Unit 1: Shopping at the Bazaar Algebra is often called the "gatekeeper" to taking higher-level math courses. Students recognize fundamental properties used to carry out arithmetic functions to articulate steps in calculation and justify procedures. This articulation and justification are critical for students to gain a deep understanding of mathematics.
Background Knowledge This unit builds off the following content knowledge:
Add and subtract within 20
Understand right from left
Experience with base-ten blocks
Understand properties of operations to add and subtract two-digit numbers
Solve word problems involving addition and subtraction
Goals
Chapter 1: Communicate like a practicing mathematician while understanding the notion of equality by comparing two groups.
Chapter 2: Review meaning of expressions, equations, and the equal sign.
Chapter 3: Write and interpret equations by devising a plan to sell their agates to shopkeepers.
Unit 2: Using Everyday Measures Welcome to the Using Everyday Measures math unit! In this unit students will explore measurement concepts including length, area, and capacity in this hands on un unit. Students will also be learning about the different methods and tools used to measure objects in the real world. Below is a quick break down of the unit.
Background Knowledge Teaching measurement is one of the key components of math curriculum. When you think about it measurement is a process that students use in their lives every day as they explore the world around them at home, at school, and in their community. They wonder how long the earthworm is, how tall they are compared to their best friend, how much older they are than their baby sister, how big the soccer field is, and how many cups of juice their new thermos holds. And this is just for starters! Thinking and acting like mathematicians, will allow them to answer all these questions over time as they come to understand the concepts of measurement and the skills involved in the measurement process.
Unit Layout
Pre-Assessment & Goal Setting
Unit Introduction
Chapter 1: Length
Chapter 2: Area
Chapter 3: Capacity
Resources for home: Here are a few resources including books and websites that you can use at home. Also remember it is important to talk about how measurement is all around us. When we drive, bake, play with legos, and more we are exposing our students to measurement and they should know it!
Children's Literature
McBratney, S. (1994). Guess how much I love you. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick. In this book, little and big nut-brown hares show their feelings for one another by jumping, running, and describing many different length measurements. Children love to make and record their own measurements to tell parents how much they love them.
Say, A. 1982. The bicycle man. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin. Japanese children holding a sports festival in their country schoolyard are charmed by two American soldiers’ bicycle tricks. This engaging story suggests how many measurement skills are necessary in judging sports events.
Silverstein, S. (1964). Giraffe and a half. New York, NY: HarperCollins. “If you had a giraffe and he stretched another half…” is how this humorous story begins. The book provides an introduction to measuring length and measuring half of a given length. Children love to make models of their bodies that are half of their real height.
Bix, C. O. & Rauzon, M. (1995). Water, water everywhere. San Francisco, CA: Sierra Club Books for Children This simple book examines all of the forms of water on earth. Stunning full-color photographs are interspersed with poetic yet informative descriptions of what water is and why it is important. The book makes the subject very accessible as it shows familiar scenes of gulls and other wildlife; children sitting on the beach, walking in the rain, and having a snowball fight; and such natural phenomena as storm clouds and geysers.
Carter, D. A. (1988). How many bugs in a box? New York, NY: Simon & Schuster. This pop-up counting book contains a variety of boxes, each holding a specific number of bugs. It provides an introduction to the concepts of capacity and leads children to similar investigations.
Websites
Illuminations: Going Places. Retrieved June 14, 2010 from NCTM website:
Unit 3: Designing a Shape Gallery: Geometry with the Meerkats We are starting off the year with this unit on Geometry. Geometry helps connect mathematics and the physical world. This unit explores 2D and 3D shapes and the relationships among them. This helps to develop an understanding of the properties of shapes and relationships among shapes as they advance their geometric thinking.
Background Knowledge This unit builds off the following content knowledge:
Familiarity with common 2- and 3-dimensional shapes (triangles, rectangles, pyramids)
Experience cutting and tracing shapes
Experience combining shapes to create new shapes
Experience moving shapes in space (rotating, flipping, sliding puzzle pieces)
Experience identifying the number of sides and vertices of 2-dimensional shapes
Familiarity with pattern blocks
Organization of Unit
Chapter 1: Explores 2-dimensional shapes and the tiling of shapes using transformations to create a tessellation while using mathematical vocabulary to write and talk about their exploration
Chapter 2: Explores the relationship between 2- and 3-dimensional shapes by performing experiments and comparing their predictions to the results.
Chapter 3: Investigates composing and decomposing 2- and 3-dimensional shapes. Students design a scale model of a playground by using the faces of the floor design to build 3-dimensional shapes following building guidelines. The conclusion of this chapter asks students to draw and describe the playground from different perspectives noting similarities and differences.