The following goals, from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics are the underlying foundation for FSS's math program. We believe that students should:

• Value mathematics.
• Be confident in their ability to do mathematics.
• Be mathematical problem solvers.
• Learn to communicate mathematical ideas.
• Learn to reason mathematically.

Students enter fifth grade with a wide range of mathematical skills and understanding. As we pursue the goals above we adapt curriculum to the needs of the class. Fifth grade is a year for building on the conceptual understanding students have built in the younger grades and working toward mastery of multi-digit computation in preparation for middle school math. While students develop their ability to solve more complex numeric problems, throughout the year we also focus on geometry, probability, logic, algebraic thinking, measurement and problem solving.

Our fifth grade math program is a blend of TERC's Investigations curriculum and in-house developed math units. Some of the key units we do are:

• Pentominos: Problem solving, computation, work with area and perimeter.
• Number Puzzles & Factorization: Studying numbers and patterns of multiplication/division.
• Polygons: Two dimensional geometry – work with angles, coordinate grids, area and perimeter.
• What's That Portion? Work with fractions, percents, and decimals.
• Design A Playground: Measurement and cost calculations.

Fifth and sixth graders have hour-long math classes four times a week. Students work in a variety of groupings – whole group, small groups, pairs, and individually. Students are challenged to express their mathematical thinking clearly through writing, drawing and discussion. Games and puzzles are an integral method for practicing and exploring concepts. Homework assignments range from review packets where students can demonstrate mastery, to challenge problems where they are requested to apply their working knowledge to novel situations.

As students enter sixth grade math, they have come to the end of the TERC Investigations curriculum. Throughout the year, students work with units from a variety of curricula designed to follow a program like Investigations, including Connected Math Program II and MathScapes, as well as some teacher designed units that draw on elements from a variety of sources.

• What Does the Data Say: Our focus in this unit is surveying and statistics. Students begin the unit by looking at small surveys and using statistical measures (mean, median, mode and range) to analyze them. They conduct their own surveys, and work with different forms of graphs to display the information they’ve learned, and to make comparisons between two groups. After completing their work on surveying, students begin to look at how to graph and analyze progress over time. The unit concludes with an introduction to probability and the use of sampling.

• Bits & Pieces II: This is the first of two units in sixth grade with a focus on rational numbers. In this unit students continue the work with fractions that they began in 5th grade. The focus of the unit is on using the four basic operations with fractions. Throughout the year students will have the opportunity to practice these skills as a part of our other units.

• Chance Encounters: This unit is an exploration of probability as it applies to games and simulations. Students begin by playing some basic coin and dice games and looking at which games seem to give them the best chance of winning. By taking a closer look at these games, they begin to explore the ideas of experimental probability and theoretical probability, and develop a formal definition of fair and unfair games. The unit then moves into a study of simulations, where students look at a number of simulations of real life activities and explore what it means to make a simulation realistic. The unit concludes with the Game Board Proj

• Bits & Pieces III: Our second exploration of rational numbers has its focus on computing with decimals and percents. Students will use the four basic operations with both forms of numbers and will work on developing their fluency converting between these forms and fractions.

• The Design Project: During this unit, students work in pairs to design and build a scale model of a small building. Throughout the unit they will work on a variety of mathematical skills including measurement, scale, area, volume, and cost analysis.

• Patterns in Numbers and Shapes: Our final unit in sixth grade is an exploration of Algebraic thinking. Students begin by looking at patterns and explore a number of ways to represent them, including tables, variables, equations and graphs. This unit is a preview of the kind of mathematics the students will be working on at the end of seventh grade, as they begin to study Algebra I.