5th Grade Math Unit 2: Place Value From Billions to Thousandths, Notations, Comparing, Ordering, Adding, and Subtracting Decimals

I recently finished and posted to my static pages Math Unit 2: Place Value, Notations, and Decimals. This unit is part of my years worth of math units, which can also be accessed from my Math 9 Week Plans page.

In the spirit of convenience, I will also include the exact text of this unit here as a post in the main posts page of my blog. I hope that you can find this helpful:



5th grade Math Unit 2 involves place value from thousandths to billions, comparing and ordering numbers from thousandths to billions, and finally, adding and subtracting decimals.

The all encompassing, end of unit assessment can be downloaded in .doc format HERE to get you started.

These concepts are important to future success in math, and are taught in three parts so that the concepts scaffold onto one another as we go. This unit comes after a large numbers and operations unit that we started the year with, one in which students identified factors and multiples, worked with prime factorization, and finally refined skills in multiplication and division.

The unit is split into its three parts here, with all necessary exams and paperwork attached:

Unit 2.1: PLACE VALUE FROM THOUSANDTHS TO BILLIONS

It's important that students have an understanding of very large and very small numbers in the 5th grade. So we start by working on place value. Place value is a good place to start because it comes down to practice, repetition, and memorization of the place values.

The PDSA that accompanies unit 2.1 can be downloaded HERE.
The Unit 2.1 Assessment can be downloaded HERE. (I should mention right here that most of the assessments I have are also available in Spanish. Just let me know if you're interested).

By applying backwards design to this portion of Unit 2, the assessment shows a need for knowledge in: expanded notation, written notation, standard notation, and place value.

Activities to meet these needs are listed below:

First, I highly recommend a great activity called Place Value Cups. I originally came across this activity on a blog titled Look+Listen=Learn. By making these cups, students are given multiple opportunities to practice place value and expanded notation at the same time. It's a great activity, and I'm excited to see the difference it can make with students who struggle with this concept.

Teaching place value and the different notations is actually quite different than a lot of mathematical concepts. By this age, it should be more refinement and scaffolding than outright teaching. Let's be honest, if a child reaches 5th grade and has no understanding of place value, they've probably never been instructed before, or had some flat out awful teachers in the past, because it's integral to 3rd and 4th grades. I've found that students benefit more from practice practice practice than anything else. So while using the place value cups, I also refine the concept of how to say numbers.

Saying numbers aloud, especially larger numbers and numbers with decimals in them, can be daunting for the struggling math student. When I say "saying numbers aloud," I'm also teaching expanded notation. I like to rely on comma naming to give students a chance to know how to say numbers possibly before they conceptually understand big numbers (millions and beyond).

I teach students that the first comma is called thousand, the second is called million, and the third is called billion. We practice this in class. Then, we practice saying numbers with comma names. The great thing about this is that students never have to actually say a number larger than hundreds. Here's an example:

324,783,013.... The student would first say three hundred twenty four. This is simple, it's a concept that has been mastered by the vast majority of 5th graders years ago. Then it's a matter of naming that comma. It's the third comma we're looking at, and its name is billion. So, three hundred twenty four billion... Then the student would continue on... seven hundred eighty three, this time it's the second comma, million... seven hundred eighty three mission... thirteen. And that's the end of that. It really helps students understand and be able to say numbers, which we then build on with expanded notation. Expanded notation is fairly straight forward. It will also be covered in the resources below:

Here's a few resources to get you started:

• Place Value Charts at Adrian Bruce's Math Stuff: I will be printing off the charts and hanging them up in the classroom to use as an example. They go up to quadrillions. I only need up through billions.
• A simple, colorful chart to help with place value and expanded notation: PDF document.
• Numerous worksheets from MathAids.com.
• A chart to help students write numbers and understand their place values.
• A pdf packet of worksheets on the subject. I especially like page 10.

Unit 2.2: COMPARING AND ORDERING DECIMALS

After we have taught place value to thousandths (and billions), we move on to ordering decimals, and comparing decimals with <,>,= statements.

The PDSA for Unit 2.2 can be accessed HERE.
The assessment for Unit 2.2 can be accessed HERE.

By using the same method of backwards design, starting with the 2.2 assessment, we see that in this particular cycle of the lesson, students will be learning how to apply less than, greater than, and equal to statements to decimals, and will learn how to order large numbers with decimals (and simply large numbers is also acceptable here) either from greatest to least or least to greatest. Finally, it's important to apply these skills to word problems. So here we go:

• Head off to Khan Academy for his lesson on Comparing Decimals. Khan Academy is great, because he teaches through video, and offers various practice problem sets. Plus, he's got TONS of stuff.
• Fruit Shoot Comparing Decimals Game: An interactive game for students to play.
• I like for my students to practice ordering numbers on hanging number lines. It's a simple concept involving string and folded pieces of paper (or note cards). 

• This document, titled Gap Closing, has some great activities to fit this unit of study, particularly comparing and ordering decimals. 
• This pdf document includes a small chart I have my students make so they can begin to understand conceptually how and why they compare numbers, and what it actually means, in terms of place value, when one number is larger than another.
• Finally, a refresher on inequality symbols (if your students don't know this, they need to know this!)

UNIT 2.3: ADDING AND SUBTRACTING DECIMALS

Finally we end this unit with a cycle on adding and subtracting decimals. The concept is straight forward, and quite simply involves lining up the numbers to be added or subtracted by the decimal point.

The PDSA for cycle Unit 2.3 can be downloaded HERE.
The Unit 2.3 assessment can be downloaded HERE. If you like to save time, as my grade level team does, we don't use this assessment, instead, we simply score the final page (the adding and subtracting decimals page) twice, once as part of the unit score, and once for a unit 2.3 score.

• Here is a nice visual from Cool Math.com that pretty much explains it all. 
• Enchanted Learning also has a page about adding decimals, with some fun pdf worksheet games to go with it.
• My favorite worksheet building site, Worksheet Works, has pages of fully customizable and downloadable (in pdf) addition and subtraction of decimals worksheets.

Just remember, the concept of adding and subtracting decimals is quite simple. It all comes down to lining up the decimal, regardless of how huge one number might be and how small the other might be. Your students also might think about using zeros as placeholders when doing this!

Area and Perimeter Teacher Resources: Worksheets, Games, and Activities

In 5th grade, we teach a unit on geometry, that mainly discusses 3-dimensional geometry. We do spend a lesson on perimeter & area. I find that this lesson normally is easy to grasp, and the vast majority of students move through it quite easily. I have a page of resources (games, activities, and worksheets) that could be of service to the classroom or homeschool teacher. These resources would be great in mainly a 4th-6th grade classroom, or maybe to challenge the very bright 3rd grader. Again, with this concept being fairly straight forward, it can be picked up pretty quickly. The unit is listed under my Math 9 Week Plans, and is titled Area & Perimeter Classroom Resources. I'm getting in the habit of re-posting these lesson and unit pages here within blog postings, I've gotten positive feedback from this, it's more user friendly than having people click all over the place. Here is the exact posting that you would find if you clicked the above link:



My school district adopted Math Investigations for use at the beginning of the 2007-2008 school year, and are still in that adoption. My school saw that our math scores were stagnant, and decided last year to try our hand at only utilizing the Investigations materials as a resource. We planned each unit out together, came up with our own materials (and compiled the resources we had and could find), and taught like that. The unit order that we came up with is the same one you'll see on the Math 9 Week Plans page. The reason I mention this is that we no longer have a curriculum to use. So as I go through these math units and lessons, I am going to list activities, games, ideas, and worksheets, because this will be my own resource as well. So that's where I'm coming from. Now let's get started:

BEGIN THE UNIT WITH AN EXPLANATION:

• Perimeter and Area Visual Explanation: An Adobe Shockwave presentation that introduces the unit. Smartboard friendly.

ACTIVITIES:

• Interactive Shape Explorer: A nice interactive where students find the perimeter and area of various, randomly generated regular and non-regular polygons on a grid. Optionally, the teacher can ask students to copy the shapes on graph paper and solve there.
• The most simple classroom activity is to have students measure the dimensions of the classroom, a chalkboard, the hallways, their desk, etc. Then use those dimensions to find perimeter and area (and later on, volume). 
• Everything You Wanted to Know About Perimeter and Area: Go to pretty much any resource listing on perimeter and area activities, and you'll probably find a link to this one. There's a reason for it, it's simple and effective. It's Smartboard/projector friendly for whole class, and teaches as it goes.

GAMES:

• Cyberchase Airline Builder: An online game where students must use the given amount of sticks to create different polygons. 
• Zoo Designer: I wasn't impressed with this game at first glance, but played it for a few minutes and actually see some value in using this in class. This one is also web based.
• Real Estate and Perimeter Game: I found that at the blog Homeschool Parent. It's a good idea for a very effective in class perimeter or area game. I'll be using this, my students always enjoy the partner games.

WORKSHEETS:

• A to Z Teacher Stuff Area & Perimeter Worksheets and Printables: Decent, but not very difficult, worksheets to use in class. A good starting point.
• The Grid Game: This is a 4 page printable, I will be using the last page (the grid game), and possibly the page before it (perimeter patterns).
• Worksheet Works.com Worksheet Designer: A nice, easy to use tool that gives you worksheets in pdf format based on your needs.
• Large Worksheet Packet: What I like about this packet is it has a table at the beginning that names many types of triangles and quadrilaterals. If anything, I'll be using that first page.
• Free Math Worksheets: A decent page with some good worksheets in a lot of different skills. 
• Measuring Perimeter & Area: An adapted worksheet packet that has some good skill building activities within a pdf document.
• Math-Aids Perimeter and Area Worksheets: A good site with various worksheets, fully customizable before printing.
• Illuminations site: There is a worksheet about finding perimeter and area, and an online geoboard.
• A full supplement pdf from Bridges for Mathematics. There's good information here if you have no curriculum to start with.

Perimeter and Area are usually one of the more simple concepts that come up in 5th grade. This listing of resources should help anyone get started. I'll be utilizing these and sharing them with my grade level team during this unit. As always, it's just a start. There are literally thousands of sites and worksheets out there. If you have anything else that you swear by, please share it here so I can get it up on the page.

Teaching About Anne Frank: Classroom Resources

I love to teach about Anne Frank every year during my unit on World War II. I just completed a list of teacher resources that I hand picked out of the many that are out there. This page is listed within my Social Studies Unit on World War II, and is titled Anne Frank Classroom Resources. To make it easier and save from all the link clicking, I will also make that unit available in this post. You can click the above link to be taken to that page, but here it is again:

When doing my unit on the World Wars, I like to discuss the Holocaust, but it's a touchy subject with elementary students. My opinion is that a 5th grader is old enough to begin learning about the Holocaust, and showing respect and concern over those events. At this age, one of the best ways to convey the gravity of the events while still making it relate able is by talking about Anne Frank. I don't have the time to read the Diary of Anne Frank in its entirety, so I have to approach it a little differently.

I begin with the reading of Who Was Anne Frank? by Ann Abramson. This book is available in my schools teacher library. I don't normally endorse things you have to pay for on this blog, but if you want to teach about Anne Frank, and don't have tons of time, this book is a good way to go.

• The definitive Anne Frank website comes courtesy of Anne Frank .org. The Secret Annex Online is a fantastic site with a great virtual tour of the secret annex. This is one of the highest quality virtual tours I've ever seen. (trust me, there's a ton of stuff there). The site even comes with a teachers guide with information for elementary, middle, and high school teachers as to how to incorporate the site into lessons.
• The next resource is a teacher guide that is meant to accompany the 2009 mini-series The Diary of Anne Frank. I selected this resource because of its high quality and the usefulness of many pages out of it (even without viewing the movie).
• Up next we have the Teacher Created Resources pdf document meant to supplement Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl. These are a mainstay in many teachers classrooms, and can be found in teacher supply stores all over. This one includes activities, worksheets, vocabulary, and quizzes. Oh and it's free, you can't beat that price tag!
• This next pdf is a study guide provided by Park Square Theater. It contains a good timeline, some high quality activities, and good pictures, and it's print ready. 
• Here is a short reading with questions and an answer key in pdf format.
• Scholastic has a teachers guide website with links to some activities and photo snapshots as well.
• If you're looking for a quick webquest, Scholastic has this one.

Anne Frank is a very popular person for and students across the world learn about her. There are thousands of sites out there, so I could go on all day. I tried to limit this to some resources that will be helpful to me and anyone else looking to teach about Anne Frank. 

VIDEOS:

There are a number of very high quality mini-series, movies, and documentaries about Anne Frank. There obviously won't be time to watch them all, but here are some links to the ones you can view freely on Youtube (they're all big and come in multiple clips).

• Anne Frank: The Whole Story: This 2001 mini-series closely resembles the book I mentioned above, "Who Was Anne Frank?" It stars Ben Kingsley, and is definitely classroom friendly and hits hard. If you wish to view it on Youtube, it comes in 19 parts. I'll start by embedding part one here, the easiest way to continue is to find "Anne Frank: The Whole Story Part 2 on the right sidebar, and continue on from there:

• The Diary of Anne Frank is a 2009 mini-series, and is also very good. The approach is a little different than the above mentioned film. This one was created by the BBC, and is equally as good. I recommend watching them both, and deciding which is right for your class. It's in 8 parts, approach it the same as the one above, I have embedded part 1 here:

• This final clip is a personal favorite, and can hardly be called a clip. The below embedded video is the entire 2 hours, 43 minutes, and 20 seconds of the 1959 classic The Diary of Anne Frank. I show this one to my class every year, and they love it. The music and black and white presentation give it an older feel, but it's very effective for fifth graders. I LOVE this movie. It's also one clip, not a bunch of different parts:

5th Grade Science Unit on Atoms & Molecules

Underneath my subject static pages here on my blog, I have just completed a science unit on atoms & molecules.

I've been focusing on making sure that these unit pages are full of information that I can use to assist in my own planning, and making sure that it's a service to other teachers. There are links to the content, some activities, many pdf documents that are freely available for printing, and some great videos that I use in this unit. Let me know if you have any other suggestions.

SCIENCE UNIT: ATOMS & MOLECULES

My 5th Grade Unit on Westward Expansion

In my subject specific static pages within this blog, I have posted resources and plans for teaching a unit on Westward Expansion (the frontier, California Gold Rush, the many trails that brought pioneers out West, etc.).

You can access that unit on my blog, it's titled Unit 5: Westward Expansion. It is my hope that there are links here that are useful to other teachers, most of this stuff is appropriate for grades 2-7 with adaptations. There are many links for kids, and teachers, including lots of print ready pdf documents. Everything is free, so that's always a plus!

I have also taken the exact page and removed all teacher resources from it. When my students begin research in this unit, they will use the page Social Studies Unit 5: Westward Expansion Student Links Only.