The Contexts for Learning Mathematics Teacher Pack: Grades 5–6 contains 1 Getting Started guide, 3 unit books, and 8 context-setting posters.

 

Best Buys, Ratios, and Rates uses the context of comparison shopping to explore equivalence of fractions, proportional reasoning, and rates. Ratio tables are used to help students determine the cost of different amounts of bird seed sold by weight. The double number line is used for computation as students investigate the readings on a truck’s gas tank over the course of various trips.

 

In The Mystery of the Meter, five meter dials on the side of a house initiate a series of investigations that focus on decimals. Periodic reading and data collection eventually reveal that these are electric meters. Because students can see how the numbers expressed as decimals increase with time, the meter is a powerful tool for students to use to determine equivalents and to examine how decimals increase and are ordered.

 

Road race results and training data create a context in Exploring Parks and Playgrounds for investigating big ideas and strategies related to multiplication and division with fractions as well as the relationship between these operations. As the unit progresses, students multiply fractions by other fractions and equivalent forms of fractions—percentages and decimals—in the context of designing a playground. In this unit, double number line and array models are used as helpful tools.

 

To learn more visit http://www.contextsforlearning.com