiple (LCM) to find equivalent fractions and using the least common factor (LCF) to simplify fractions (Unit 2 overview)

We are almost at the end of Unit 3.  Our third assessment will be on Wednesday, December 17. 

Our focus for this unit has been on Place Value and Decimals.  We used problem strings to develop strategies for adding and subtracting decimal numbers.  We explored patterns for multiplying and dividing by 10.  Students modeled, read, and compared decimals and considered the connection between decimals, fractions and money.  We explored conversions within a system of measurement and then extend the strategies to make metric conversions.  Finally, we conclude this unit with a focus on division.  Students learned to model, solve and pose long division problems.   (Unit 3 Overview)

We are almost at the end of Unit 4.  Our fourth assessment will be on Thursday, January 29. 

Our focus for this unit has been on multiplying and dividing whole numbers and decimals.  We used problem strings to develop strategies that showed the relationship between multiplication and division and the connection between decimals, fractions and whole numbers.  We investigated multiplication and division with fractions and decimals, and explored the relationship between quarters, 1/4, and 0.25, and 3/4 and 0.75 and how those help in solving problems with 25 and 75.  Students were introduced to the standard multiplication algorithm, and the connection to the area model and partial products.  Finally, we conclude this unit by applying what we learned about multiplication to help solve long division problems.   (Unit 4 Overview)

We are almost at the end of Unit 5.  Our fifth assessment will be on Monday, March 2. 

Our focus for this unit has been on multiplying and dividing with fractions.  We reviewed and extended our understanding of whole number-by-fraction multiplication.  We used rectangular arrays to model and solve fraction-by-fraction multiplication problems and made key generaliztions about multiplying fractions by fractions.  We concluded the unit by modeling and solving story problems that involved dividing whole numbers by unit fractions, and unit fractions by whole numbers.  (Unit 5 Overview)