The Investigations Units do not include any information on prerequisites for each unit. So often teachers are unsure whether their students are ready for a unit at grade level. In fith grade, Math Thinking and Name that Portion are particularly difficult to gauge.
Today I was teaching a demo lesson from Name that Portion on figuring out what percent 1/8 equals. It become obvious to me that most students really didn't know which was larger- 1/4 or 1/8.
While a wide range of levels can be accomodated in most units, it would still be helpful to have a preassessment to help a teacher decide whether to go back to a unit from an earlier grade. This come up especially when students encounter Investigations in the upper elemtary grades for the first time. Has anybody developed prerequisites? ANY sugguestions?
