I am having a lot of fun working on the fifth grade curriculum. I think I like it so much because I have worked with the second, third, and fourth grade units first. I can see the progression, and it makes so much sense! I highly recommend spending some time doing this, if you can. I will be posting about it as soon as I can as well. I just find it fascinating. Plus, if I have a student who is having trouble, we can just back it down to where he has a solid foundation and move up from there. I know this is something we should be doing anyway, but I often had trouble knowing the progression well enough to use it in a meaningful way.
So, fifth grade starts out with place value (same as fourth grade and third grade I think). The place value chart has expanded to show millions through thousandths. It has a decimal point in it. I think this was introduced in fourth grade. Students then learn/review multiplying by tens, hundreds, and thousands. They also work on dividing by tens, hundreds, and thousands.
If you look closely, you can see that when we move to the left we multiply by tens, and when we move to the right we divide by tens. This is the same as fourth grade, so kids should be able to stretch their thinking to include the tenths, hundredths, and thousands.
Something new in this first topic is exponents. I think Engage New York does a nice job of showing the kids that they have already been using exponents when they multiply by ten multiple times. However, some kids may need more practice with this idea. If I can, I will put together something. If you know of a resource already out there, please share it in the comments.
Finally, I really like how the last lesson or two brings everything back to the metric system. We can just layer the names of each unit of measurement on the place value chart and suddenly we are working with measurement and real objects. It makes so much sense to me. Again, some kids will get it really quickly, and others will need more practice. If you have a great resource for this, put it in the comments.
So, this is just Topic A of Module 1 for the fifth grade math unit. I have completed my notes for Topic B, and I will be putting them into computer form today. I might not get it all done because I am teaching some of my fellow teachers how to get started on Teachers pay Teachers, and I have an interview later today. I had been planning on just doing TpT and TN next year, but an opportunity came up that I just couldn't refuse. I will have a lot of freedom in my classroom to try out all my crazy ideas. Hopefully, it works out, and I will be able to share what I am doing in my classroom with you all. If it doesn't work out, that is okay too. I have a notebook full of things I need to be working on.
The fifth grade modules are not for sale yet, but stay tuned!
