5th Grade Math Resources for Numbers and Operations in Base Ten CCSS Strand

I have completed pages of resources for all of the 5.NBT standards, which I have linked to below. I hope you find some great things you can use in your classroom. Everything I list is freely available online, no cost stuff only!

• 5.NBT.1
• 5.NBT.2
• 5.NBT.3
• 5.NBT.4
• 5.NBT.5
• 5.NBT.6
• 5.NBT.7

You can also see these listed on my Math School Year Outline (CCSS aligned).

5th Grade Math Resources for CCSS 5.NBT.7

5.NBT.7: Add, subtract, multiply, and divide decimals to hundredths, using concrete models or drawings and strategies based on place value, properties of operations, and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction; relate the strategy to a written method and explain the reasoning used.

UNPACKED EXPLANATION: Do computations with decimals in all four operations, being able to relate work to models or drawings, and utilize strategies based on place value, properties, and the inverse relationship of addition and subtraction. It's the culmination of the entire NBT strand.

WHAT THE PARCC WILL EXPECT: I've said it before and I'll say it again. The practice test hasn't, in my mind, done justice to how difficult the actual PARCC test is. So my advice is to make sure this standard, as all others, is taught to the letter of what's being asked. The practice questions are a straight forward .035 x 1.5 and 5.63  + 14.37, which aren't that difficult. So just go ahead and hit the depth of the entire standard, I think it's the best way to go.

RESOURCES:

• Math Worksheet Land Worksheets
• Mr. Maffesoli.com Worksheets on 5.NBT.7
• A couple of great word problem pdfs: Diminishing Return and Got Your Number.
• EngageNY full module: This huge document can be a little cumbersome, but if you do a search on the standard 5.NBT.7 then you'll find a few great problems and scoring rubrics here. 
• 5.NBT.7 games

5th Grade Math Resources for CCSS 5.NBT.6

5.NBT.6: Find whole-number quotients of whole numbers with up to four-digit dividends and two-digit divisors, using strategies based on place value, the properties of operations, and/or the relationship between multiplication and division. Illustrate and explain the calculation by using equations, rectangular arrays, and/or area models.

UNPACKED EXPLANATION: 4 digit by 2 digit division with strategies that involved an understanding of place value relationships (as in moving that decimal place to the left and right), understanding that division is the opposite of multiplication, and understanding the properties of the operations involved. Finally, students should have the ability to explain their calculation visually. 

WHAT THE PARCC WILL EXPECT: I'm not sure if many teachers out there have looked in depth at what the PARCC has to offer, but I have to say that I'm not very impressed in a lot of ways. If you look at this standard, it's really sophisticated in what it expects out of students. Not just the ability to divide, but the ability to elaborate on their calculation and process is important. Well, then there's the PARCC question, here's a screenshot of what the PARCC asked for 5th graders to do:

Yep, here it is. The point I'm trying to make here is if you go to the depth of understanding that 5.NBT.6 asks of you to go with your students, they'll have no trouble handling the low level, low quality type of question being asked of them on the PARCC assessment (I know that's a fairly brutal and straightforward critique, but that's how it is with this).

PARENT HELP: I discussed having parents help with basic multiplication and division practice at the beginning of the school year in my 5th Grade Math Resources for CCSS 5.NBT.5 post, and will elaborate on that here. 

If you set aside the initial.... six weeks or so of the school year for parents to help their children at home reinforcing basic multiplication and division facts, it can save you a lot of time in the classroom. I haven't met a 5th grade teacher in the all the world who doesn't lament the fact that a good percentage of their students don't walk through the door on the first day with fundamental math facts down, mainly multiplication facts and standard algorithm, as well as the ability to divide with the standard algorithm. So here's some resources that can be utilized for that purpose:

BASIC SKILL PRACTICE:

• ROCKET MATH: Rocket Math offers 1 minute timings (you can read more on that in my 5.NBT.5 post under basic skill practice). Here are some division sheets in ORIGINAL FORMAT and in NEW FORMAT. 
• GAMES:
• Fun 4 the Brain Division Games: A great listing with some pretty neat games that practice basic division facts. 
• Math Playground Division Games: Some neat games that will help kids in need of a little practice.
• WORKSHEETS: 
• Math aids.com listing: I like the offerings here, lots of great basic division practice. 
• Math drills.com listing: You can't go wrong here, there are tons of choices.
• Common Core Sheets listing: Again, tons of choices and variations available here. 

ADDRESSING 5.NBT.6 WITH RIGOR, SYSTEMATICALLY: Once students have basic division facts down (fact families basically), and can function within the standard algorithm, it's time to start talking about how to handle those remainders. By 5th grade, they shouldn't just be putting an "r" and writing the remainder next to it, they should either take that remainder and make a fraction with remainder in the numerator and divisor in the denominator, or continue on by using a decimal in the quotient (I like my students to keep going to the thousandths place if necessary). 

Long division with the remainder as a fraction

Long division with decimal remainders

DIVISION WITH FRACTIONAL REMAINDERS:

• WORKSHEETS:
• Math aids.com: Why go elsewhere when it's right here.
• Dads worksheets.com: Tons of results here, there are many possible worksheets you can use.

DIVISION WITH DECIMAL REMAINDERS: (there are some options at the links immediately above this as well)

• Math is fun.com example: Kids can open this on an iPad or computer to get a very detailed example on how this works. 
• Khan Academy Dividing Completely to Get Decimal Remainder: I used this lesson in my class to some good results, it was a flipped lesson and students really understood what he was showing them.

5th Grade Math Resources for CCSS 5.NBT.5

5.NBT.5: Fluently multiply multi-digit whole numbers using the standard algorithm.

UNPACKED EXPLANATION: What more is there to say here? Multiply using the classic method known as the standard algorithm. The key here is the world "fluently," which means students need to be able to do this quickly and with skill. 

WHAT THE PARCC WILL EXPECT: The PARCC practice test that is currently out there has three problems that are 5.NBT.5. This is a 36 question test, so realizing that a full 8% of this test is based on this one standard, that should show us all that this is a HUGE standard. Of course, this shouldn't be a surprise. The ability to multiply fluently is a foundational math skill, and should be something students are practicing and reinforcing all year long.

The PARCC practice problems are: 

463 x 1,945 =

371 x 2,584 =

625 x 847 =

So, considering that this is a huge standard, let's discuss a few approaches: 

PARENT HELP: Multiplication and division with the standard algorithms are HUGE HUGE HUGE skills that can't be taught in a two or three week period. They need constant practice throughout the year. One way I like to do this is by involving parents. From the beginning of the school year, I send home multiplication and division practice as homework for the first few months. This gets parents involved, because even though many parents struggle to help their kids with the more rigorous CCSS based math stuff, they can provide support when it comes to multiplying and dividing. I also try to focus on basic skill checks through the first few months. Too many 5th graders don't have their basic multiplication facts down, so let's hit this standard from bottom to top.

BASIC SKILL PRACTICE:

• ROCKET MATH: If you don't know what Rocket Math is, it's 1 minute timings that students try to complete and move up a rocket chart. Teacher directions are HERE, and the timing sheets are HERE (the classic ones that I use because they're the ones my school has, and some newer ones that I don't like as much but they are out there HERE). These are good to send home, and have parents do the timings at night for practice, and then do some timings in class. I have a good system going with these and can do a full timing, and have everything put away within 3 minutes. It's good and quick practice for basic skills, which are necessary. Students can't multiply fluently if they're constantly doing multiplication on their fingers.
• Games: I could list literally thousands of different basic fact games, but instead, just go to Google and search for basic multiplication fact games and you'll see for yourself. I'm going to focus on a few of the best here. 
• Multiplication.com Games: A large collection of games that reinforce facts. I put this link up on my classroom webpage for students to use at home.
• Times Table Games: A decent listing of some basic facts games.
• Worksheets: Here's some basic facts worksheets to get you started.
• Tons of sheets in one pdf file.
• Create your own basic facts worksheets at The Math Worksheet Generator.
• Worksheet Works worksheet generator:  Good stuff here!

ADDRESSING 5.NBT.5 WITH RIGOR: Let's move beyond basic skills into mastering this skill and really starting to push students abilities with the standard algorithm.

• Mr. Maffesoli.com Listing: Mostly 2 x 2 multiplication worksheets in pdf format. 
• Internet for Classrooms.com Listing: Has 2 x 2, 2 x 3, 2 x 4, etc. 
• Mathaids.com Worksheet Builder: Build some algorithm based problems here and download as pdf. 
• Mathdrills.com Worksheet Listing: Many worksheets that address the standard algorithm. 
• CCSS Math Internet Resources: Worksheets, videos, interactives, etc.
• WORD PROBLEMS:
• Mr. Nussbaum Story Problems: 10 examples exist here. 
• A few rigorous multi-step multiplication word problems
•  Multi-step Multiplication word problems from superteacherworksheets.com: It's usually not a free site but this is a free pdf.
• Math-aids.com build your own two step multiplication problem pdf sheet.
• Helping with math.com listing: Some decent and challenging word problems exist here.
• Full module from engageny.org: Do a 5.NBT.5 search in this pdf and find a great listing of some highly rigorous problems, some warm ups, and even some rubrics and scoring samples.
• Lessons for Learning: A large pdf document provided by the Public Schools of North Carolina, I found some great and rigorous word problems here.

5th Grade Math Resources for CCSS 5.NBT.4

5.NBT.4: Use place value understanding to round decimals to any place.

UNPACKED EXPLANATION: Round decimals to either tenths, hundredths, or thousandths, although strategies and skilled learns should apply to any place.

WHAT THE PARCC WILL EXPECT: The PARCC Practice Tests question for 5.NBT.4 tests students ability to round decimals without a given context (without telling them "round to the tenths place," etc.). The actual problem is:

The PARCC does this quite a lot. There are 6 numbers that can be dragged, meaning that two numbers will be left behind, so the traditional test taking strategies, especially process of elimination, won't be as effective here (although it still helps). Students will need the ability to do exactly what's laid out above, to be able to match numbers to their rounded counterparts, and do it without context.

RESOURCES: I'll focus on resources that cover all the components of this skill. You'll likely want to start with doing a lot of rounding with context, and eventually move to the more rigorous side of this standard.

• ROUNDING WITH CONTEXT:
• Short explanation before some rounding of specified digits
• 4 page packet that rounds with context
• Mathworksheetland.com lesson outline: It's all context based rounding here. 
• Massive listing of worksheets from internet4classrooms.com: Tons and tons of context based rounding sheets, I mean TONS.
• Assessment for 5.NBT.1-4: Actually some decent problems here.
• GAMES
• Rounding decimals soccer
• Scooter Quest
• ROUNDING WITHOUT CONTEXT: There's not a lot out there for rounding decimals that leaves no context. My advice here is to look at the PARCC problem above and craft some problems that are similar to it, this ensures students are getting rigorous problems that make them problem solve and think. I highly recommend going to that level if possible,
• Performance assessment task from insidemathematics.com: Look through this document for a few rigorous problems with scoring rubrics. They could be used for practice or even incorporated into assessments. 
• Iowa released test items: Released items from the old NAEP test that are now aligned to CCSS (interstingly enough, a lot of these problems were originally meant for 7th and 8th graders). Search the document (ctrl+f) for 5.NBT.4.

5.NBT.4 VIDEO:

5th Grade Math Resources for CCSS 5.NBT.3

5.NBT.3:  Read, write, and compare decimals to the thousandths.

(a) Read and write decimals to thousandths using base-ten numerals, number names, and expanded form, e.g., 347.392 = 3 × 100 + 4 × 10 + 7 × 1 + 3 × (1/10) + 9 × (1/100) + 2 × (1/1000).

(b) Compare two decimals to thousandths based on meanings of the digits in each place, using >, =, and < symbols to record the results of comparisons.

First of all, this standard has two parts. We will first focus on part (a) of the standard:

5.NBT.3a

UNPACKED EXPLANATION: To put it as simple as possible, this part of standard 3 asks students to write the expanded form of numbers, fractions included to represent tenths, hundredths, and thousandths. 

WHAT THE PARCC WILL EXPECT: Just like 5.NBT.2, there are no performance tasks for 5.NBT.3 (a or b). So, the best approach to take here is to use these standards to prepare students for the more rigorous work that lies ahead later on in the NBT domain. If your students can accurately write standard, word, and expanded form of numbers that go to thousandths, they'll be fine on this standard. It really is a simple one that can be tied to some other standards as well.

RESOURCES: Again, this will be fairly straight forward. If you teach in sequence (and there's really no reason you shouldn't with this domain, it's already laid out that way), then your students will already have a good understanding of place values in the base ten system, making this the next step.

• Adjective/Noun Theme: As someone who has been through a full round of Intel Math training, I fully believe in and utilize many of their strategies, including adjective/noun theme. The a/n theme has been around long before Intel, but is very conceptual and powerful when students learn to utilize it. HERE is a document that explains adjective/noun theme in the four operations. And HERE is another document on adjective/noun theme with decimals. The basic premise here is that numbers are adjectives that describe nouns. You can't add together two unlike nouns (you can't add together 4 dogs and 2 cats without some sort of combining of nouns). So if it's 45 hundredths + 8 tenths, we have to do some converting to get 45 hundredths + 80 hundredths, and then we add the adjectives to get 125 hundredths. It's a simple yet effective way of teaching this stuff that is conceptual and leads to long term retention of learning. 
• Some worksheets and pdfs:
• mrmaffesoli.com 5.NBT.3a worksheets: A listing of some great 5.NBT.3a worksheets, there's quite a few here.
• Common Core Sheets: There's a pretty large listing here.
• Internet 4 Classrooms 5.NBT.3a: Wow, there's TONS here. 
• GAMES:
• Mathman: A Sheppard Software game, very simple and straight forward Pacman style game that reinforced expanded form, although it might not go as far as decimals. It's good practice for kids struggling with their expanded form of numbers. 
• Fruit Shoot: Another Sheppard Software game. If you play the harder levels it's a spot on match for 5.NBT.3a.
• Walk the Plank: A game from mathforchildren, it's funny and kids enjoy it.

5.NBT.3a VIDEO: This is a Khan Academy video that discusses expanded form with multiplication, pretty much as stated in the CCSS. 

5.NBT.3b

UNPACKED EXPLANATION:  Compare two decimals to thousandths using inequalities (<, >, =). 

WHAT THE PARCC WILL EXPECT: Again, this standard is not included on PARCC practice exams. This is a pretty important standard for students to master, however, because it allows them to show mastery over comparing decimals, understanding place value, and even the ability to properly complete inequalities. So let's just go from there.

RESOURCES:This standard is almost identical to the inequalities standard that many states already had in place before the Common Core, so anything you, as a teacher, already have prior to CCSS (if you didn't trash it) would work great here. Here's a few online resources:

• orglib.com questions library for 5.NBT.3a and b: There's not a lot of questions here, but what they do have are to the point and would probably be what it would look like on PARCC. 
• Collection of lessons from mathworksheetland.com for 5.NBT.3b (some 3a stuff is in here as well).
• mrmaffesoli.com 5.NBT.3b worksheet resource page: Yet again, some great resources. Go ahead and bookmark this site, it's golden for everything CCSS.
• Common Core Sheets: Same as above for 3a. Good stuff, with many different versions of worksheets available. 

GAMES:

• Balloon Pop: A simple yet great game for ordering decimals. It's a challenge, but students are sure to enjoy it.
• AAA Math Comparing Decimals: It's more like an online practice test than a game, but it really works well. 

5.NBT.3B VIDEO:

5th Grade Math Resources for CCSS 5.NBT.2

5.NBT.2: Explain patterns in the number of zeros of the product when multiplying a number by powers of 10, and explain patterns in the placement of the decimal point when a decimal is multiplied or divided by a power of 10. Use whole-number exponents to denote powers of 10.

UNPACKED EXPLANATION:  This one is fairly straight forward. This standard is commonly known as "the powers of 10," so keep that in mind. It's all about base 10 and understanding that you're multiplying by ten each time you move to the next larger place value, with an understanding of the opposite function of adding a 0, which is removing a zero, while understanding conceptually that removing a 0 means the decimal point has moved a place to the left. Finally, exponents are a great way to have students denote these relationships, and starts building upon skills they'll use a lot further on down the road.

WHAT THE PARCC WILL EXPECT: The PARCC Practice Test site does not have specific problems for 5.NBT.2, but when looking closer at this standard, students will need to be familiar with problems that resemble the following:

• 34 x 10,000 =
• 90,000 ÷ 30 =
• 0.00034 x 10,000 =
• Check out this collection of videos from LeanZillion that explains the entire process of powers of 10.

RESOURCES

• First off, a lot of the things I referenced in my post for 5.NBT.1 are relevant to this standard as well. So check that out: 5th Grade Math Resources for CCSS 5.NBT.1.
• Some practice problems at Orglib.com: This is a great site where you can make an account, build tests from a bank of questions, and even track student results. It's one of the closer things I've found that can mimic the PARCC assessment. 
• Even though it's in my last post, this is a spot on activity for this standard:
• Place value cups (click the link for instructions): This simple activity is very concrete for kids, and if you keep a few handy, they're good for reference later in the year for students who didn't retain everything they learned during the teaching of 5.NBT.1.
• Powers of 10 Yahtzee: Although I linked to the Google Doc here, I'll go ahead and explain this game in my own words: 
• Power of 10 Yahtzee should be played in pairs. Students should already have an understanding of exponents and how to navigate a place value chart. Each player is going to roll the dice. Whatever number player A rolls they will put it as an exponent to the base number 10 (if they roll a 4, they will be finding the product of 10 to the power of 4, or 10,000). Then player B goes. They do this 5 times, and add up their totals, whoever has the highest total wins. A more rigorous extension of this game for the advanced student would be to have each student roll two dice (preferably different colored dice would work), and have one color be the base number and the second be the exponent). 
• IXL Listing of Problems that Fit the Standard
• The following listing is for worksheets:
• Mathworksheetland.com 5.NBT.2 Listing: A great starting point. Why make your own worksheets when there's already practice stuff out there. If you know how, you can send these right to an iPad and have kids do some practice there, or print them out.
• Mrmaffesoli.com Printables: I use these, good stuff for sure.

Vocabulary

I'll list a few sites that have good 5.NBT.2 vocabulary. I can't really even begin to say how important it is to teach students not only what academic vocabulary words mean, but how to use them in context. There's a lot of power in having students state their reasoning academically that goes beyond testing and helps reinforce the ideas they're learning about.

• A great pdf at what's a great go to resource for vocabulary, duplinschools.net. 
• UEN.org resource file with vocabulary.

5.NBT.2 Video

The first two videos are of Khan Academy explaining both multiplying and dividing by powers of 10:

Multiplying by Powers of 10

Dividing by Powers of 10

Lastly, the STEM teacher in me can't resist putting up this video that explains what exponential growth is really all about in a scientific regard. I give to you now, Cosmic Voyage, narrated by Morgan Freeman:

5th Grade Math Resources for CCSS 5.NBT.1

5.NBT.1: Recognize that in a multi-digit number, a digit in one place represents 10 times as much as it represents in the place to its right and 1/10 of what it represents in the place to its left.

UNPACKED EXPLANATION: We're basically talking about place value, with an explicit focus on what it means to move up a place and down a place. Within this domain, students will be expected to work with numbers from billions to thousandths. A big pitfall here is to start adding and subtracting these numbers together. The reality here is an understanding of the place value system, and what it means concretely to move between the place values.

WHAT THE PARCC WILL EXPECT: The PARCC samples are taken directly from the PARCC Practice Tests website.

The sample for 5.NBT.1 is as follows:

When you click on the drop down "Choose..." box, you're given something similar to the following:

Daily Math Challenge: Upping the Rigor in Mathematics Instruction

All teachers (should) follow lessons plans and unit plans in order to make their instruction cohesive and make sense. I'm not going to get into all the aspects of following scaffolded, developmentally appropriate lesson plans, but if you're "winging it" everyday in the classroom without a clear focus, don't expect a lot of learning to take place.

The point of this post is taking a little timeout in math everyday to let students think and work through challenging, rigorous problems without an immediately evident solution. I call this activity "daily brain work," and it takes 10 minutes. The intent here is to pose a problem to the class, and to step away and let them work through the problem on their own. Students should be able to elaborate and articulate how they reached their solution. Finally, go over the problem, have some students share their answers, and hopefully at least a few have the correct solution to share.

In order to get started, I needed some multi step story problems. Don't start too difficult, and make sure that everything you give students is developmentally appropriate for the majority of the class.

Here are some resources to find multi step word problems and other math puzzles / brain workouts:

Math Multi-Step Word Problems

• 25 Word Problems at IQ Study Activities: A good starting point to find some straight forward story problems appropriate for 5th graders.
• A Few Pages of Story Problems at about.com: Nothing fancy, just some more story problems.
• Helping With Math Word Problems Guide: A page with some information on how to help students approach open ended questions, and a bank of questions as well.
• Challenging Word Problems at Math Top 10: Good stuff here, there's a lot of them too.

Brain Teasers / Math Puzzles

• Houghton Mifflin Grade 5 Brain Teasers: A nice little collection of word problems and brain teasers already set into CCSS categories.
• Math Salamanders Printable Math Puzzles: The whole salamander theme is a little bizarre, but there's a lot of good puzzles here. 

Bowling With Math: A Great Order of Operations (PEMDAS) Practice Activity

Awhile back I posted a simple document called "Bowling With Math" without a lot of explanation in a post titled Order of Operations Game: Bowling With Math. Well, I am going to revisit that document, and expand on it a little bit today.

The Bowling With Math activity page ( you can download in .doc or .pdf format) has 10 "frames," just like in a regular bowling game. This activity is great because it can be varied in difficulty. The point here is that the teacher either chooses a few numbers (or rolls dice like I do), and students have to manipulate those numbers to equal the 10 different "pins" in the "frame," marking that number out each time they do so.

In my classroom (5th grade), I roll three dice. So let's say I roll a 5, 4, and 1. Students have to manipulate those three numbers using the order of operations (PEMDAS) to equal each pin number.

For example, I can do the following:

5+4+1 = 10
(5-4) x 1 = 1
(5-4) + 1 = 2
5+4-1 = 8
1x4+5 = 9

So let's say that's all I came up with, so I'd mark out the pins for 1, 2, 8, 9, and 10 and I would score 5 points for that frame.

In my class, I would do two frames per day, with students keeping their score on the score card each day. At the end of each week, students add their scores and keep a running total. This is a great activity that, when done consistently, teacher the order of operations in a very meaningful, engaging, and differentiated way. You can do as little as two numbers, or as many as you'd like. You can also change the rolls. Some weeks I'd roll five numbers and tell students to choose any three. Other weeks I'd roll six and tell them they could use no more than 3, etc. You can do whatever you want.

For convenience, I've added all the files, as well as a poster if you want to make a bulletin board for this activity, all in this convenient pdf file: PEMDAS BOWLING WITH MATH PACKET

Enjoy!

Measuring Capacity Resource: Gallon Man and Capacity Visual

First off, I apologize for the long delay in posts. It's been a busy last month or so. We had our state No Child Left Behind testing a few weeks ago, then we had Spring Break, and finally I'm back. It was a whirlwind, but it's done, and now we can get back to business.

Currently my 5th graders are studying measuring, including measuring tools, one step conversions, and the various categories of measurement. I'll be posting unit plans for the Measurement unit soon (in New Mexico Standards and Benchmarks format, Common Core units will be coming over the summer).

For today, I wanted to share a resource that has served me well when my students are learning about capacity, and this little pdf document includes two visuals for working with US unit capacity (volume), including the relationship between gallons, quarts, pints, and cups.

The document includes this little visual:

It also includes this one:

They're both ready for printing and use in the classroom.

This document comes thanks to The Teacher Website, and is hosted there:

MR. GALLON MAN PDF

Teaching Your Students Blooms Taxonomy: A Gateway to Projects Based Math

This past weekend, I attended a workshop run by a married couple that I consider great mentors of mine, they constantly challenge my thinking and inspire me to take my class to the next level.

To make a long story short, I've been racking my brain thinking about how to create effective project based learning opportunities in mathematics that wouldn't just throw students out there, but would give them the tools they need to succeed. I had thought and experimented with various ideas, and was met with failure each time (of course, as a teacher trying new things, failure is ok, but you just have to keep going). I was beginning to feel like I'd hit a brick wall, and then I got the inspiration I needed. It comes in two words, BLOOMS TAXONOMY.

No, the inspiration wasn't for me to go home and brush up on the levels... I mean domains, so I can better reflect on my instruction, the inspiration was to teach my students Blooms, and how to move through the levels... I mean domains, on their own, and create their own learning. I can take absolutely no credit for this, but am pretty excited about it.

I'm obviously at the beginning stages here, but the first step is, of course, to teach my students the levels... er, domains (sorry, I always forget to use the new terminology, it won't happen again). If you're old school (older than 25... years old, not years of experience) then you probably still remember the Blooms domains as knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation at the top. BUT, there's a new list, and I like it much better. The terminology is much more kid friendly, and... well I'll just show you:

There it is, the new domains up next to the old domains.

What I like is that I always thought creating should be at the top, because when students are able to create something new and original (in their own mind) from the knowledge you have given them, or the knowledge they have obtained on their own, that's about as good as it gets in this world. 

So, I'm at step one, sharing this with my students, and having them practice creating their own work climbing up what we'll call the Blooms Ladder. If you'd like to join me on my journey, download and give one of the following documents to your students. These are kid friendly definitions of the Blooms domains, both in .doc format. I have both:

OLD BLOOMS KID FRIENDLY DEFINITIONS

NEW BLOOMS KID FRIENDLY DEFINITIONS

Polygon Practice Mega .pdf Document of Great Practice Pages for 5th Graders

I recently published 5th grade math unit 3: Area, Perimeter, Volume, Prisms, Pyramids, Polygons, and Circles. It's a huge unit that involves a lot of vocabulary and targeted skill practice. You can see that unit listed in my Math 9 Week Plans, in its own Unit Page, and in the more popular post titled 5th Grade Math Unit: Area, Perimeter, Volume of Prisms and Pyramids, Polygons and Circles.

I scoured the internet over the last couple of evenings, downloading pdf documents of practice pages that could meet my students needs. Currently, we're working on getting the vocabulary up for unit 3, and it's a huge task that involves over 30 definitions that are necessary for understanding and success in these skills.

I took the best of what I found in freely available online pdf documents and created a mega document that is 49 pages long and 1.4 megabytes in size. It's the practice pages that I'm intending on using during these upcoming weeks, and I believe that it could be of service to any teacher teaching these skills.

To download the document, which is available through my Google Drive, click:

POLYGONS MEGA DOCUMENT DOWNLOAD (pdf)

5th Grade Math Unit: Area, Perimeter, Volume of Prisms and Pyramids, Polygons and Circles

5th grade math unit 3 (which you can see listed in my subject specific page for MATH) is a huge unit. It covers area and perimeter, the volume of rectangular prisms and pyramids, polygons up to ten sides, and circles. The main bits of this unit get down to the vocabulary, practical application of the necessary formulas, and conceptual understanding of each concept.

The unit is available at its own page HERE, and is also posted here in its entirety. So without further delay:

5th Grade Mathematics Unit 3 is all about 3-Dimensional Geometry, including Area, Perimeter, Volume, Attributes of Polygons up to 10 sides, Circles, and Parallel / Perpendicular Lines. It's a big unit, but we always manage to pull it off with pretty good results. So let's get right to it!

Unit 3 is split into three portions:

UNIT 3.1: AREA & PERIMETER

The first portion of this unit is very simple, it's all about area and perimeter. We spend the majority of the time doing area and perimeter of quadrilaterals (especially area), but it's also a good opportunity to refine measuring skills by going outside, in the hallway, or measuring the classroom.

The assessment that I use for this cycle of instruction is very simple, and can be found HERE.

The PDSA (again, it stands for Plan/Do/Study/Act, and is the current form of lesson planning that my school does) can be found HERE.

Now that the nuts and bolts are out of the way, I'm going to list some great online resources that could help any teacher out in the classroom when teaching area and perimeter:

First off, I have already done a fairly lengthy post on Area & Perimeter, titled Area & Perimeter Teacher Resources: Worksheets, Games, and Activities.

• Interactive Shape Explorer: A Java based activity that can range from very easy to quite difficult. 
• Area & Perimeter Formulas: I'm printing this out and will use it with my more advanced students to study formulas and their relation to geometry.
• PBS Kids Cyberchase Airline Builder: An interactive game involving area and perimeter. 

And to repeat some of what I've already posted:

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.

UNIT 3.2: VOLUME OF RECTANGULAR PRISMS & PYRAMIDS

I've always enjoyed teaching volume, because it just makes perfect sense right after teaching area, and it's fun and the students usually enjoy the process.

Let's get started with the assessment, which can be accessed HERE (you'll need to download it to see the attached images, they don't seem to show up in the Google Doc preview), and the PDSA, which can be accessed HERE.

First, I'm going to list some basic volume of rectangular prism (and just general volume) links:

• A great interactive lesson for volume: Has instant feedback, and it's very clean looking.
• Math Illuminations Interactive Cube Builder: I love this interactive because it lays the cubes out flat (something that I've seen referred to as a "net"), which is also how we practice this in class, by building boxes and filling them with cubes. 
• A simple pdf poster from Scholastic on volume
• Interactive Formula Teacher: It's good stuff

Now, my favorite volume activities include making cubic units. I usually have my class use rulers to make a cubic foot, yard sticks to make a cubic yard, etc. I'm not even going to show a picture here, because all you do is use the given unit to make a cube. It's pretty cool and effective.

It's also important that students know how to use the units. I count off if students don't label units, and don't use them appropriately. I teach my students very simply that for a unit to be squared, it has to involve 2 dimensions, cubed involves 3. Here's a simple visual:

I also think it's important to expand and reinforce these concepts when applicable. My students always enjoy the EXPONENTIAL GROWTH activity, where we build some cubes, starting with a 2x2x2, going to a 4x4x4, then an 8x8x8, it looks like this:

Now on to the more difficult volume of pyramids:

It's actually very simple to find the volume of a rectangular pyramid. First, take the three measurements (length, width, height), and multiply. Now here's the catch: divide your answer by 3. That's it. The majority of the work here is getting students to understanding this 3:1 relationship, and practice it.

• A pdf document of a pyramid you can have students cut out and use to show the 3:1 relationship.
• Simple Explanation of the v=(l x w x h) / 3 formula (aaamath.com).
• Worksheet Works customizable worksheets on volume, area & perimeter.
• Various worksheets on volume at mathworksheets4kids.com

In my opinion, these first two sections of the unit go hand in hand, and are fairly simple for 5th graders to get once they grasp the concept. And the concept is important, let them experiment with 3D shapes (make them out of paper and fill them up with sand or rice). These are more or less developmentally appropriate skills for the vast majority of kids at this age level. 

Now, we move on to the final portion of this section on volume of pyramids, where we discuss the attributes of three-dimensional shapes, including vertices, faces, and edges. 

We're basically talking about vocabulary for this final section, so that's how I approach it. Let's move right into it:

• Geometry attribute vocabulary cards at Quizlet: A great starting place to get ideas or have kids practice for reinforcement.
• A great online resource that is clickable and shows the vocabulary: Good for Smartboards.
• A GREAT resource at Teaching Ideas: Posters for the shapes and attributes, and great downloadable resources. 
• Primary Resources has this page of TONS of great resources, including this properties page I'll be using.

So now we come to the finale of this lengthy unit, a set of lessons on polygons (up to 10 sides), and circles. The circles part especially tends to rock the kids around for a bit. 

UNIT 3.3: POLYGONS UP TO TEN SIDES & CIRCLES

Here we go, let's get started with the assessment HERE and the PDSA HERE.

First we'll deal with the polygons, because again, it comes down to vocabulary and practice (i.e. memorization and matching):

• A page with enough information about polygons to get any teacher started. Go here and grab the definitions you need to move forward. 
• Polygon Names: It is what it says it is.
• Polygons: Regular vs. Irregular.
• Some decent naming polygons worksheets (with some other stuff that would be review at this point).
• Another worksheet, this one about regular vs. irregular polygons.

OK, now we finally come full... circle (haha... nevermind). Anyways, students will learn radius, diameter, circumference (and all applicable formulas), as well as the value of pi to two places. 

The pi part again comes down to repetition and memorization. So, I came up with the now irreverent "PI MONKEY," a mainstay in my classroom. He hangs up near the front door, beckoning to the students each time they walk out the door:

Now that pi monkey has done his job, it's time to teach some circles!:

• Definitions at Coolmath.com: You need these, they get it all started. Students can review right here on the page.
• A great PowerPoint from Mr. Lovett on Wikispaces about circles.
• Some Visual Aides at Mathworksheetsgo.com.

Remember that circumference is simply pi multiplied by the diameter (or pi multiplied by the radius x 2): It looks like: C= pi x d  OR C= pi x (r x 2). It's fairly straight forward. 

OK, we've reached the end, FINALLY. Now that we're here, it's time for the big unit test. You can grab that HERE.

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!

A Great Collection of Simple Online Fraction Games (GCF and LCM Included)

Of the 80 blog posts I've done, it's not even close, the most popular post is 5th Grade Math Unit 4: Fractions, Decimals, and Percents (as well as its standalone counterpart). It's obvious that fractions, decimals, and percents are a major skill of great importance in the 4th and 5th grades.

This evening, in my web browsing, I came across a collection of 11 fraction games on a website called Jamit, which does software for use on most SmartBoards (since there are so many variations out there, like Prometheans, Mimios, etc.).

The games are simple, but the premise is the same. They help with fraction skills, from basic skills to multiplying and dividing fractions. My current use, as I'm in Unit 1: Factors, Multiples, Multiplication, and Division, is the game on GCF and LCM (Greatest Common Factor and Least Common Multiple).

I recommend the collection of fraction games on Jamit because they're simple, they work on a SmartBoard or similar device, and they reinforce the content effectively. Give it a look!

Illustrative Mathematics: A Great Resource To Help in the Transition to Common Core Standards

In my most recent web surfing, on Richard Byrne's Free Technology for Teachers blog, I came across a post  called Illustrative Mathematics. After looking into Illustrative Mathematics (this link goes to that site) a little more, I really like what I see. For each grade, K-12, you can see illustrations of what each common core standard is all about and how to utilize it. The image below shows the menu that comes up when you click on K-8 Standards at the main page, with a box around 5th grade. Any standard that lines up below fifth grade is clickable for more information. It's really a great resource if you're transitioning to the common core. In the state of New Mexico, we still have one more year in 4th and 5th grades before we move to the common core, but we're already hard at work aligning our content to make our work easier come this time next year.

SKUNK: An Awesome Math Probability Game

Every year when I'm teaching data analysis and probability, I introduce the dice game SKUNK. Students love this game, that is part chance, part strategy, and all probability. The game is very simple:

You have two six sided dice, and each student has a sheet of paper labeled SKUNK across the top, with lines separating each letter.

Roll the two dice, and students take the total and write down the points they just got. Here's where it gets interesting. You will ask anyone if they're going to take the points and leave the round. Students who take the points are safe, and get the points they had. Then you keep rolling for the students who are still in. Here's the fun part. If you roll a 1 on either dice, any student still playing gets zero points for that round. If you roll snake eyes, anyone still in that round is out of the game with no points.

This is a great game that students love. They love to play the odds. I explain to them the odds of rolling a one each time, and we discuss the probabilities involved.

It's a fun game to play around high stakes testing time, because kids can play it for hours.

I was about to type out the rules and put them in my Google Drive, but, I lucked out. Math Illuminations already has this:

Math Illuminations SKUNK Lesson Plan

Math Illuminations SKUNK Game Sheet (pdf)

Multiplying More Efficiently: The Zero Trick

By 5th grade, students are working at doing math more efficiently. By this age, the expectation (and great hope) is that students have a grasp on the basic skills and can begin doing more difficult calculations, with greater speed. Speed and efficiency are important as the math gets harder, because honestly, for the kid that counts on their fingers when multiplying to do a problem like 823 x 193 would take all day.

On the very first day of school, I begin by showing the zero trick. The zero trick is very simple and, in my mind, essential for greater efficiency in multiplying.

So this zero trick, for most adults, is just common knowledge, but kids need to be taught it, and many teachers just forget about it or take for granted that it's intuitive. Just remember that nothing is intuitive in math, it needs to be explicitly taught.

I'll lay it out simply:

• For any number ending in zero, this trick will work. 
• If the number as a zero in it, but doesn't end in zero, this won't work.

Here we go: Let's start with an example...

500 x 32

It looks like 500 ends in two zeros. We're going to move those off to the side. That will leave us with:

5 x 32

That's a lot easier. OK, 5 x 32 = 160

Now, we have those two zeros. All we do is put them on the end. 

16000... That's the answer, it's 160 plus those two zeros on the end, for 16,000. It's as simple as that.

If both numbers end in zero, you just do it all the same. Kids are amazed when they realize that they can efficiently solve huge problems with this trick. Check it out...

5,600,000 x 1,000,000

WOW, THAT'S A LOT OF ZEROS! Let's just move them to the side and count them. 

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 = 11 zeros!!!

Now we're left with 56 x 1 = 56 (that was easy)

Now we add those 11 zeros...

5,600,000,000,000

And that's it! If you're not using the zero trick by 5th grade, you're wasting precious time. It's so simple, and everyone can do it.

If you'd like an easy to use worksheet, head over to Worksheet Works and build a simple one to use in class.

5th Grade Math Unit 4: Fractions, Decimals, and Percents

5th Grade Math Unit 4 is on Fractions, Decimals, and Percents. This unit is pivotal to the 5th graders future success, especially as this group of skills is seen as very important to their understanding of algebra in middle school.

This unit is placed within my static pages (the link is above). As always, I am placing that entire page here for convenience. I hope you find it helpful:

Math Unit 4 in my 5th grade class is focused mainly on fractions, decimals, and percents. In many conversations with 6th grade teachers, I am often told that if their incoming math students know only two things, it needs to be basic multiplication and division facts, and the ability to work with fractions. This is the unit that we start on coming back from Christmas break, and it carries for an entire month. Of course, the teaching of these skills begins early in the school year through daily math practice and consistent math homework as well.

This upcoming school year, we have drawn out the following schedule (our entire math schedule for the 2012-2013 school year can be accessed in .doc format HERE):


January 9 – January 18: Equivalent fractions, decimals, and percents
January 22 – January 30: Compare and order fractions
January 31 – February 8: Add and subtract fractions

When viewing the document for the entire school year, you can see that "unit 4" includes the data unit as well. This was done for our own purposes, but for the purposes of this blog, I have kept these two units separate.

Each one of the skills listed above constitutes what we call a "cycle," according to our Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) format of data analysis and collection. I will list each cycle separately below, with the necessary documents, and some valuable resources and ideas:

Equivalent Fractions, Decimals, and Percents

At one time, as many teachers have, I tried teaching these three skills separately, and found that it was redundant. Fractions, decimals, and percents all go so nicely together, and should be taught together. The PDSA for this cycle is available HERE, as well as the Unit 4 Exam (a quick note, the exam for the entire unit is what I have linked to, the first two problems (the first and most of second page) are what constitutes the exam for this section. To save time, we normally take that portion in isolation, change out the numbers, and give the test). Our tests are in the format they are in because it closely resembles the New Mexico Standards Based Assessment. Here are the resources for this cycle:

• Fling Your Teacher: An online multiple choice review quiz that eventually lets the student fling the teacher in a trebuchet.
• Fractions Through Lines of Symmetry: A simple starter worksheet (pdf) that has students cut shapes into various fractions. It's a simple way to get started or give struggling students a chance to be a little more successful.
• Equivalent Squares: A very cool dominoes style game that students will enjoy. It plays right into the very point of this skill. It's a pdf document, it comes with very clear instructions and the squares ready to cut out. 
• Percentage Squares: Another great game, it's not the same as the one listed above, but is a very good, quick activity in pdf format. Since I've listed two resources from the same site, go ahead and check out Teaching Ideas, a great site from the UK with tons of printables. 
• Equivalent Fractions Memory: A matching game played in browser.
• Math Illuminations Equivalent Fractions Builder: If you use a Smartboard to teach, use this great interactive for whole class teaching.
• Equivalents Table: This is pretty much the backbone of this entire lesson.
• Worksheets: 
• Worksheet Works Equivalent Fractions Worksheet Builder, and the entire Worksheet Works Fraction Page
• Mathaids Worksheet Builder and the fractions page
• Equivalents Fill in Practice Worksheet: An easy to use worksheet that practices the skill exactly as it appears in the unit exam.
• Equivalents Packet: A few good activities, already ready for printing.
• Fraction Strips: This is a good activity. I have students make fraction strip books based on the strips in this worksheet. It's a great visual

Compare and Order Fractions

When looking at the Unit 4 Exam and the PDSA for this lesson, you'll see that this lesson involves putting fractions (and decimals) in the correct order, and comparing them using <,>,= statements. We go up to twelfths, and use like and unlike denominators:

• Math Playground Comparing Fractions, a simple starting point: A good place for the student that just needs more practice to get it online. I have students take a sheet of paper, and work out the problems as they go.
• Flower Power: An ordering decimals computer based game.
• Worksheets:
• Are You My Equal?: A packet with some decent activities, this whole thing is put together as a unit, with a summative assessment at the end. I'm partial to the fraction templates, equivalent fractions, and dare to compare worksheets included (which I have isolated into a separate pdf file HERE). 
• TONS of Blackline Masters: I'm surprised I hadn't ever come across this page. There's tons of pdf documents available that are age appropriate for 5th grade, including fraction strips, circles, and a Fraction Number Line. This is based exactly on a lesson done in Math Investigations (but a lot less costly, free always helps).
• Math Drills Worksheets: A lot of comparing decimals worksheets.

Add and Subtract Fractions

Here's the final part of the unit. The PDSA for this lesson and the Unit 4 Exam will both show that we teach adding and subtracting fractions with both like and unlike denominators. Once students have the hang of it, move on to having them add and subtract mixed numbers:

• Action Fraction: A fun online game at Fun School. I played it for a few minutes, by Level 3 it can get a little difficult, but it's fun and engaging.
• Math Playground Practice Activity: Another nice activity from Math Playground. It gives good practice in the web browser. Send a kid with some paper to work the problems, and they get instant feedback.
• Worksheet Works: Fraction Addition Sequence (I love this activity and will be using it). There's also a nice selection of Fraction Addition Skills and Fraction Subtraction Skills worksheets there. Everything they have on fractions can be seen HERE (I absolutely love this website). With all of these worksheets, have the struggling student use the Fraction Circles as a tool to help them along.