Fifth Grade Math Curriculum

Everything You Want to Know About Fifth Grade Math

By the time they reach fifth grade math, students are 10-11 years old, have learned and applied a variety of math concepts, and are now ready to delve into trickier topics like adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing fractions and decimals as well as understanding volume. Mastering these topics in the fifth grade math curriculum allows students to think critically and problem-solve, and can be applied later in life in careers like engineering and finance. 

Although fifth grade math can be daunting to some students, it can also be fun and build the foundation for a lifelong love of math! Keep reading to learn everything you need to know about fifth grade math.

What is covered in 5th Grade Math?

Based on Common Core standards, certain topics must be covered by the fifth grade math curriculum to ensure that students moving between schools in different states don’t fall behind in their learning. Topics included in the fifth grade common core standards for math are:

• Operations and Algebraic Thinking  
• Write and interpret numerical expressions. 
• Analyze patterns and relationships. 
• Number and Operations in Base Ten  
• Understand the place value system.  
• Perform operations with multi-digit whole numbers and with decimals to hundredths. 
• Number and Operations—Fractions  
• Use equivalent fractions as a strategy to add and subtract fractions.  
• Apply and extend previous understandings of multiplication and division to multiply and divide fractions. 
• Measurement and Data  
• Convert like measurement units within a given measurement system.  
• Represent and interpret data.  
• Geometric measurement: understand concepts of volume and relate volume to multiplication and to addition.
• Geometry  
• Graph points on the coordinate plane to solve real-world and mathematical problems.  
• Classify two-dimensional figures into categories based on their properties.

Teaching Fifth Grade Math

Knowing exactly how to teach fifth grade math is all about supporting students as they build on concepts they have learnt in previous grades. Lesson plans should review these familiar topics while also teaching students new skills. A few ways to accomplish this are:

Incorporating Real World Objects and Examples 

Applying math to real-life situation particularly helps those students who struggle to connect to math as a subject and find lessons difficult to follow. Real world examples – such as explaining fractions in terms of cutting a pizza or pie into slices, or identifying geometrical figures in the real world to help students remember them – helps them see how a seemingly scary math concept applies to their life and exactly how it can be useful to them.

Using Helpful Worksheets to Practice Tricky Concepts

Worksheets are a great way for students to practice math skills that they have just learned or need more time with. They can be given as extra tasks in the classroom, or even as optional or mandatory homework exercises. If you’re looking for even more ways to structure engaging fifth grade math lessons, our Fifth Grade Math worksheets are a great place to start!

Setting Up Engaging Group Projects

Group projects give students the ability to learn from each other and figure concepts out in a different way from a standard math lesson. For fifth grade math students, this can take the form of a math scavenger hunt where students team up to solve math problems, or presenting on their collective experiences with fifth grade math concepts in their every day lives.

Using Technology

Fifth grade students get a lot of value out of innovative learning methods and out-of-the-norm lessons, and incorporating technology into the fifth grade math curriculum is a great way to do that. Prodigy Math makes learning even the trickiest math concepts a fun and enjoyable experience for students of all math abilities. 

With its  combination of adaptive math practice and engaging game-based learning. It also allows students of different abilities to practice concepts at their own speed and feel supported through their math experience.

Learning 5th Grade Math

10- or 11-year-olds in fifth grade math have higher attention spans than younger students, are able to apply a number of thinking and reasoning strategies, and are better able to solve algebraic problems. At this age, students become more independent from their parents and start to look for situations where they can work quietly and privately. 

Additionally, a student in fifth grade learning math enjoys studying new concepts through real-world applications as they are better able to understand how math relates to world outside the classroom. 

Here are a few suggestions to make fifth grade math more fun for your students:

Hands-On Activities

Every student learns differently, and hands-on activities give those students who process information more fluently through doing a time to shine. Sample activities in the fifth grade math curriculum include building shapes out of paper to understand volume, or measuring and recording rainfall over a week to help teach and put data recording and analysis into practice. 

Games

What kid doesn’t enjoy playing games in math class every now and again? And, even better, what if those games help them develop their math skills? Games-based learning like Prodigy Math keeps students on track with curriculum-aligned practice, and injects a bit of extra energy into the school day along the way!

Dynamic Classes

Keep students engaged in your math lessons by directly involving them in what they are learning and switching up teaching methods. For example, one day might involve a board lesson, while the next has students moving through different learning stations throughout the classroom. This way, even the least enthusiastic math students feel like there is something new for them to learn and they never get bored.

How Prodigy Improves Fifth Grade Math

Prodigy Math is a free, games-based learning platform that uses adaptive technology to meet math students exactly where they are at. Prodigy is a perfect addition to your fifth grade math curriculum, as students can join an exciting new world and answer adaptive math questions to win battles and complete quests.

Teachers can also access Assessments, Reports, Placement Tests, and other features within the platform to keep track of students’ progress and directly target any problem areas in the classroom.

Students love learning with Prodigy Math and teachers see even the least enthusiastic math students improving their skills and enjoying math more. Register for your free teacher account, and level up your students’ learning today!

Fifth Grade Math Curriculum

Prodigy Math is a curriculum-aligned program that ensures students focus on the math skills directly related to their learning. Click here to access the correct curriculum for your state by selecting your location information and scrolling down to view curriculum standards. You can navigate back to the top menu to change grade or location information.