Hands-On, Montessori Inspired Math for 4th and 5th Grades Level E (3x a Week)

Hands-on learning=Meaningful learning.  This class helps students delve deeply into number sense in a hands-on way using physical or printable Montessori manipulatives, creating a firm mathematical foundation from numbers to the billions.  

Students who truly understand and master math concepts learn to love math, and we want our students to experience math in a hands-on way where they know they can try new things, make mistakes, and learn from them.  

Each class begins with a brief routine-oriented calendar time to help build number fluency, confidence, and class relationships.   Fun games, hands-on work, and mathematical conversations help engage students and give them a natural way to apply concepts.  

We work with place value, addition and subtraction with regrouping (dynamic addition), skip counting, patterns, fractions, telling time, money, data and graphing, probability, basic and advanced multiplication, basic and long division, geometry, and measurement.  Every lesson and activity is planned to help students understand and apply what they are learning in a hands-on way!  We play games and frequently review so that we are constantly learning new skills while building mastery of older skills. 

Students need to have the actual manipulatives with them (or a provided printable version) as we work through lessons together.  There is a second camera used in class to show the teacher's table so that the students are guided through problems step by step, working toward independence.  This class can be used as a 5th grade math class or an advanced 4th grade math class. Each week of class is unique and students may stay all year or come in for the week they need.  

This schedule may be adapted to meet specific learner needs:

September:
Review addition facts within 20
Review dynamic addition and subtraction with Montessori golden beads
Create large numbers to the billions with Montessori beads and Infinity Street
Review basic multiplication and division with the Montessori boards 
Count mixed sets of coins

October:
*No class the week of October 7th-.11th*
Spiral review of previous content
Review dynamic addition/subtraction with the Montessori stamp game
Use mental strategies to solve basic and advanced equations 
Explore with negative numbers on a number line
Round numbers and money
Add and subtract money to make change

November:
Spiral review of previous content
Review fractions with pattern block "cookies"
Add and subtract simple fractions
Explore with equivalent fractions 
Explore with fractions on a number line and ruler
Explore with practical applications for fractions and basic percentages

December:
Spiral review of previous content
Use the Montessori checkerboard to multiply larger factors 
Practice multiplication with 1 and 2 digit multipliers on paper
Multiply greater number by 2 and 5 mentally using doubles 

January:
Spiral review of previous content
Divide larger numbers with the stamp game
Practice with long division on paper
Explore when to multiply and when to divide in real-world situations

February:
Spiral review of previous content
Measure length with a ruler and broken ruler
Measure perimeter and area of rectangles
(At home, directions for measuring with capacity since we don't want liquids by a computer)
Review telling time
Tell elapsed time with story problems

March:
Spiral review of previous content
Explore with geometry (including transformations, lines, measuring angles with a protractor, types of triangles, and parts of a circle) 

April:
Spiral review of previous content 
Explore with estimation strategies and when it is appropriate to estimate
Explore with probability and relate to fractions 
Explore with practical uses for mean, median, and mode 

May:
Spiral review of previous content
Explore with surveys, data, and graphing


Class restarts the last week of August.  

Class Policies:
-All students need to have either printable or physical versions of the manipulatives for the day's lesson to fully participate.
-I prefer videos on.  Depending on the device, students are often able to tilt their screens to show what they are working on at their tables so I can help them with questions more easily.
-I prefer students stay unmuted to help with participation, but sometimes, due to background noise or static from a connection, I may need to mute students and have them unmute to answer questions. 
-I am happy to share recordings for missed classes.  Please make sure you have attended class at least one time to be "verified" so that the OS system will release the recording when requested.  
-The students and I try very hard to create a supportive and respectful learning community. My students need to treat each other with kindness and respect. 

Specific plans for the first 4 weeks:

Week of August 28th:
Review games to check for mastery of facts to 10
Skip counting with coins

Week of September 4th:
Explore place value with Infinity Street

Week of September 11th:
Use infinity street to explore standard and expanded form

Week of September 18th:
Review basic multiplication and division with the Montessori boards