Skills Covered

How to Use This Pack

Five lesson plans, one for each lesson of the second unit of 5th grade, adding and subtracting decimals, in teaching order, after an overview page that lays the unit out day by day: a pre-check, the five lessons, a review and the unit test. Each plan fits on one page. It gives the goal, what to get ready, the words to use, the lesson in five steps with the words to say, questions to ask, common mistakes and what to do about them, and the Animal Math worksheets, makers, tools and quizzes for the lesson.

In the Classroom

Print the unit, or just the day's page, and teach from it. Each lesson takes about 45 minutes: a 5 minute warm up, 10 minutes of teaching, 10 minutes together, 15 minutes of practice and an exit ticket at the end. Keep hundred grids and grid paper out all unit: the grids show why the points line up, and the grid paper keeps them lined up. The exit tickets, pre-check, review and unit test are separate packs, made for these lessons, and the plans teach with other numbers than they use. Lesson 2.2 goes on to thousandths for classes whose standards ask for them, as Florida's do.

At Home

Teaching at home? Use the warm up and the "Try it together" step as a short lesson, and the "Words to use" as the way to talk about it. Receipts, price tags, a kitchen scale and a tape measure give plenty of decimals to add and subtract. The mistakes to watch for are the ones most children make.

Tips for Success

• Read the "Watch for" box before the lesson: it is what to listen for while students work
• Have students estimate before every sum and difference, then compare
• Say "line up the points" every time, and have students write zeros in the empty places
• Sort the exit tickets into got it, almost and not yet to plan the next day
• Use the help and challenge ideas for small groups during practice