MATHEMATICS – Mrs. Reese, 5th Grade

On Friday, Mrs. Reese’s students did an amazing job showing their understanding of adding, subtracting, and dividing decimals. Using the same models they designed and created (component of engineering) to demonstrate force and motion, her students used the models to calculate the average time and distance of their race cars. Given three trials, students had to add up the distance/time for trials and divide by the number of sets (3) to find the average distance and time – which aligned perfectly with their chapter on dividing decimals by a whole number. In addition, students had to MODEL using place value blocks on how they calculated the average, and then when everyone in their group understood the strategy the team used, they had to raise their hand and be ready to EXPLAIN their calculations to the class. During their reflection time, Mrs. Reese asked the students to write on the board 1) what math skills were used and 2) Any connections to other subject area.