$5th grade benchmark fractions$

$5th grade benchmark fractions$ $5th grade benchmark fractions$

5TH GRADE BENCHMARK FRACTIONS PROFESSIONAL

I went through the 3rd and 4th grade progressions and pulled out 3 major ideas that built up to the first lesson in my 5th grade unit on adding fractions with unlike denominators. Reading through the progression with this new lens really helped me to get a sense of what my students should have learned in prior grades and the representations and models they might have used.

5TH GRADE BENCHMARK FRACTIONS PROFESSIONAL

At first I wasn’t sure which topics were the most important to go over, but fortunately, around this same time, I attended an Illustrative Mathematics professional development session led by Kristin Gray, who provided each teacher with a copy of the Progression Document for the Common Core Math Standards. In my desire to limit these same mistakes and frustrations, I wanted to take time to learn more about where my students were in their thinking around fractions and provide more context and foundations to lead them to that first lesson of the unit. All of those reteach days, disappointing quiz grades and meltdowns may have been avoided if I had taken the time at the start of the unit to dig deep into students’ brains and activate their prior knowledge. I tried to think back to the last time the students in my current class had worked with fractions on a daily basis, and it must have been almost 9 months ago! I considered that it wasn’t that my students didn’t “get” fractions-as I used to think-but rather it was a reflection of me not knowing where my students were in their understanding before starting this unit. Although this lesson hits directly in line with the 5th grade standard (5.NF.A.1), I spent almost no time prior to this lesson discussing fractions, nevermind adding or subtracting them with like denominators. I noted that immediately following the previous chapter test on decimals, the first lesson of the next unit was fraction addition with unlike denominators. I realized that there was a major lack of a comprehensive introduction to fractions for students. This year would be different, I told myself as I gulped down my large iced coffee.Īt the time I wasn’t sure why fractions were so painful for my students, but as I reflected on my lessons, I noticed something strange about my curriculum and unit plans. “My students just didn’t get it,” I thought at the time. I recalled the painstaking hours of scouring YouTube for videos on the “easiest tricks” and “fastest shortcuts” for adding and subtracting fractions. Looking back at my lesson plans, I noticed how many reteaching lessons I was forced to add into the middle of my unit. I started having flashbacks to last winter, when my students’ frustrations with fractions led to daily meltdowns. As I sat down at my local coffee shop to plan my upcoming 5th grade unit on fractions, a wave of dread spread across my body.

$5th grade benchmark fractions$