Operations with Decimals & Whole Numbers Assessment

Unit 3 covers a variety of Common Core standards that are all closely related.  The main focus areas of this unit were on showing student’s understanding of the place value system(5.NBT.A) and performing operations with multi-digit whole numbers and with decimals to hundredths(5.NBT.B). 

Students were taught how to understand the place value system(5.NBT.A) by focusing on standards 1-4. 

• 5.NBT.A.1. Recognize that in a multi-digit number, a digit in one place represents 10 times as much as it represent in the place to its right and 1/10 of what it represents in the place to its left.  This information is covered in lessons 1-3.
• 5.NBT.A.2. Explain patterns in the number of zeroes of the product when multiplying a number by powers of 10 and explain patterns in the placement of the decimal point when a decimal is multiplied or divided by a power of 10.  Use whole-number exponents to denote powers of 10.  This information is covered in lessons four thru six.
• 5.NBT.A.3. Read, write, and compare decimals to thousandths.  This information is covered in lesson 16.
• 5.NBT.A.4. Use place value understanding to round decimals to any place. This information is covered in lesson 15.

Students were taught how to perform operations with multi-digit whole numbers and with decimals to hundredths(5.NBT.B) by focusing on standards 5-7.

• 5.NBT.B.5. Fluently multiply multi-digit whole numbers using the standard algorithm.  This information is covered in lessons 7 and 8.
• 5.NBT.B.6. Find whole-number quotients of whole numbers with up to four-digit dividends and two-digit divisors using strategies based on place value, the properties of operations, and/or the relationship between multiplication and division.  Illustrate and explain the calculation by using equations, rectangular arrays, and/or area models.  This information is covered in lessons 9-14.
• 5.NBT.B.7. Add, subtract, multiply, and divide decimals to hundredths using concrete models or drawings and strategies based on place value, properties of operations, and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction; relate the strategy to a written method and explain the reasoning used.  This information was covered in lessons 17-21.

Student performance on assessments is something that truly drives my instruction.  After completing an assessment I am always intrigued as to how the students fared on their own completing problems. 

I think assessment results are comparable to that first time a parent leaves their kids home alone.  By leaving a child at home you are requiring that they think through the situations that may arise on their own.  They have to be independent in the actions and thoughts.  If a trouble were to arise you as a parent would hope that all the training and upbringing would factor in to the child’s response.  For example, the child becomes hungry and wants to make something for dinner using the microwave.  The parent entrusts the child to do this on their own because they have been taught and have practiced how to do it.  They can handle deciding what to eat, how much to eat, and how to cook it.  And when the parent returns they expect the child to have eaten, cleaned up their mess, and not blown the house up.  So, I equate giving a student an assessment to this type of parent-child relationship.  As the teacher you hope that your student remembers how to use the proverbial microwave of double-digit division.