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Re: low ability fifth graders
Posted:
Feb 18, 2005 7:02 PM
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I suggest that you go back to the 4th grade unit, Different Shapes,
Equal Pieces and have them work on some of those activities that use a
geo-board. This will help them get the hang of what fractions
represent, at least in the area model. While that is going on,
introduce them to the array cards that Investigations uses in grades 3
and up . These multiplication cards mimic the area model of fractions
and can be used in the same way. For example, the 4 by 6 array card
has an area of 24 square units. Dividing this card into three equal
rectangular parts would make each part a 2 by 4 rectangle with 8
square units. One-third of 24 is 8. The geoboards use the board itself
as one whole unit while the array cards use the product of two factors
as the whole unit. They do get the hang of this but it takes time and
since they never did this when they were in the primary grades, expect
it to take even more time. It is worth the time, though, because once
they get it it will stay with them forever. Stuffing them with
algorithms with no meaning attached will not.
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