Standard
- Know the standard.
To begin
Take a few minutes to read all the way through the 5.4 standard from the LCS Pacing Guide or the VDOE's Curriculum Framework. As you read, note...
key ideas
details you haven't seen before
skills that are challenging to teach or learn
manipulatives or contexts that come to mind
and questions that you have.
If you can, discuss these thoughts with another teacher or coach.
What's New?
It's important to look back at standard 4.4 in order to know exactly what will be brand new for fifth grade students. Check out this chart for a summary of the differences.
A few key differences include:
all computation is embedded within practical problems in fifth grade
3 x 2 digit multiplication for the first time
larger dividends and divisors than fourth grade
Estimate & Create
It's easy to miss these two verbs in the standard when there are so many other skills to learn, but resist the urge to skip them!
Estimation - In the Understanding the Standard section we read, "Estimation can be used to determine a reasonable range for the answer to computation and to verify the reasonableness of sums, differences, products, and quotients of whole numbers." Estimation and rounding are not the same thing, but we often use rounding to help us estimate. We want to avoid teaching estimation as a disconnected skill. Instead, students should repeatedly be reminded to use estimation to predict the result of a computation and/or check the reasonableness of a computation.
Note: Students should NOT be taught to solve the problem completely then round the answer as a strategy for estimating. This is not estimating, and it negates the whole purpose behind learning to estimate.
Create - In the Understanding the Standard section we read, "The problem-solving process is enhanced when students create and solve their own practical problems and model problems using manipulatives and drawings." Another advantage of having students create their own word problems is that it can uncover misconceptions about the operations that you might not see when students are simply solving problems. If your students need supports with this skill, you might try...
Support Strategy 1
Begin by having students fill in blanks in a word problem, MadLib style:
Student sees: ______ (person) had _____ (number) _______ (plural objects). Some were _______ (verb that indicates it's a change). Now _______ (same person) has ______ (new number) _______ (same plural object). How many _______ (same plural object) were ________ (same verb)?
Student creates: Tripp had 567 Pokemon cards. Some were eaten by his dog. Now Tripp has 429 Pokemon cards. How many were eaten by his dog?
Support Strategy 2
Present students with a word problem and ask them to write one that has the same structure with a certain number of things changed:
Student sees: Mr. Childress schedules 15 minute virtual violin lessons. He Zoomed with 17 students last week. How many total minutes was he Zooming with students. Change at least 4 things!
Student creates: It takes Mrs. Lipscomb about 35 minutes to create a virtual art lesson. So far this year she has created 18 virtual lessons. How many total minutes has she spent on creating art lessons?