Gr5 Math Workshop
Math Quote/Mathematician of the Month
Volume packet answers pages 1-3
Volume packet answers pages 4- 7
Math Workshop Components
Math Fluency
In elementary mathematics, in addition to many other math skills students are working on having procedural fluency in certain areas at each grade level. From the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) being fluent means:
Students demonstrate flexibility in the computational methods they choose, understand and can explain these methods, and produce accurate answers efficiently.
Efficiency - students do not get bogged down in too many steps or lose track of the logic of the strategy. Students carry out a chosen strategy easily.
Accuracy includes carefully showing work, knowledge of number facts and other important number relationships, and double-checking results.
Flexibility means students can solve a problem in more than one way and can show it. Students can use and explain one method to solve a problem and another method to check the results.
So fluency demands more of students than memorising a single procedure – they need to understand and be able to explain why they are doing what they are doing and know when it is appropriate to use different methods.
One of the most important questions students need to ask when they do math is: “Does it make sense?” For example if a car holds 22.75 gallons of gas and each gallon costs $2.40, how much will a full tank cost? If the student says $546 then he should be able to explain why that doesn’t make sense.
The main area of Fluency for 6th graders is: Compute fluently with multi-digit numbers. For the first quarter this means we were working on adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing multi-digit decimal numbers. We will still be working on that second quarter, and longer for some students who haven’t mastered that by the end of the semester. In additionwe will be assessing proficiency with factors and multiples, and dividing with fractions and learning about positive and negative numbers.
Students demonstrate flexibility in the computational methods they choose, understand and can explain these methods, and produce accurate answers efficiently.
Efficiency - students do not get bogged down in too many steps or lose track of the logic of the strategy. Students carry out a chosen strategy easily.
Accuracy includes carefully showing work, knowledge of number facts and other important number relationships, and double-checking results.
Flexibility means students can solve a problem in more than one way and can show it. Students can use and explain one method to solve a problem and another method to check the results.
So fluency demands more of students than memorising a single procedure – they need to understand and be able to explain why they are doing what they are doing and know when it is appropriate to use different methods.
One of the most important questions students need to ask when they do math is: “Does it make sense?” For example if a car holds 22.75 gallons of gas and each gallon costs $2.40, how much will a full tank cost? If the student says $546 then he should be able to explain why that doesn’t make sense.
The main area of Fluency for 6th graders is: Compute fluently with multi-digit numbers. For the first quarter this means we were working on adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing multi-digit decimal numbers. We will still be working on that second quarter, and longer for some students who haven’t mastered that by the end of the semester. In additionwe will be assessing proficiency with factors and multiples, and dividing with fractions and learning about positive and negative numbers.
Mindset - keep your synapses firing!
Standards for Mathematical Practice
Mathematicians tackle problems and use these practices
Practices 1 and 6 are constantly at work in a math class.
1: Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them
Formative Assessment Lesson - Interpreting Multiplication and Division
6: Attend to Precision
Students...
~ Understand, explain and use mathematical language and symbols in their work
~ Calculate with accuracy
~ Use efficient methods to calculate
~ Label diagrams, numbers, graphs and other components of the problem solving work, including sequencing
___________________________________________
Practices 2 and 3 work together when thinking about mathematical problems.
1: Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them
Formative Assessment Lesson - Interpreting Multiplication and Division
6: Attend to Precision
Students...
~ Understand, explain and use mathematical language and symbols in their work
~ Calculate with accuracy
~ Use efficient methods to calculate
~ Label diagrams, numbers, graphs and other components of the problem solving work, including sequencing
___________________________________________
Practices 2 and 3 work together when thinking about mathematical problems.