5th Grade Math Update
First semester is at an end, and students are ready to take the Unit 4 Math assessment and start their second math journal. Second quarter focused mostly on introducing fractions. Students now realize that fractions are actually division problems, the numerator divided by the denominator. They have learned how to convert improper fractions to mixed numbers and vise versa. They also worked on finding common denominators to add and subtract fractions with unlike denominators. This is a difficult concept for them. They are now able to find a fraction of a whole number and multiply two fractions. Simplifying fractions is still a struggle for most students, but practice makes progress, so we keep working at it.
Students have also been writing decimal numbers in expanded form and adding and subtracting decimals. They have learned that 0.6 is the same as 6/10, 0.06 = 6/100 and 0.006 = 6/1000.
We have also spent time working with ordered pairs and coordinate grids.
Next semester we will continue fraction work using more mixed numbers.
It is quite exciting to think about how much students have learned so far this school year.
