NCTM - Principles-And-Standards-For-School-Mathematics (1) - 158-226

Nearly three-quarters of U.S.
fourth graders
report liking mathematics.
Instruction at this level must be active
and intellectually stimulating.

5
Chapter
Standards for
Grades 3–5
Most students enter grade 3 with enthusiasm for, and interest in, learn-
ing mathematics. In fact, nearly three-quarters of U.S. fourth graders re-
port liking mathematics (Silver, Strutchens, and Zawojewski 1997). They
find it practical and believe that what they are learning is important. If the
mathematics studied in grades 3–5 is interesting and understandable, the
increasingly sophisticated mathematical ideas at this level can maintain stu-
dents’ engagement and enthusiasm. But if their learning becomes a process
of simply mimicking and memorizing, they can soon begin to lose interest.
Instruction at this level must be active and intellectually stimulating and
must help students make sense of mathematics.
This chapter presents a challenging set of mathematical content and
processes that students in grades 3–5 can and should learn. It also empha-
sizes teaching that fosters and builds on students’ mathematical under-
standing and thinking. The Content and Process Standards described
here form the basis for a significant and interconnected mathematics cur-
riculum. Interwoven through these Standards are three central mathemat-
ical themes—multiplicative reasoning, equivalence, and computational
fluency. They are briefly discussed here and elaborated on throughout the
chapter.
Students entering grade 3 should have a good grasp of, and much experi-
ence with, additive reasoning. Their understanding of whole numbers is
often based on an additive model—a sequence of numbers used to count in
different ways—and their computing strategies usually involve counting on
or counting back. In grades 3–5, multiplicative reasoning should become a
focus. Multiplicative reasoning is more than just doing multiplication or di-
vision. It is about understanding situations in which multiplication or divi-
143
sion is an appropriate operation. It involves a way of viewing situations
and thinking about them (Thompson forthcoming). For example, to es-
timate the height of an adult, students might use their own heights as a
benchmark and then think of the situation from an additive perspective
(the adult is about 50 centimeters taller than the student) or a multi-
plicative perspective (the adult is one quarter again as tall as the student).
Three central In grades 3–5, multiplicative reasoning emerges and should be dis-
cussed and developed through the study of many different mathematical
mathematical themes are topics. Students’ understanding of the base-ten number system is deep-
ened as they come to understand its multiplicative structure. That is,
discussed—multiplicative 484 is 4 × 100 plus 8 × 10 plus 4 × 1 as well as a collection of 484 indi-
vidual objects. Multiplicative reasoning is further developed as students
reasoning, equivalence, use a geometric model of multiplication, such as a rectangular array, and
and computational adapt this model for computing the area of shapes and the volume of
solids. They also begin to reason algebraically with multiplication, look-
fluency. ing for general patterns. For example, they explore problems such as,
What is the effect of doubling one factor and halving the other in a mul-
tiplication problem? The focus on multiplicative reasoning in grades
3–5 provides foundational knowledge that can be built on as students
move to an emphasis on proportional reasoning in the middle grades.
Equivalence should be another central idea in grades 3–5. Students’
ability to recognize, create, and use equivalent representations of num-
bers and geometric objects should expand. For example, 3/4 can be
thought of as a half and a fourth, as 6/8, or as 0.75; a parallelogram can
be transformed into a rectangle with equal area by cutting and pasting;
8 × 25 can be thought of as 8 × 5 × 5 or as 4 × 50; and three feet is the
same as thirty-six inches, or one yard. Students should extend their use
of equivalent forms of numbers as they develop new strategies for com-
puting and should recognize that different representations of numbers
are helpful for different purposes. Likewise, they should explore when
and how shapes can be decomposed and reassembled and what features
of the shapes remain unchanged. Equivalence also takes center stage as
students study fractions and as they relate fractions, decimals and per-
cents. Examining equivalences provides a way to explore algebraic
ideas, including properties such as commutativity and associativity.
A major goal in grades 3–5 is the development of computational flu-
ency with whole numbers. Fluency refers to having efficient, accurate,
Mathematics learning and generalizable methods (algorithms) for computing that are based
on well-understood properties and number relationships. Some of
is both about making these methods are performed mentally, and others are carried out using
paper and pencil to facilitate the recording of thinking. Students should
sense of mathematical come to view algorithms as tools for solving problems rather than as
the goal of mathematics study. As students develop computational algo-
ideas and about rithms, teachers should evaluate their work, help them recognize effi-
acquiring skills and cient algorithms, and provide sufficient and appropriate practice so that
they become fluent and flexible in computing. Students in these grades
insights to solve should also develop computational-estimation strategies for situations
that call for an estimate and as a tool for judging the reasonableness of
problems. solutions.
This set of Standards reinforces the dual goals that mathematics
learning is both about making sense of mathematical ideas and about ac-
quiring skills and insights to solve problems. The calculator is an impor-
tant tool in reaching these goals in grades 3–5 (Groves 1994). However,
144 Principles and Standards for School Mathematics
calculators do not replace fluency with basic number combinations,
conceptual understanding, or the ability to formulate and use efficient
and accurate methods for computing. Rather, the calculator should sup-
port these goals by enhancing and stimulating learning. As a student
works on problems involving many or complex computations, the calcu-
lator is an efficient computational tool for applying the strategies deter-
mined by the student. The calculator serves as a tool for enabling stu-
dents to focus on the problem-solving process. Calculators can also
provide a means for highlighting mathematical patterns and relation-
ships. For example, using the calculator to skip-count by tenths or hun-
dredths highlights relationships among decimal numbers. For example,
4 is one-tenth more that 3.9, or 2.49 is one-hundredth less than 2.5. Stu-
dents at this age should begin to develop good decision-making habits
about when it is useful and appropriate to use other computational
methods, rather than reach for a calculator. Teachers should create op-
portunities for these decisions as well as make judgments about when
and how calculators can be used to support learning.
Teachers in grades 3–5 make decisions every day that influence their
students’ opportunities to learn and the quality of that learning. The
classroom environment they create, the attention to various topics of Students’ ideas should be
mathematics, and the tools they and their students use to explore math-
ematical ideas are all important in helping students in grades 3–5 gain valued and serve as a
increased mathematical maturity. In these grades teachers should help
students learn to work together as part of building a mathematical com- source of learning.
munity of learners. In such a community, students’ ideas are valued and
serve as a source of learning, mistakes are seen not as dead ends but
rather as potential avenues for learning, and ideas are valued because
they are mathematically sound rather than because they are argued
strongly or proposed by a particular individual (Hiebert et al. 1997). A
classroom environment that would support the learning of mathematics
with meaning should have several characteristics: students feel comfort-
able making and correcting mistakes; rewards are given for sustained ef-
fort and progress, not the number of problems completed; and students
think through and explain their solutions instead of seeking or trying to
recollect the “right” answer or method (Cobb et al. 1988). Creating a
Standards for Grades 3–5: Introduction 145

classroom environment that fosters mathematics as sense making re-
quires the careful attention of the teacher. The teacher establishes the
model for classroom discussion, making explicit what counts as a con-
vincing mathematical argument. The teacher also lays the groundwork
for students to be respectful listeners, valuing and learning from one
another’s ideas even when they disagree with them.
Because of the increasing mathematical sophistication of the curricu-
lum in grades 3–5, the development of teachers’ expertise is particularly
Teachers in grades 3–5 important. Teachers need to understand both the mathematical content
for teaching and students’ mathematical thinking. However, teachers at
often must seek ways to this level are usually called on to teach a variety of disciplines in addi-
tion to mathematics. Many elementary teacher preparation programs
advance their own require minimal attention to mathematics content knowledge. Given
their primary role in shaping the mathematics learning of their stu-
understanding. dents, teachers in grades 3–5 often must seek ways to advance their own
understanding.
Many different professional development models emphasize the en-
hancement of teachers’ mathematical knowledge. Likewise, schools and
districts have developed strategies for strengthening the mathematical
expertise in their instructional programs. For example, some elemen-
tary schools identify a mathematics teacher-leader (someone who has
particular interest and expertise in mathematics) and then support that
teacher’s continuing development and create a role for him or her to
organize professional development events for colleagues. Such activities
can include grade-level mathematics study groups, seminars and work-
shops, and coaching and modeling in the classroom. Other schools use
mathematics specialists in the upper elementary grades. These are ele-
mentary school teachers with particular interest and expertise in mathe-
matics who assume primary responsibility for teaching mathematics to a
group of students—for example, all the fourth graders in a school. This
strategy allows some teachers to focus on a particular content area
rather than to attempt being an expert in all areas.
Ensuring that the mathematics outlined in this chapter is learned by
all students in grades 3–5 requires a commitment of effort by teachers
to continue to be mathematical learners. It also implies that districts,
schools, and teacher preparation programs will develop strategies to
identify current and prospective elementary school teachers for special-
ized mathematics preparation and assignment. Each of the models out-
lined here—mathematics teacher-leaders and mathematics specialists—
should be explored as ways to develop and enhance students’
mathematics education experience. For successful implementation of
these Standards, it is essential that the mathematical expertise of teach-
ers be developed, whatever model is used.

Blank Page
Number and Operations
Standard
for Grades
Instructional programs from
prekindergarten through grade 12
should enable all students to— 3–5
Expectations
In grades 3–5 all students should—
Understand numbers, ways of rep- • understand the place-value structure of the base-ten number system and be
resenting numbers, relationships able to represent and compare whole numbers and decimals;
among numbers, and number • recognize equivalent representations for the same number and generate
systems them by decomposing and composing numbers;
• develop understanding of fractions as parts of unit wholes, as parts of a
collection, as locations on number lines, and as divisions of whole numbers;
• use models, benchmarks, and equivalent forms to judge the size of
fractions;
• recognize and generate equivalent forms of commonly used fractions,
decimals, and percents;
• explore numbers less than 0 by extending the number line and through
familiar applications;
• describe classes of numbers according to characteristics such as the
nature of their factors.
Understand meanings of operations • understand various meanings of multiplication and division;

and how they relate to one another • understand the effects of multiplying and dividing whole numbers;
• identify and use relationships between operations, such as division as the
inverse of multiplication, to solve problems;
• understand and use properties of operations, such as the distributivity of
multiplication over addition.
Compute fluently and make reason- • develop fluency with basic number combinations for multiplication and
able estimates division and use these combinations to mentally compute related problems,
such as 30 × 50;
• develop fluency in adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing whole
numbers;
• develop and use strategies to estimate the results of whole-number
computations and to judge the reasonableness of such results;
• develop and use strategies to estimate computations involving fractions and
decimals in situations relevant to students’ experience;
• use visual models, benchmarks, and equivalent forms to add and subtract
commonly used fractions and decimals;
• select appropriate methods and tools for computing with whole numbers
from among mental computation, estimation, calculators, and paper and
pencil according to the context and nature of the computation and use the
148 selected method or tool.
Number & Operations | Algebra | Geometry | Measurement | Data Analysis & Probability | Problem Solving | Reasoning & Proof | Communication | Connections | Representation
Number and Operations
In grades 3–5, students’ development of number sense should con-
tinue, with a focus on multiplication and division. Their understanding
of the meanings of these operations should grow deeper as they
encounter a range of representations and problem situations, learn
about the properties of these operations, and develop fluency in whole-
number computation. An understanding of the base-ten number system
should be extended through continued work with larger numbers as
well as with decimals. Through the study of various meanings and mod-
els of fractions — how fractions are related to each other and to the unit
whole and how they are represented — students can gain facility in
comparing fractions, often by using benchmarks such as 1/2 or 1. They Students who
also should consider numbers less than zero through familiar models
such as a thermometer or a number line. understand the structure
When students leave grade 5, they should be able to solve problems
involving whole-number computation and should recognize that each of numbers and the
operation will help them solve many different types of problems. They
should be able to solve many problems mentally, to estimate a reason-
relationships among
able result for a problem, to efficiently recall or derive the basic number numbers can work with
combinations for each operation, and to compute fluently with multi-
digit whole numbers. They should understand the equivalence of frac- them flexibly.
tions, decimals, and percents and the information each type of repre-
sentation conveys. With these understandings and skills, they should be
able to develop strategies for computing with familiar fractions and
decimals.
Understand numbers, ways of representing numbers,

relationships among numbers, and number systems
In grades 3–5, students’ study and use of numbers should be ex-
tended to include larger numbers, fractions, and decimals. They need
to develop strategies for judging the relative sizes of numbers. They
should understand more deeply the multiplicative nature of the number
system, including the structure of 786 as 7 × 100 plus 8 × 10 plus 6 × 1.
They should also learn about the position of this number in the base-
ten number system and its relationship to benchmarks such as 500, 750,
800, and 1000. They should explore the effects of operating on num-
bers with particular numbers, such as adding or subtracting 10 or 100
and multiplying or dividing by a power of 10. In order to develop these
understandings, students should explore whole numbers using a variety
of models and contexts. For example, a third-grade class might explore
the size of 1000 by skip-counting to 1000, building a model of 1000
using ten hundred charts, gathering 1000 items such as paper clips and
developing efficient ways to count them, or using strips that are 10 or
100 centimeters long to show the length of 1000 centimeters.
Students who understand the structure of numbers and the relation-
ships among numbers can work with them flexibly (Fuson 1992). They
recognize and can generate equivalent representations for the same
number. For example, 36 can be thought of as 30 + 6, 20 + 16, 9 × 4,
40 – 4, three dozen, or the square of 6. Each form is useful for a partic-
ular situation. Thinking of 36 as 30 + 6 may be useful when multiplying
Standards for Grades 3–5: Number and Operations 149

Representation | Connections | Communication | Reasoning & Proof | Problem Solving | Data Analysis & Probability | Measurement | Geometry | Algebra | Number & Operations
by 36, whereas thinking of it as 6 sixes or 9 fours is helpful when con-

sidering equal shares. Students need to have many experiences decom-
posing and composing numbers in order to solve problems flexibly.
During grades 3–5, students should build their understanding of
fractions as parts of a whole and as division. They will need to see and
explore a variety of models of fractions, focusing primarily on familiar
fractions such as halves, thirds, fourths, fifths, sixths, eighths, and
tenths. By using an area model in which part of a region is shaded, stu-
dents can see how fractions are related to a unit whole, compare frac-
tional parts of a whole, and find equivalent fractions. They should de-
velop strategies for ordering and comparing fractions, often using
benchmarks such as 1/2 and 1. For example, fifth graders can compare
fractions such as 2/5 and 5/8 by comparing each with 1/2 — one is a
little less than 1/2 and the other is a little more. By using parallel num-
ber lines, each showing a unit fraction and its multiples (see fig. 5.1),
students can see fractions as numbers, note their relationship to 1, and
see relationships among fractions, including equivalence. They should
also begin to understand that between any two fractions, there is always
another fraction.
Fig. 5.1.
Parallel number lines with unit frac- 1
tions and their multiples 0 1
2
1 2 3
0 1
4 4 4
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
0 1
8 8 8 8 8 8 8
Students in these grades should use models and other strategies to

represent and study decimal numbers. For example, they should count
by tenths (one-tenth, two-tenths, three-tenths, …) verbally or use a cal-
culator to link and relate whole numbers with decimal numbers. As stu-
dents continue to count orally from nine-tenths to ten-tenths to eleven-
tenths and see the display change from 0.9 to 1.0 to 1.1, they see that
ten-tenths is the same as one and also how it relates to 0.9 and 1.1.
E-example 5.1 They should also investigate the relationship between fractions and
decimals, focusing on equivalence. Through a variety of activities, they
Communication through Games
should understand that a fraction such as 1/2 is equivalent to 5/10 and
that it has a decimal representation (0.5). As they encounter a new
meaning of a fraction—as a quotient of two whole numbers (1/2 = 1 ÷ 2
= 0.5) — they can also see another way to arrive at this equivalence. By
using the calculator to carry out the indicated division of familiar frac-
tions like 1/4, 1/3, 2/5, 1/2, and 3/4, they can learn common fraction-
decimal equivalents. They can also learn that some fractions can be ex-
pressed as terminating decimals but others cannot.
Students should understand the meaning of a percent as part of a
whole and use common percents such as 10 percent, 33 1/3 percent, or

50 percent as benchmarks in interpreting situations they encounter. For
example, if a label indicates that 36 percent of a product is water, stu-
dents can think of this as about a third of the product. By studying frac-
tions, decimals, and percents simultaneously, students can learn to
move among equivalent forms, choosing and using an appropriate and
convenient form to solve problems and express quantities.
Negative integers should be introduced at this level through the use
of familiar models such as temperature or owing money. The number
line is also an appropriate and helpful model, and students should rec-
ognize that points to the left of 0 on a horizontal number line can be
represented by numbers less than 0.
Throughout their study of numbers, students in grades 3–5 should
identify classes of numbers and examine their properties. For example,
integers that are divisible by 2 are called even numbers and numbers that
are produced by multiplying a number by itself are called square num-
bers. Students should recognize that different types of numbers have
particular characteristics; for example, square numbers have an odd
number of factors and prime numbers have only two factors.
Understand meanings of operations and how they

relate to one another
In grades 3–5, students should focus on the meanings of, and rela-
tionship between, multiplication and division. It is important that stu-
dents understand what each number in a multiplication or division ex-
pression represents. For example, in multiplication, unlike addition, the
factors in the problem can refer to different units. If students are solv- Students should focus on
ing the problem 29 × 4 to find out how many legs there are on 29 cats,
29 is the number of cats (or number of groups), 4 is the number of legs the meanings of, and
on each cat (or number of items in each group), and 116 is the total
number of legs on all the cats. Modeling multiplication problems with relationship between,
pictures, diagrams, or concrete materials helps students learn what the
factors and their product represent in various contexts.
multiplication and
Students should consider and discuss different types of problems that division.
can be solved using multiplication and division. For example, if there
are 112 people traveling by bus and each bus can hold 28 people, how
many buses are needed? In this case, 112 ÷ 28 indicates the number of
groups (buses), where the total number of people (112) and the size of
each group (28 people in each bus) are known. In a different problem,
students might know the number of groups and need to find how many
items are in each group. If 112 people divide themselves evenly among
four buses, how many people are on each bus? In this case, 112 ÷ 4 indi-
cates the number of people on each bus, where the total number of
people and the number of groups (buses) are known. Students need to
recognize both types of problems as division situations, should be able
to model and solve each type of problem, and should know the units of
the result: Is it 28 buses or 28 people per bus? Students in these grades
will also encounter situations where the result of division includes a re-
mainder. They should learn the meaning of a remainder by modeling
division problems and exploring the size of remainders given a particu-
lar divisor. For example, when dividing groups of counters into sets of
4, what remainders could there be for groups of different sizes?

Students can extend their understanding of multiplication and divi-

sion as they consider the inverse relationship between the two opera-
tions. Another way their knowledge can grow is through new multi-
plicative situations such as rates (3 candy bars for 59 cents each),
Computational fluency comparisons (the book weighs 4 times as much as the tablet), and com-
binations (the number of outfits possible from 3 shirts and 2 pairs of
refers to having efficient shorts). Examining the effect of multiplying or dividing numbers can
also lead to a deeper understanding of these operations. For example,
and accurate methods for dividing 28 by 14 and comparing the result to dividing 28 by 7 can lead
to the conjecture that the smaller the divisor, the larger the quotient.
computing. With models or calculators, students can explore dividing by numbers
between 0 and 1, such as 1/2, and find that the quotient is larger than
the original number. Explorations such as these help dispel common,
but incorrect, generalizations such as “division always makes things
smaller.”
Further meaning for multiplication should develop as students build
and describe area models, showing how a product is related to its fac-
tors. The area model is important because it helps students develop an
understanding of multiplication properties (Graeber and Campbell
1993). Using area models, properties of operations such as the commu-
tativity of multiplication become more apparent. Other relationships
can be seen by decomposing and composing area models. For example,
a model for 20 × 6 can be split in half and the halves rearranged to form
a 10 × 12 rectangle, showing the equivalence of 10 × 12 and 20 × 6. The
Fig. 5.2.
distributive property is particularly powerful as the basis of many effi-
Three strategies for computing 7 × 28 cient multiplication algorithms. For example, figure 5.2 shows the
using the distributive property
strategies three students might use to compute 7 × 28 — all involving
the distributive property.
140
0 is Compute fluently and make reasonable estimates
7 × 2 8 is 56
7× 6
and 40 is 19 By the end of this grade band, students should be computing fluently
+ 1
56
with whole numbers. Computational fluency refers to having efficient and
accurate methods for computing. Students exhibit computational flu-
ency when they demonstrate flexibility in the computational methods
I thought seve they choose, understand and can explain these methods, and produce
n
25’s—that’s 17 accurate answers efficiently. The computational methods that a student
5.
Then I need se
or 21. So the a
ven 3’s uses should be based on mathematical ideas that the student under-
nswer is stands well, including the structure of the base-ten number system,
175 + 21 = 196
properties of multiplication and division, and number relationships.
A significant amount of instructional time should be devoted to ra-
tional numbers in grades 3–5. The focus should be on developing stu-
dents’ conceptual understanding of fractions and decimals—what they
7 × 28 are, how they are represented, and how they are related to whole num-
bers—rather than on developing computational fluency with rational
numbers. Fluency in rational-number computation will be a major
focus of grades 6–8.
Fluency with whole-number computation depends, in large part, on
I did
That 7 × 30 fluency with basic number combinations—the single-digit addition and
’s fir
off s 210. Then st. multiplication pairs and their counterparts for subtraction and division.
even take Fluency with the basic number combinations develops from well-
So it’ 2’s or 14. understood meanings for the four operations and from a focus on
s 196
.

thinking strategies (Thornton 1990; Isaacs and Carroll 1999). By work-
ing on many multiplication problems with a variety of models for mul-
tiplication, students should initially learn and become fluent with some
of the “easier” combinations. For example, many students will readily
learn basic number combinations such as 3 × 2 or 4 × 5 or the squares
of numbers, such as 4 × 4 or 5 × 5. Through skip-counting, using area
models, and relating unknown combinations to known ones, students
will learn and become fluent with unfamiliar combinations. For exam-
ple, 3 × 4 is the same as 4 × 3; 6 × 5 is 5 more than 5 × 5; 6 × 8 is double
3 × 8. Because division is the inverse of multiplication, students can use
the multiplication combinations to learn division combinations. For ex- As students develop
ample, 24 ÷ 6 can be thought of as 6 × ? = 24. If by the end of the fourth
grade, students are not able to use multiplication and division strategies methods to solve
efficiently, then they must either develop strategies so that they are flu-
ent with these combinations or memorize the remaining “harder” com- multidigit computation
binations. Students should also learn to apply the single-digit basic
number combinations to related problems, for example, using 5 × 6 to
problems, they should be
compute 50 × 6 or 5000 × 600. encouraged to record and
Research suggests that by solving problems that require calculation,
students develop methods for computing and also learn more about share their methods.
operations and properties (McClain, Cobb, and Bowers 1998; Schifter
1999). As students develop methods to solve multidigit computation
problems, they should be encouraged to record and share their meth-
ods. As they do so, they can learn from one another, analyze the effi-
ciency and generalizability of various approaches, and try one another’s
methods. In the past, common school practice has been to present a
single algorithm for each operation. However, more than one efficient
and accurate computational algorithm exists for each arithmetic opera-
tion. In addition, if given the opportunity, students naturally invent
methods to compute that make sense to them (Fuson forthcoming;
Madell 1985). The following episode, drawn from unpublished class-
room observation notes, illustrates how one teacher helped students an-
alyze and compare their computational procedures for division:
Students in Ms. Spark’s fifth-grade class were sharing their solutions
to a homework problem, 728 ÷ 34. Ms. Sparks asked several students
to put their work on the board to be discussed. She deliberately
chose students who had approached the problem in several different
ways. As the students put their work on the board, Ms. Sparks circu-
lated among the other students, checking their homework.
Henry had written his solution:
Henry explained to the class, “Twenty 34s plus one more is 21. I
knew I was pretty close. I didn’t think I could add any more 34s, so I
subtracted 714 from 728 and got 14. Then I had 21 remainder 14.”

Michaela showed her solution:
Michaela says, “34 goes into 72 two times and that’s 68. You gotta
minus that, bring down the 8, then 34 goes into 48 one time.”
Ricky: I don’t know how to do that.
Michaela: You divide, then you multiply, you subtract, then you
bring down.
Ricky: I still don’t get it.
Ms. Sparks: Does anyone see any parts of Michaela’s and Henry’s
work that are similar?
Christy: They both did 728 divided by 34.
Ms. Sparks: Right, they both did the same problem. Do you see any
parts of the ways they solved the problem that look
similar?
Fanshen: (Hesitantly) Well, there’s a 680 in Henry’s and a 68 in
Michaela’s.
Ms. Sparks: So, what is that 68, Michaela?
Michaela: Um, it’s the 2 × 34.
Ms. Sparks: Oh, is that 2 × 34? (Ms. Sparks waits. Lots of silence.) So,
I don’t get what you’re saying about 2 times 34. What
does this 2 up here in the 21 represent?
Samir: It’s 20.
Henry: But 20 times 34 is 680, not 68.
Ms. Sparks: So what if I wrote a 0 here to show that this is 680?
Does that help you see any more similarities?
Maya: They both did twenty 34s first.

Rita: I get it. Then Michaela did, like, how many more are
left, and it was 48, and then she could do one more 34.
Ms. Sparks saw relationships between the two methods described by
students, but she doubted that any of her students would initially see
these relationships. Through her questioning, she helped students focus
on the ways in which both Michaela’s and Henry’s methods used multi-
plication to find the total number of 34s in 728 and helped students

clarify what quantities were represented by the notation in Michaela’s
solution. As the class continues their study of division, Ms. Sparks
should encourage this type of explanation and discussion in order to
help the students understand, explain, and justify their computational
strategies.
As students move from third to fifth grade, they should consolidate
and practice a small number of computational algorithms for addition,
subtraction, multiplication, and division that they understand well and
can use routinely. Many students enter grade 3 with methods for adding
and subtracting numbers. In grades 3–5 they should extend these meth-
ods to adding and subtracting larger numbers and learn to record their
work systematically and clearly. Having access to more than one
method for each operation allows students to choose an approach that
best fits the numbers in a particular problem. For example, 298 × 42
can be thought of as (300 × 42) – (2 × 42), whereas 41 × 16 can be com-
puted by multiplying 41 × 8 to get 328 and then doubling 328 to get
656. Although the expectation is that students develop fluency in com-
puting with whole numbers, frequently they should use calculators to
solve complex computations involving large numbers or as part of an
extended problem.
Many students are likely to develop and use methods that are not the
same as the conventional algorithms (those widely taught in the United
States). For example, many students and adults use multiplication to
solve division problems or add starting with the largest place rather Estimation serves as an
than with the smallest. The conventional algorithms for multiplication
and division should be investigated in grades 3–5 as one efficient way to important companion to
calculate. Regardless of the particular algorithm used, students should
be able to explain their method and should understand that many meth- computation.
ods exist. They should also recognize the need to develop efficient and
accurate methods.
As students acquire conceptual grounding related to rational num-
bers, they should begin to solve problems using strategies they develop
or adapt from their whole-number work. At these grades, the emphasis
should not be on developing general procedures to solve all decimal
and fraction problems. Rather, students should generate solutions that
are based on number sense and properties of the operations and that
use a variety of models or representations. For example, in a fourth-
grade class, students might work on this problem:
Jamal invited seven of his friends to lunch on Saturday. He thinks that
each of the eight people (his seven guests and himself) will eat one and a
half sandwiches. How many sandwiches should he make?
Students might draw a picture and count up the number of sandwiches,
or they might use reasoning based on their knowledge of number and
operations—for example, “That would be eight whole sandwiches and
eight half sandwiches; since two halves make a whole sandwich, the
eight halves will make four more sandwiches, so Jamal needs to make
twelve sandwiches.”
Estimation serves as an important companion to computation. It
provides a tool for judging the reasonableness of calculator, mental, and
paper-and-pencil computations. However, being able to compute exact
answers does not automatically lead to an ability to estimate or judge
the reasonableness of answers, as Reys and Yang (1998) found in their

work with sixth and eighth graders. Students in grades 3–5 will need to
be encouraged to routinely reflect on the size of an anticipated solution.
Will 7 × 18 be smaller or larger than 100? If 3/8 of a cup of sugar is
needed for a recipe and the recipe is doubled, will more than or less
The teacher plays an than one cup of sugar be needed? Instructional attention and frequent
modeling by the teacher can help students develop a range of computa-
important role in tional estimation strategies including flexible rounding, the use of
benchmarks, and front-end strategies. Students should be encouraged
helping students develop to frequently explain their thinking as they estimate. As with exact com-
putation, sharing estimation strategies allows students access to others’
and select an thinking and provides many opportunities for rich class discussions.
appropriate The teacher plays an important role in helping students develop and
select an appropriate computational tool (calculator, paper-and-pencil
computational tool. algorithm, or mental strategy). If a teacher models the choices she
makes and thinks aloud about them, students can learn to make good
choices. For example, determining the cost of four notebooks priced at
$0.75 is an easy mental problem (two notebooks cost $1.50, so four
notebooks cost $3.00). Adding the cost of all the school supplies pur-
chased by the class is a problem in which using a calculator makes sense
because of the amount of data. Dividing the cost of the class pizza party
($45) by the number of students (25) is an appropriate time to make an
estimate (a little less than $2 each) or to use a paper-and-pencil algo-
rithm or a calculator if a more precise answer is needed.

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Algebra
Standard
for Grades
Expectations
Understand patterns, relations, and • describe, extend, and make generalizations about geometric and numeric
functions patterns;
• represent and analyze patterns and functions, using words, tables, and
graphs.
Represent and analyze mathemati- • identify such properties as commutativity, associativity, and distributivity and
cal situations and structures using use them to compute with whole numbers;
algebraic symbols • represent the idea of a variable as an unknown quantity using a letter or a
symbol;
• express mathematical relationships using equations.
Use mathematical models to repre- • model problem situations with objects and use representations such as
sent and understand quantitative graphs, tables, and equations to draw conclusions.
relationships
Analyze change in various contexts • investigate how a change in one variable relates to a change in a second
variable;
• identify and describe situations with constant or varying rates of change
and compare them.

Algebra
Although algebra is a word that has not commonly been heard in
grades 3–5 classrooms, the mathematical investigations and conversa-
tions of students in these grades frequently include elements of alge-
braic reasoning. These experiences and conversations provide rich con-
texts for advancing mathematical understanding and are also an
important precursor to the more formalized study of algebra in the
middle and secondary grades. In grades 3–5, algebraic ideas should
emerge and be investigated as students—
• identify or build numerical and geometric patterns;
• describe patterns verbally and represent them with tables or
symbols;
• look for and apply relationships between varying quantities to
make predictions;
• make and explain generalizations that seem to always work in
particular situations;
• use graphs to describe patterns and make predictions;
• explore number properties;
• use invented notation, standard symbols, and variables to
express a pattern, generalization, or situation.
Understand patterns, relations, and functions

In grades 3–5, students should investigate numerical and geometric
patterns and express them mathematically in words or symbols. They
should analyze the structure of the pattern and how it grows or
changes, organize this information systematically, and use their analysis
to develop generalizations about the mathematical relationships in the
pattern. For example, a teacher might ask students to describe patterns
they see in the “growing squares” display (see fig. 5.3) and express the Fig. 5.3.
patterns in mathematical sentences. Students should be encouraged to Expressing “growing squares” in
explain these patterns verbally and to make predictions about what will mathematical sentences (Adapted
happen if the sequence is continued. from Burton et al. 1992, p. 6)
In this example, one student might notice that the area changes in a
predictable way—it increases by the next odd number with each new
square. Another student might notice that the previous square always fits
into the “corner” of the next-larger square. This observation might lead
to a description of the area of a square as equal to the area of the previ-
ous square plus “its two sides and one more.” A student might represent
his thinking as in figure 5.4.
Standards for Grades 3–5: Algebra 159

Fig. 5.4.
A possible student observation about
the area of the 5 × 5 square in the
“growing squares” pattern
Examples like this one give the teacher important opportunities to

engage students in thinking about how to articulate and express a gen-
Fig. 5.5. eralization—“How can we talk about how this pattern works for a
Finding surface areas of towers of
square of any size?” Students in grade 3 should be able to predict the
cubes next element in a sequence by examining a specific set of examples. By
the end of fifth grade, students should be able to make generalizations
by reasoning about the structure of the pattern. For example, a fifth-
What is the surface area of each
tower of cubes (include the bottom)? grade student might explain that “if you add the first n odd numbers,
As the towers get taller, how the sum is the same as n × n.”
does the surface area change? As they study ways to measure geometric objects, students will have
opportunities to make generalizations based on patterns. For example,
consider the problem in figure 5.5. Fourth graders might make a table
(see fig. 5.6) and note the iterative nature of the pattern. That is, there
is a consistent relationship between the surface area of one tower and
the next-bigger tower: “You add four to the previous number.” Fifth
graders could be challenged to justify a general rule with reference to
the geometric model, for example, “The surface area is always four
times the number of cubes plus two more because there are always four
square units around each cube and one extra on each end of the tower.”
Once a relationship is established, students should be able to use it to
answer questions like, “What is the surface area of a tower with fifty
cubes?” or “How many cubes would there be in a tower with a surface
area of 242 square units?”
In this example, some students may use a table to organize and order
their data, and others may use connecting cubes to model the growth of
an arithmetic sequence. Some students may use words, but others may
E-example 5.2 use numbers and symbols to express their ideas about the functional re-
lationship. Students should have many experiences organizing data and
Function Simulation examining different representations. Computer simulations are an in-
teractive way to explore functional relationships and the various ways
they are represented. In a simulation of two runners along a track, stu-
dents can control the speed and starting point of the runners and can
view the results by watching the race and examining a table and graph
of the time-versus-distance relationship. Students need to feel comfort-
able using various techniques for organizing and expressing ideas about
Fig. 5.6. relationships and functions.
A table used in the “tower of cubes”
problem
Represent and analyze mathematical situations and
structures using algebraic symbols
Number of Surface area in
In grades 3–5, students can investigate properties such as commuta-
cubes (N ) square units (S )
tivity, associativity, and distributivity of multiplication over addition. Is
3 × 5 the same as 5 × 3? Is 15 × 27 equal to 27 × 15? Will reversing the
factors always result in the same product? What if one of the factors is a
decimal number (e.g., 1.5 × 6)? An area model can help students see
that two factors in either order have equal products, as represented by
congruent rectangles with different orientations (see fig. 5.7).

An area model can also be used to investigate the distributive prop-
erty. For example, the representation in figure 5.8 shows how 8 × 14
can be decomposed into 8 × 10 and 8 × 4.
Fig. 5.7.
Area models illustrating the commu-
tative property of multiplication
3×5 5×3
10 4 Fig. 5.8.
Area model showing the distributive
property of multiplication
8 8 × 10 8×4
80 + 32 = 112
As students learn about the meaning of multiplication and develop

strategies to solve multiplication problems, they will begin to use prop-
erties such as distributivity naturally (Schifter 1999). However, discus-
sion about the properties themselves, as well as how they serve as tools
for solving a range of problems, is important if students are to add
strength to their intuitive notions and advance their understanding of
multiplicative structures. For example, students might explore ques-
tions such as these: Why can’t 24 × 32 be solved by adding the results of
20 × 30 and 4 × 2? If a number is tripled, then tripled again, what is the
relationship of the result to the original number? Analyzing the proper-
ties of operations gives students opportunities to extend their thinking
and to build a foundation for applying these understandings to other
situations.
At this grade band the idea and usefulness of a variable (represented
by a box, letter, or symbol) should also be emerging and developing
more fully. As students explore patterns and note relationships, they
should be encouraged to represent their thinking. In the example show-
ing the sequence of squares that grow (fig. 5.3), students are beginning
to use the idea of a variable as they think about how to describe a rule
for finding the area of any square from the pattern they have observed.
As students become more experienced in investigating, articulating, and
justifying generalizations, they can begin to use variable notation and
equations to represent their thinking. Teachers will need to model how
to represent thinking in the form of equations. In this way, they can

help students connect the ways they are describing their findings to
mathematical notation. For example, a student’s description of the sur-
face area of a cube tower of any size (“You get the surface area by multi-
plying the number of cubes by 4 and adding 2”) can be recorded by the
teacher as S = 4 × n + 2. Students should also understand the use of a
variable as a placeholder in an expression or equation. For example,
they should explore the role of n in the equation 80 × 15 = 40 × n and
be able to find the value of n that makes the equation true.
Use mathematical models to represent and understand

quantitative relationships
Historically, much of the mathematics used today was developed to
model real-world situations, with the goal of making predictions about
those situations. As patterns are identified, they can be expressed nu-
merically, graphically, or symbolically and used to predict how the pat-
tern will continue. Students in grades 3–5 develop the idea that a math-
ematical model has both descriptive and predictive power.
Students in these grades can model a variety of situations, includ-
ing geometric patterns, real-world situations, and scientific experi-
ments. Sometimes they will use their model to predict the next ele-
ment in a pattern, as students did when they described the area of a
square in terms of the previous smaller square (see fig. 5.3). At other
times, students will be able to make a general statement about how
one variable is related to another variable: If a sandwich costs $3, you
can figure out how many dollars any number of sandwiches costs by
multiplying that number by 3 (two sandwiches cost $6, three sand-
wiches cost $9, and so forth). In this case, students have developed a
model of a proportional relationship: the value of one variable (total
cost, C ) is always three times the value of the other (number of sand-
wiches, S ), or C = 3 • S.
In modeling situations that involve real-world data, students need to
know that their predictions will not always match observed outcomes
for a variety of reasons. For example, data often contain measurement
error, experiments are influenced by many factors that cause fluctua-
Students in grades tions, and some models may hold only for a certain range of values.
However, predictions based on good models should be reasonably close
3–5 develop the idea to what actually happens.
Students in grades 3–5 should begin to understand that different
that a mathematical models for the same situation can give the same results. For example, as
a group of students investigates the relationship between the number of
model has both cubes in a tower and its surface area, several models emerge. One stu-
descriptive and dent thinks about each side of the tower as having the same number of
units of surface area as the number of cubes (n). There are four sides
predictive power. and an extra unit on each end of the tower, so the surface area is four
times the number of cubes plus two (4 • n + 2). Another student thinks
about how much surface area is contributed by each cube in the tower:
each end cube contributes five units of surface area and each “middle”
cube contributes four units of surface area. Algebraically, the surface
area would be 2 • 5 + (n – 2) • 4. For a tower of twelve cubes, the first
student thinks, “4 times 12, that’s 48, plus 2 is 50.” The second student
thinks, “The two end cubes each have 5, so that’s 10. There are 10

more cubes. They each have 4, so that’s 40. 40 plus 10 is 50.” Students
in this grade band may not be able to show how these solutions are
algebraically equivalent, but they can recognize that these different
models lead to the same solution.
Analyze change in various contexts

Change is an important mathematical idea that can be studied using
the tools of algebra. For example, as part of a science project, students
might plant seeds and record the growth of a plant. Using the data rep-
resented in the table and graph (fig. 5.9), students can describe how the
rate of growth varies over time. For example, a student might express
the rate of growth in this way: “My plant didn’t grow for the first four
days, then it grew slowly for the next two days, then it started to grow
faster, then it slowed down again.” In this situation, students are focus-
ing not simply on the height of the plant each day, but on what has hap-
pened between the recorded heights. This work is a precursor to later,
more focused attention on what the slope of a line represents, that is,
what the steepness of the line shows about the rate of change. Students
should have opportunities to study situations that display different pat-
terns of change—change that occurs at a constant rate, such as someone Fig. 5.9.
walking at a constant speed, and rates of change that increase or
A table and graph showing growth of
decrease, as in the growing-plant example. a plant
Plant Growth
Time Height Change 10

(days) (cm) (cm) 9
0 0 8
2 0 0
7
4 0 0
Height (cm)
6 1 1 6
8 2 1 5
10 4 2
4
12 6 2
14 7.5 1.5 3
16 8.5 1 2
18 8.5 0
1
20 9 0.5
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
Time (days)

Geometry
Standard
for Grades
Expectations
Analyze characteristics and proper- • identify, compare, and analyze attributes of two- and three-dimensional
ties of two- and three-dimensional shapes and develop vocabulary to describe the attributes;
geometric shapes and develop • classify two- and three-dimensional shapes according to their properties and
mathematical arguments about develop definitions of classes of shapes such as triangles and pyramids;
geometric relationships • investigate, describe, and reason about the results of subdividing,
combining, and transforming shapes;
• explore congruence and similarity;
• make and test conjectures about geometric properties and relationships
and develop logical arguments to justify conclusions.
Specify locations and describe • describe location and movement using common language and geometric
spatial relationships using coordi- vocabulary;
nate geometry and other represen- • make and use coordinate systems to specify locations and to describe paths;
tational systems • find the distance between points along horizontal and vertical lines of a
coordinate system.
Apply transformations and use • predict and describe the results of sliding, flipping, and turning two-
symmetry to analyze mathematical dimensional shapes;
situations • describe a motion or a series of motions that will show that two shapes are
congruent;
• identify and describe line and rotational symmetry in two- and three-
dimensional shapes and designs.
Use visualization, spatial reasoning, • build and draw geometric objects;

and geometric modeling to solve • create and describe mental images of objects, patterns, and paths;
problems • identify and build a three-dimensional object from two-dimensional
representations of that object;
• identify and build a two-dimensional representation of a three-dimensional
object;
• use geometric models to solve problems in other areas of mathematics,
such as number and measurement;
• recognize geometric ideas and relationships and apply them to other
disciplines and to problems that arise in the classroom or in everyday life.
164
Geometry
The reasoning skills that students develop in grades 3–5 allow them
to investigate geometric problems of increasing complexity and to study As students sort, build,
geometric properties. As they move from grade 3 to grade 5, they
should develop clarity and precision in describing the properties of geo- draw, model, trace,
metric objects and then classifying them by these properties into cate-
gories such as rectangle, triangle, pyramid, or prism. They can develop measure, and construct,
knowledge about how geometric shapes are related to one another and
begin to articulate geometric arguments about the properties of these
their capacity to
shapes. They should also explore motion, location, and orientation by, visualize geometric
for example, creating paths on a coordinate grid or defining a series of
flips and turns to demonstrate that two shapes are congruent. As stu- relationships will
dents investigate geometric properties and relationships, their work can
be closely connected with other mathematical topics, especially mea- develop.
surement and number.
The study of geometry in grades 3–5 requires thinking and doing. As
students sort, build, draw, model, trace, measure, and construct, their
capacity to visualize geometric relationships will develop. At the same
time they are learning to reason and to make, test, and justify conjec-
tures about these relationships. This exploration requires access to a va-
riety of tools, such as graph paper, rulers, pattern blocks, geoboards,
and geometric solids, and is greatly enhanced by electronic tools that
support exploration, such as dynamic geometry software.
Analyze characteristics and properties of two- and

three-dimensional geometric shapes and develop
mathematical arguments about geometric relationships
In the early grades, students will have classified and sorted geometric
objects such as triangles or cylinders by noting general characteristics. In
grades 3–5, they should develop more-precise ways to describe shapes,
focusing on identifying and describing the shape’s properties and learn-
ing specialized vocabulary associated with these shapes and properties.
To consolidate their ideas, students should draw and construct shapes,
compare and discuss their attributes, classify them, and develop and con-
sider definitions on the basis of a shape’s properties, such as that a rec-
tangle has four straight sides and four square corners. For example,
many students in these grades will easily name the first two shapes in fig-
ure 5.10 as rectangles but will need to spend more time discussing why
the third one is also a rectangle—indeed, a special kind of rectangle.
In grades 3–5, teachers should emphasize the development of mathe-
matical arguments. As students’ ideas about shapes evolve, they should
Fig. 5.10.
Examples of rectangles
Standards for Grades 3–5: Geometry 165

Fig. 5.11. formulate conjectures about geometric properties and relationships.

Using drawings, concrete materials, and geometry software to develop
The relationship between the areas of
a rectangle and a nonrectangular and test their ideas, they can articulate clear mathematical arguments
parallelogram with equal bases and about why geometric relationships are true. For example: “You can’t
heights possibly make a triangle with two right angles because if you start with
one side of the triangle across the bottom, the other two sides go
straight up. They’re parallel, so they can’t possibly ever meet, so you
can’t get it to be a triangle.”
When students subdivide, combine, and transform shapes, they are
investigating relationships among shapes. For example, a fourth-grade
class might investigate the relationship between a rectangle and a non-
rectangular parallelogram with equal bases and heights (see fig. 5.11) by
asking, “Does one of these shapes have a larger area than the other?”
One student might cut the region formed by the parallelogram as
shown in figure 5.11 and then rearrange the pieces so that the parallelo-
gram visually matches the rectangle. This work can lead to developing a
general conjecture about the relationship between the areas of rectan-
gles and parallelograms with the same base and height. The notion that
shapes that look different can have equal areas is a powerful one that
leads eventually to the development of general methods (formulas) for
finding the area of a particular shape, such as a parallelogram. In this
investigation, students are building their ideas about the properties of
classes of shapes, formulating conjectures about geometric relation-
ships, exploring how geometry and measurement are related, and inves-
tigating the shapes with equal area.
An understanding of congruence and similarity will develop as stu-
dents explore shapes that in some way look alike. They should come to
understand congruent shapes as those that exactly match and similar
shapes as those that are related by “magnifying” or “shrinking.” For ex-
ample, consider the following problem involving the creation of shapes
with a particular set of properties:
Fig. 5.12.
Make a triangle with one right angle and two sides of equal length. Can
Right triangles with two sides of
equal length
you make more than one triangle with this set of properties? If so, what is
the relationship of the triangles to one another?
As students make triangles with the stipulated properties (see fig. 5.12),
they will see that although these triangles share a common set of charac-
teristics (one right angle and a pair of sides of equal length), they are not
all the same size. However, they are all related in that they look alike; that
is, one is just a smaller or larger version of the other. The triangles are
similar. Although students will not develop a full understanding of simi-
larity until the middle grades, when they focus on proportionality, in
grades 3–5 they can begin to think about similarity in terms of figures
that are related by the transformations of magnifying or shrinking.
When discussing shapes, students in grades 3–5 should be expanding
their mathematical vocabulary by hearing terms used repeatedly in con-
text. As they describe shapes, they should hear, understand, and use
mathematical terms such as parallel, perpendicular, face, edge, vertex, angle,
trapezoid, prism, and so forth, to communicate geometric ideas with
greater precision. For example, as students develop a more sophisticated
understanding of how geometric shapes can be the same or different, the
everyday meaning of same is no longer sufficient, and they begin to need
words such as congruent and similar to explain their thinking.

Specify locations and describe spatial relationships using
coordinate geometry and other representational systems
In grades 3–5, the ideas about location, direction, and distance that
were introduced in prekindergarten through grade 2 can be developed
further. For instance, students can give directions for moving from one
location to another in their classroom, school, or neighborhood; use
maps and grids; and learn to locate points, create paths, and measure
distances within a coordinate system. Students can first navigate on
grids by using landmarks. For example, the map in figure 5.13 can be
used to explore questions like these: What is the shortest possible route
from the school to the park along the streets (horizontal and vertical
lines of the grid)? How do you know? Can there be several different
“shortest paths,” each of which is equal in length? If so, how many dif-
ferent “shortest paths” are there? What if you need to start at the
school, go to the park to pick up your little sister, stop at the store, and
visit the library—in what order should you visit these locations to mini-
mize the distance traveled? In this activity, students are using grids and
developing fundamental ideas and strategies for navigating them, an
important component of discrete mathematics.
Fig. 5.13.
A map for exploring questions about
navigation
Store
Library
Park
School
Students at this level also should learn how to use two numbers to
name points on a coordinate grid and should realize that a pair of num-
bers corresponds to a particular point on the grid. Using coordinates,
they can specify paths between locations and examine the symmetry, con-
gruence, and similarity of shapes drawn on the grid. They can also ex-
plore methods for measuring the distance between locations on the grid.
As students’ ideas about the number system expand to include negative
numbers, they can work in all four quadrants of the Cartesian plane.
Apply transformations and use symmetry to analyze

mathematical situations
Students in grades 3–5 should consider three important kinds of
transformations: reflections, translations, and rotations (flips, slides, and
turns). Younger students generally “prove” (convince themselves) that
two shapes are congruent by physically fitting one on top of the other,
but students in grades 3–5 can develop greater precision as they de-
scribe the motions needed to show congruence (“turn it 90˚” or “flip it
vertically, then rotate it 180˚”). They should also be able to visualize

what will happen when a shape is rotated or reflected and predict the
result.
Students in grades 3–5 can explore shapes with more than one line of
symmetry. For example:
In how many ways can you place a mirror on a square so that what you see in
the mirror looks exactly like the original square? Is this true for all squares?
Can you make a quadrilateral with exactly two lines of symmetry? One
line of symmetry? No lines of symmetry? If so, in each case, what kind of
quadrilateral is it?
Although younger students often create figures with rotational sym-
metry with, for example, pattern blocks, they have difficulty describing
the regularity they see. In grades 3–5, they should be using language
about turns and angles to describe designs such as the one in figure
5.14: “If you turn it 180 degrees about the center, it’s exactly the same”
or “It would take six equal small turns to get back to where you started,
but you can’t tell where you started unless you mark it because it looks
the same after each small turn.”
Fig. 5.14.
Pattern with rotational symmetry
Use visualization, spatial reasoning, and geometric

modeling to solve problems
Students in grades 3–5 should examine the properties of two- and
three-dimensional shapes and the relationships among shapes. They
should be encouraged to reason about these properties by using spatial
relationships. For instance, they might reason about the area of a triangle
by visualizing its relationship to a corresponding rectangle or other cor-
responding parallelogram. In addition to studying physical models of
these geometric shapes, they should also develop and use mental images.
Students at this age are ready to mentally manipulate shapes, and they
can benefit from experiences that challenge them and that can also be
verified physically. For example, “Draw a star in the upper right-hand
corner of a piece of paper. If you flip the paper horizontally and then turn
it 180˚, where will the star be?”
Much of the work students do with three-dimensional shapes in-
volves visualization. By representing three-dimensional shapes in two
dimensions and constructing three-dimensional shapes from two-
dimensional representations, students learn about the characteristics of Fig. 5.15.
shapes. For example, in order to determine if the two-dimensional
A task relating a two-dimensional
shape in figure 5.15 is a net that can be folded into a cube, students shape to a three-dimensional shape
need to pay attention to the number, shape, and relative positions of its
faces.
Students should become experienced in using a variety of representa-
tions for three-dimensional shapes, for example, making a freehand draw-
ing of a cylinder or cone or constructing a building out of cubes from a
set of views (i.e., front, top, and side) like those shown in figure 5.16.
Technology affords additional opportunities for students to expand
their spatial reasoning ability. Software such as Logo enables students
to draw objects with specified attributes and to test and modify the re-
sults. Computer games such as Tetris (Pajithov 1996) can help develop
spatial orientation and eye-hand coordination. Dynamic geometry soft-
ware provides an environment in which students can explore relation-
ships and make and test conjectures.
Students should have the opportunity to apply geometric ideas and
?
relationships to other areas of mathematics, to other disciplines, and to
problems that arise from their everyday experiences. There are many
ways to make these connections. For example, measurement and geom-
etry are closely linked, as illustrated in the problem in figure 5.11,
where geometric properties are used to relate the areas of two figures of
different shapes. Geometric models are also important in investigating
number relationships. Number lines, arrays, and many manipulatives
used for modeling number concepts are geometric realizations of arith- E-example 5.3
metic relationships. In algebra, students in grades 3–5 often work with
geometric problems to explore patterns and functions (see, for example, Exploring Rectangles and
Parallelograms
the “tower of cubes” problem in fig. 5.5).
In addition to its utility in exploring and understanding other areas
of mathematics, geometry is closely associated with other subjects, such
as art, science, and social studies. For example, students’ work on sym-
metry can enhance their creation and appreciation of art, and their
work on coordinate geometry is related to the maps they create or use
in their study of the world. The study of geometry promotes a deeper
Fig. 5.16.
understanding of many aspects of mathematics, improves students’ ab-
stract reasoning, and highlights relationships between mathematics and Views of a three-dimensional object
(Adapted from Battista and Clements
the sciences. 1995, p. 61)
Make a building out of ten cubes by looking at the three pictures of it below.
Front view Top view Right side view

Measurement
Standard
for Grades
Expectations
Understand measurable attributes • understand such attributes as length, area, weight, volume, and size of
of objects and the units, systems, angle and select the appropriate type of unit for measuring each attribute;
and processes of measurement • understand the need for measuring with standard units and become familiar
with standard units in the customary and metric systems;
• carry out simple unit conversions, such as from centimeters to meters,
within a system of measurement;
• understand that measurements are approximations and understand
how differences in units affect precision;
• explore what happens to measurements of a two-dimensional shape such
as its perimeter and area when the shape is changed in some way.
Apply appropriate techniques, • develop strategies for estimating the perimeters, areas, and volumes of
tools, and formulas to determine irregular shapes;
measurements • select and apply appropriate standard units and tools to measure length,
area, volume, weight, time, temperature, and the size of angles;
• select and use benchmarks to estimate measurements;
• develop, understand, and use formulas to find the area of rectangles and
related triangles and parallelograms;
• develop strategies to determine the surface areas and volumes of
rectangular solids.

Measurement
Measurement is a process that students in grades 3–5 use every day
as they explore questions related to their school or home environment.
For example, how much catsup is used in the school cafeteria each day?
What is the distance from my house to the school? What is the range of Measurement helps
heights of players on the basketball team? Such questions require stu-
dents to use concepts and tools of measurement to collect data and to connect ideas within
describe and quantify their world. In grades 3–5, measurement helps
connect ideas within areas of mathematics and between mathematics areas of mathematics
and other disciplines. It can serve as a context to help students under-
stand important mathematical concepts such as fractions, geometric
and between
shapes, and ways of describing data.
Prior to grade 3, students should have begun to develop an under-
mathematics and other
standing of what it means to measure an object, that is, identifying an disciplines.
attribute to be measured, choosing an appropriate unit, and comparing
that unit to the object being measured. They should have had many
experiences with measuring length and should also have explored ways
to measure liquid volume, weight, and time. In grades 3–5, students
should deepen and expand their understanding and use of measure-
ment. For example, they should measure other attributes such as area
and angle. They need to begin paying closer attention to the degree of
accuracy when measuring and use a wider variety of measurement
tools. They should also begin to develop and use formulas for the mea-
surement of certain attributes, such as area.
In learning about measurement and learning how to measure, stu-

dents should be actively involved, drawing on familiar and accessible
contexts. For example, students in grades 3–5 should measure objects
and space in their classroom or use maps to determine locations and dis-
tances around their community. They should determine an appropriate
unit and use it to measure the area of their classroom’s floor, estimate
the time it takes to do various tasks, and measure and represent change
in the size of attributes, such as their height.
Standards for Grades 3–5: Measurement 171

Understand measurable attributes of objects and the

units, systems, and processes of measurement
Students in grades 3–5 should measure the attributes of a variety of
physical objects and extend their work to measuring more complex at-
tributes, including area, volume, and angle. They will learn that length
measurements in particular contexts are given specific names, such as
perimeter, width, height, circumference, and distance. They can begin to
establish some benchmarks by which to estimate or judge the size of ob-
jects. For example, they learn that a “square corner” is called a right angle
and establish this as a benchmark for estimating the size of other angles.
Students in grades 3–5 should be able to recognize the need to select
units appropriate to the attribute being measured. Different kinds of units
are needed for measuring area than for measuring length. At first they
might use convenient nonstandard units such as lima beans to estimate
area and then come to recognize the need for a standard unit such as a
unit square. Likewise, the need for a standard three-dimensional unit to
measure volume grows out of initial experiences filling containers with
items such as rice or packing pieces. As students find that there are spaces
between the units, that the units are not easy to count, or that the units are
not of a uniform size, they will appreciate the need for a standard unit.
In these grades, more emphasis should be placed on the standard
units that are used to communicate in the United States (the customary
units) and around the world (the metric system). Students should be-
come familiar with the common units in these systems and establish
mental images or benchmarks for judging and comparing size. For ex-
ample, they may know that a paper clip weighs about a gram, the width
of their forefinger is about a centimeter, or the distance from their
elbow to their fingertip is about a foot.
Students should gain facility in expressing measurements in equiva-
Students in grades lent forms. They use their knowledge of relationships between units
and their understanding of multiplicative situations to make conver-
3–5 should encounter sions, such as expressing 150 centimeters as 1.5 meters or 3 feet as 36
inches. Since students in the United States encounter two systems of
the notion that measurement, they should also have convenient referents for compar-
ing units in different systems—for example, 2 centimeters is a little less
measurements in the than an inch, a quart is a little less than a liter, a kilogram is about two
real world are pounds. However, they do not need to make formal conversions be-
tween the two systems at this level.
approximate. Students in grades 3–5 should encounter the notion that measure-
ments in the real world are approximate, in part because of the instru-
ments used and because of human error in reading the scales of these
instruments. For example, figure 5.17 describes a measurement task and
summarizes results typical of what groups of students obtain. Such an
exercise provides a context in which the teacher can raise, and the class
can consider, the idea of measurement as an estimation process.
Each pair of students will find slightly different measurements, even
though they are measuring the same object using the same kind of mea-
surement tools. The teacher should ask students to discuss the factors
that may lead to different measurements. Students’ responses will vary
according to their experience, but by grade 5 they should recognize fac-
tors that affect precision. These include the limitations of the measure-
ment tool, how precisely students read the scale on the measuring

Measure and compare: Fig. 5.17.
A measurement task and typical
Work in pairs and use your rulers to measure the items indicated on student results
the chart. Record your measurements for each object on the chart.
Objects
Height of Circumference Length
Teacher’s Desk of Clockface of Classroom
Fig. 5.18.
Polygons with the same area and
different perimeters
instrument (was the scale marked and read in centimeters or millime-
ters?), and the students’ perceived need for accuracy. The discussion
might lead to considering the importance of measuring precisely in cer-
tain contexts. For instance, carpenters often measure twice and use spe-
cial instruments in order to minimize the waste of materials, but an esti-
mate might be quite adequate in other instances (e.g., the scout troop
hiked about 2.5 miles).
Students in grades 3–5 should explore how measurements are af-
fected when one attribute to be measured is held constant and the other
is changed. For example, consider the area of four tiles joined along ad-
jacent sides (see fig. 5.18). The area of each tile is a square unit. When
joined, the area of the resulting polygon is always four square units, but
the perimeter varies from eight to ten units, depending on how the tiles
are arranged. Or suppose students are given twenty toothpicks with
which to build a rectangle. How many different rectangles are possible
if all twenty toothpicks are used? This activity provides an opportunity
to discuss the relationship of area to perimeter. It also highlights the
importance of organizing solutions systematically.
Apply appropriate techniques, tools, and formulas to

determine measurements
In grades 3–5, an expanded number of tools and range of measure-
ment techniques should be available to students. When using conven-
tional tools such as rulers and tape measures for measuring length, stu-
dents will need instruction to learn to use these tools properly. For
example, they will need to recognize and understand the markings on a
ruler, including where the “0,” or beginning point, is located. When
standard measurement tools are difficult to use in a particular situation,
they must learn to adapt their tools or invent techniques that will work.
In the earlier example (fig. 5.17) measuring the circumference of a clock
face with a rigid ruler presented a particular challenge. Using string or
some other flexible object to outline the clock face and then measuring
the string would have been a good strategy. Students should be chal-
lenged to develop measurement techniques as needed in order to mea-
sure complex figures or objects. For example, they might measure the

area of an irregular polygon or a leaf by covering it with transparent

grid paper and counting units or by breaking it apart into regular
shapes that they can measure.
Students in grades 3–5 should develop strategies to estimate mea-
surements. For example, to estimate the length of the classroom, they
might estimate the length of one floor tile and then count the number
of tiles across the room and multiply the length by the number of tiles.
Another strategy for estimating measurements is to compare the item
to be measured against some benchmark. For example, a student might
estimate the teacher’s height by noting that it is about one and a quarter
times the student’s own height. This particular strategy highlights the
use of multiplicative reasoning, an important indication of advancing
understanding.
Strategies for estimating measurements are varied and often depend on
the particular situation. By sharing strategies, students can compare and
evaluate different approaches. Students also need experience in judging
what degree of accuracy is required in a given situation and whether an
underestimate or overestimate is more desirable. For example, in estimat-
ing the time needed to get up in the morning, eat breakfast, and walk or
drive to school, an overestimate makes sense. However, an underestimate
of the time needed to cook vegetables on the grill might be considered
appropriate, since more time can always be added to the cooking process
but not taken away from it.
As students have opportunities to look for patterns in the results of
their measurements, they recognize that their methods for measuring
the area and volume of particular objects can be generalized as formu-
las. For example, the table in figure 5.19 is typical of what groups of
Fig. 5.19. third graders might produce when using a transparent grid to deter-
Measuring the areas of a set of rectan-
gles using a transparent grid
Rectangle Length (cm) Width (cm) Area (cm 2)

A 5 2 10
B 4 3 12
C 1 6 6
D 2 3 6
E 4 4 16
A B C D E

mine the areas of a set of rectangles. As they begin generating the table,
they realize that counting all the squares is not necessary once the
length (L) and width (W) of the rectangle are determined with the grid.
They test their conjecture that Area = L × W, and it appears to work for
each rectangle in the set. Later, their teacher challenges them to think
about whether and why their formula will work for big rectangles as
well as small ones.
Students in grades 3–5 should develop strategies for determining
surface area and volume on the basis of concrete experiences. They
should measure various rectangular solids using objects such as tiles and
cubes, organize the information, look for patterns, and then make gen-
eralizations. For example, the “tower of cubes” problem in figure 5.5
highlights the kind of activity that builds from concrete experiences and
leads to generalizations, including the development of general formulas
for measuring surface area and volume. These concrete experiences are
essential in helping students understand the relationship between the
measurement of an object and the succinct formula that produces the
measurement.

Data Analysis and Probability
Standard
for Grades
Expectations
Formulate questions that can be • design investigations to address a question and consider how data-
addressed with data and collect, collection methods affect the nature of the data set;
organize, and display relevant data • collect data using observations, surveys, and experiments;
to answer them • represent data using tables and graphs such as line plots, bar graphs, and
line graphs;
• recognize the differences in representing categorical and numerical data.
Select and use appropriate statisti- • describe the shape and important features of a set of data and compare
cal methods to analyze data related data sets, with an emphasis on how the data are distributed;
• use measures of center, focusing on the median, and understand what each
does and does not indicate about the data set;
• compare different representations of the same data and evaluate how well
each representation shows important aspects of the data.
Develop and evaluate inferences and • propose and justify conclusions and predictions that are based on data and
predictions that are based on data design studies to further investigate the conclusions or predictions.
Understand and apply basic • describe events as likely or unlikely and discuss the degree of likelihood
concepts of probability using such words as certain, equally likely, and impossible;
• predict the probability of outcomes of simple experiments and test the
predictions;
• understand that the measure of the likelihood of an event can be
represented by a number from 0 to 1.

Data Analysis and Probability
In prekindergarten through grade 2, students will have learned that
data can give them information about aspects of their world. They
should know how to organize and represent data sets and be able to no- Investigations involving
tice individual aspects of the data—where their own data are on the
graph, for instance, or what value occurs most frequently in the data data should happen
set. In grades 3–5, students should move toward seeing a set of data as a
whole, describing its shape, and using statistical characteristics of the frequently during
data such as range and measures of center to compare data sets. Much
of this work emphasizes the comparison of related data sets. As students
grades 3–5.
learn to describe the similarities and differences between data sets, they
will have an opportunity to develop clear descriptions of the data and to
formulate conclusions and arguments based on the data. They should
consider how the data sets they collect are samples from larger popula-
tions and should learn how to use language and symbols to describe
simple situations involving probability.
Investigations involving data should happen frequently during
grades 3–5. These can range from quick class surveys to projects that
take several days. Frequent work with brief surveys (How many broth-
ers and sisters do people in our class have? What’s the farthest you
have ever been from home?) can acquaint students with particular as-
pects of collecting, representing, summarizing, comparing, and inter-
preting data. More extended projects can engage students in a cycle of
data analysis—formulating questions, collecting and representing the
data, and considering whether their data are giving them the informa-
tion they need to answer their question. Students in these grades are
also becoming more aware of the world beyond themselves and are
ready to address some questions that have the potential to influence
decisions. For example, one class that studied playground injuries at
their school gathered evidence that led to the conclusion that the bars
on one piece of playground equipment were too large for the hands of
most students below third grade. This finding resulted in a new policy
for playground safety.
Formulate questions that can be addressed with data and

collect, organize, and display relevant data to answer them
At these grade levels, students should pose questions about them-
selves and their environment, issues in their school or community, and
content they are studying in different subject areas: How do fourth E-example 5.4
graders spend their time after school? Do automobiles stop at the stop
signs in our neighborhood? How can the amount of water used for com- Investigating Web Data
mon daily activities be decreased? Once a question is posed, students can
develop a plan to collect information to address the question. They may
collect their own data, use data already collected by their school or town,
or use other existing data sets such as the census or weather data accessi-
ble on the Internet to examine particular questions. If students collect
their own data, they need to decide whether it is appropriate to conduct
a survey or to use observations or measurements. As part of their plan,
they often need to refine their question and to consider aspects of data
collection such as how to word questions, whom to ask, what and when
Standards for Grades 3–5: Data Analysis and Probability 177

to observe, what and how to measure, and how to record their data.
When they use existing data, they still need to consider and evaluate the
ways in which the data were collected.
Students should become familiar with a variety of representations
such as tables, line plots, bar graphs, and line graphs by creating them,
watching their teacher create them, and observing those representa-
tions found in their environment (e.g., in newspapers, on cereal boxes,
etc.). In order to select and interpret appropriate representations, stu-
dents in grades 3–5 need to understand the nature of different kinds of
data: categorical data (data that can be categorized, such as types of
lunch foods) and numerical data (data that can be ordered numerically,
such as heights of students in a class). Students should examine classifi-
cations of categorical data that produce different views. For example, in
a study of which cafeteria foods are eaten and which are thrown out,
different classifications of the types of foods may highlight different
aspects of the data.
As students construct graphs of ordered numerical data, teachers
need to help them understand what the values along the horizontal and
vertical axes represent. Using experience with a variety of graphs,
teachers should make sure that students encounter and discuss issues
such as why the scale on the horizontal axis needs to include values
that are not in the data set and how to represent zero on a graph. Stu-
dents should also use computer software that helps them organize and
represent their data, including graphing software and spreadsheets.
Spreadsheets allow students to organize and order a large set of data
and create a variety of graphs (see fig. 5.20).
Fig. 5.20.
Spreadsheet with weather data
A B C D
Daily Precipitation and

Temperatures for San Francisco,
1
California
2
3 Precipitation Temperature (°F)
4 Date (inches) Hi Low
5 1/1 0.01 58 48
6 1/2 0.88 60 51
7 1/3 0.43 58 50
8 1/4 0.25 56 44
9 1/5 0 51 40
10 1/6 0.25 54 40
11 1/7 0.09 50 47
12 1/8 0 51 47
When students are ready to present their data to an audience, they

need to consider aspects of their representations that will help people
understand them: the type of representation they choose, the scales
used in a graph, and headings and titles. Comparing different represen-
tations helps students learn to evaluate how well important aspects of
the data are shown.

Select and use appropriate statistical methods to
analyze data
In prekindergarten through grade 2, students are often most inter-
ested in individual pieces of data, especially their own, or which value is
“the most” on a graph. A reasonable objective for upper elementary and
middle-grades students is that they begin to regard a set of data as a
whole that can be described as a set and compared to other data sets
(Konold forthcoming). As students examine a set of ordered numerical
data, teachers should help them learn to pay attention to important
characteristics of the data set: where data are concentrated or clumped,
values for which there are no data, or data points that appear to have
unusual values. For example, in figure 5.21 consider the line plot of the
heights of fast-growing plants grown in a fourth-grade classroom
(adapted from Clement et al. [1997, p. 10]). Students describing these
data might mention that the shortest plant measures about 14 centime-
ters and the tallest plant about 41 centimeters; most of the data are con-
centrated from 20 to 23 centimeters; and the plant that grew to a height
of 41 centimeters is very unusual (an outlier), far removed from the rest
of the data. As teachers guide students to focus on the shape of the data
and how the data are spread across the range of values, the students Fig. 5.21.
should learn statistical terms such as range and outlier that help them
Plant height data from a fourth-
describe the set of data. grade class
Plant Height Data x

Height (in cm) Number of Plants x
x
Number of
x x
plants
15
x x
20 x xx
x x xx x
22
23 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
40
Plant Height in Centimeters
Much of students’ work with data in grades 3–5 should involve com-
paring related data sets. Noting the similarities and differences between
two data sets requires students to become more precise in their descrip-
tions of the data. In this context, students gradually develop the idea of a
“typical,” or average, value. Building on their informal understanding of
“the most” and “the middle,” students can learn about three measures of
center—mode, median, and, informally, the mean. Students need to
learn more than simply how to identify the mode or median in a data
set. They need to build an understanding of what, for example, the me-
dian tells them about the data, and they need to see this value in the con-
text of other characteristics of the data. Figure 5.22 shows the results of
plant growth in a third-grade classroom (adapted from Clement et al.
[1997, p. 10]). Students should compare the two sets of data from the
fourth- and third-grade classrooms. They may note that the median of
the fourth-grade data is 23 centimeters and the median of the third-
grade data is 28 centimeters. This comparison provides information

Number of
Plant Height Data
Plants
Height (in cm) Number of Plants x x
x x x x
9 x x x x x x x x x xx x x x x xx
14 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
17
Plant Height in Centimeters
22
23
25 that, overall, the set of third-grade plants grew taller than the set of
26 fourth-grade plants. But it is also important to look at the distributions
of the data, which tell an even more dramatic story: Although the ranges
27 of the two data sets are about the same, most of the third graders’ plants
28 grew taller than all but a few of the fourth graders’ plants.
In grade 5, once students are experienced using the mode and me-
29
dian as part of their data descriptions, they can begin to conceptually
30 explore the role of the mean as a balance point for the data set, using
31 small data sets. The idea of a mean value—what it is, what information
it gives about the data, and how it must be interpreted in the context of
32
other characteristics of the data—is a complex one, which will continue
33 to be developed in later grades.
35
39 Develop and evaluate inferences and predictions that
40 are based on data
Data can be used for developing arguments that are based on evi-
Fig. 5.22. dence and for continued problem posing. As students discuss data gath-
Plant height data from a third-grade
ered to address a particular question, they should begin to distinguish
class between what the data show and what might account for the results.
For example, a fourth-grade class investigating the sleep patterns of
first graders and fifth graders found that first graders were heavier
sleepers than fifth graders, as shown in the graphs in figure 5.23 (Rus-
sell, Schifter, and Bastable 1999). They had predicted that first graders
would be lighter sleepers and were surprised by their results. After de-
scribing their data, they developed a hypothesis: First graders have a
higher activity level because they play outside more, and this higher ac-
tivity level leads to deeper sleep. They realized they would need to col-
lect data about a typical day for first and fifth graders in order to inves-
tigate their hypothesis. This example demonstrates how students can be
encouraged to develop conjectures, show how these are based on the
data, consider alternative explanations, and design further studies to ex-
amine their conjectures.
With appropriate experiences, students should begin to understand
that many data sets are samples of larger populations. They can look at
several samples drawn from the same population, such as different
classrooms in their school, or compare statistics about their own sample
to known parameters for a larger population, for example, how the me-
dian family size for their class compares with the median family size re-
ported for their town. They can think about the issues that affect the
representativeness of a sample—how well it represents the population

12 12 Fig. 5.23.
11 11 A student investigation of sleeping
10 10 habits
9 9
Number of Students
Number of Students
8 8
7 7
6 6
5 5
4 4
3 3
2 2
1 1
Light Medium Heavy Other Light Medium Heavy Other

First graders Fifth graders
Type of Sleeper
Light Wakes up to the slightest noise
Medium Wakes up to louder noises
Heavy Sleeps through the night without waking up
Other None of the previous three
(Russell, Schifter, and Bastable 1999)
from which it is drawn—and begin to notice how samples from the

same population can vary.
Understand and apply basic concepts of probability

Students in grades 3–5 should begin to learn about probability as a
measurement of the likelihood of events. In previous grades, they will
have begun to describe events as certain, likely, or impossible, but now
they can begin to learn how to quantify likelihood. For instance, what is
the likelihood of seeing a commercial when you turn on the television?
To estimate this probability, students could collect data about the num-
ber of minutes of commercials in an hour.
Students should also explore probability through experiments that
have only a few outcomes, such as using game spinners with certain
portions shaded and considering how likely it is that the spinner will
land on a particular color. They should come to understand and use 0
to represent the probability of an impossible event and 1 to represent
the probability of a certain event, and they should use common frac-
tions to represent the probability of events that are neither certain nor
impossible. Through these experiences, students encounter the idea
that although they cannot determine an individual outcome, such as
which color the spinner will land on next, they can predict the fre-
quency of various outcomes.

Problem Solving
Standard
for Grades
Build new mathematical knowledge Problem solving is the cornerstone of school mathematics. Without
through problem solving the ability to solve problems, the usefulness and power of mathematical
ideas, knowledge, and skills are severely limited. Students who can effi-
ciently and accurately multiply but who cannot identify situations that
Solve problems that arise in mathe- call for multiplication are not well prepared. Students who can both de-
matics and in other contexts velop and carry out a plan to solve a mathematical problem are exhibit-
ing knowledge that is much deeper and more useful than simply carry-
ing out a computation. Unless students can solve problems, the facts,
Apply and adapt a variety of appro- concepts, and procedures they know are of little use. The goal of school
priate strategies to solve problems mathematics should be for all students to become increasingly able and
willing to engage with and solve problems.
Problem solving is also important because it can serve as a vehicle for
Monitor and reflect on the process learning new mathematical ideas and skills (Schroeder and Lester
of mathematical problem solving 1989). A problem-centered approach to teaching mathematics uses in-
teresting and well-selected problems to launch mathematical lessons
and engage students. In this way, new ideas, techniques, and mathemat-
ical relationships emerge and become the focus of discussion. Good
problems can inspire the exploration of important mathematical ideas,
nurture persistence, and reinforce the need to understand and use vari-
ous strategies, mathematical properties, and relationships.
What should problem solving look like in grades 3–5?

Students in grades 3–5 should have frequent experiences with prob-
lems that interest, challenge, and engage them in thinking about impor-
tant mathematics. Problem solving is not a distinct topic, but a process
that should permeate the study of mathematics and provide a context in
which concepts and skills are learned. For instance, in the following hy-
pothetical example, a teacher poses these questions to her students:
If you roll two number cubes (both with the numbers 1– 6 on their faces)
and subtract the smaller number from the larger or subtract one number
from the other if they are the same, what are the possible outcomes? If
you did this twenty times and created a chart and line plot of the results,
what do you think the line plot would look like? Is one particular differ-
ence more likely than any other differences?
Initially, the students predict that they will roll as many of one dif-
ference as of another. As they begin rolling the cubes and making a

list of the differences, some are surprised that the numbers in their Fig. 5.24.
lists range only from 0 to 5. They organize their results in a chart A chart of the frequency of the differ-
and continue to mark the differences they roll (see fig. 5.24). After ences between the numbers on the
faces of two dice rolled simultaneously
the students have worked for a few minutes, the teacher calls for a
class discussion and asks the students to summarize their results and
reflect on their predictions. Some notice that they are getting only a
few 0’s and 5’s but many 1’s and 2’s. This prompts the class to gener-
Difference Frequency
ate a list of rolls that produce each difference. Others list combina-
tions that produce a difference of 2 and find many possibilities. The
teacher helps students express this probability and questions them
about the likelihood of rolling other differences, such as 0, 3, and 5.
The questions posed in this episode were “problems” for the students
in that the answers were not immediately obvious. They had to generate
and organize information and then evaluate and explain the results. The
teacher was able to introduce notions of probability such as predicting
and describing the likelihood of an event, and the problem was accessible
and engaging for every student. It also provided a context for encourag-
ing students to formulate a new set of questions. For example: Could we
create a table that would make it easy to compute the probabilities of
each value? Suppose we use a set of number cubes with the numbers 4–9
on the faces. How will the results be similar? How will they be different?
What if we change the rules to allow for negative numbers?
Good problems and problem-solving tasks encourage reflection and
communication and can emerge from the students’ environment or
from purely mathematical contexts. They generally serve multiple pur-
poses, such as challenging students to develop and apply strategies, in-
troducing them to new concepts, and providing a context for using
skills. They should lead somewhere, mathematically. In the following
episode drawn from an unpublished classroom experience, a fourth-
grade teacher asked students to work on the following task:
Show all the rectangular regions you can make using 24 tiles
(1-inch squares). You need to use all the tiles. Count and keep a record
of the area and perimeter of each rectangle and then look for and de-
scribe any relationships you notice.
When the students were ready to discuss their results, the teacher
asked if anyone had a rectangle with a length of 1, of 2, of 3, and so
on, and modeled a way to organize the information (see fig. 5.25).
The teacher asked if anyone had tried to form a rectangle of length
5 and, if so, what had happened. The students were encouraged
work with partners to make observations about the information in
the chart and their rectangular models. They noticed that the
numbers in the first two columns of any row could be multiplied to
get 24 (the area). The teacher noted their observation by writing
“L × W = 24” and used the term factors of 24 as another way, in ad-
dition to length and width, to describe the numbers in the first two
columns. Some students noticed that as the numbers for one di-
mension increased, those for the other dimension decreased. Still
others noted that the perimeters were always even. One student
asked if the rectangles at the bottom of the chart were the same as
the ones at the top, just turned different ways. This observation
prompted the teacher to remind the students that they had talked
Standards for Grades 3–5: Problem Solving 183

about this idea as a property of multiplication—the commutative

property—and as congruence of figures.
The teacher then asked the students to describe the rectangles with
the greatest and smallest perimeters. They pointed out that the
long “skinny” rectangles had greater perimeters than the “fatter”
rectangles. The teacher modeled this by taking the 1-unit-by-24-
unit rectangle of perimeter 50, splitting it in half, and connecting
the halves to form the 2-unit-by-12-unit rectangle (see fig. 5.26). As
she moved the tiles, she explained that some tile edges on the out-
side boundary of the skinny rectangle were moved to the inside of
the wider rectangle. Because there were fewer edges on the outside,
the perimeter of the rectangle decreased.
Fig. 5.25.
Length (L) Width (W ) Area (A) Perimeter (P )
The dimensions of the rectangular
regions made with 24 one-inch (units) (units) (sq. units) (units)
square tiles
Fig. 5.26.
Forming a 2 × 12 rectangle from a 1 ×
24 rectangle 1 x 24
2 x 12
The “24 tiles” problem provides opportunities for students to con-

sider the relationship between area and perimeter, to model the commu-
tative property of multiplication, to use particular vocabulary ( factor and
multiple), to record data in an organized way, and to review basic num-
ber combinations. It reinforces the relationship L × W = A. It also allows
the teacher to help students with different needs focus on different

aspects of the problem—building all the rectangles, organizing the data, Fig. 5.27.
looking for patterns, or making and justifying conjectures.
The “dot square” problem
Reflecting on different ways of thinking about and representing a
problem solution allows comparisons of strategies and consideration of
different representations. For example, students might be asked to find
several ways to determine the number of dots on the boundary of the
square in figure 5.27 and then to represent their solutions as equations
(Burns and Mclaughlin 1990).
Students will likely see different patterns. Several possibilities are
shown in figure 5.28. The teacher should ask each student to relate the
drawings to the numbers in their equations. When several different
strategies have been presented, the teacher can ask students to examine
the various ways of solving the problem and to notice how they are
alike and how they are different. This problem offers a natural way to
introduce the concept and term equivalent expressions.
In addition to developing and using a variety of strategies, students
also need to learn how to ask questions that extend problems. In this
way, they can be encouraged to follow up on their genuine curiosity
about mathematical ideas. For example, the teacher might ask students
to create a problem similar to the “dot square” problem or to extend it
in some way: If there were a total of 76 dots, how many would be on
each side of the square? Could a square be formed with a total of 75
dots? Students could also work with extensions involving dots on the
perimeter of other regular polygons. By extending problems and asking
different questions, students become problem posers as well as problem
solvers.
Fig. 5.28.
Several possible solutions to the “dot
square” problem
4 × 8 + 4 = 36 4 × 10 – 4 = 36 10 + 8 + 10 + 8 = 36
What should be the teacher’s role in developing

problem solving in grades 3 through 5?
Teachers can help students become problem solvers by selecting
rich and appropriate problems, orchestrating their use, and assessing
students’ understanding and use of strategies. Students are more likely
to develop confidence and self-assurance as problem solvers in class-
rooms where they play a role in establishing the classroom norms and
where everyone’s ideas are respected and valued. These attitudes are
essential if students are expected to make sense of mathematics and to
take intellectual risks by raising questions, formulating conjectures,
and offering mathematical arguments. Since good problems challenge
students to think, students will often struggle to arrive at solutions. It
is the teacher’s responsibility to know when students need assistance

and when they are able to continue working productively without help.
It is essential that students have time to explore problems. Giving help
too soon can deprive them of the opportunity to make mathematical
discoveries. Students need to know that a challenging problem will
take some time and that perseverance is an important aspect of the
problem-solving process and of doing mathematics.
As students share their solutions with classmates, teachers can help
them probe various aspects of their strategies. Explanations that are
simply procedural descriptions or summaries should give way to mathe-
matical arguments. In this upper elementary class, a teacher questioned
two students as they described how they divided nine brownies equally
among eight people (Kazemi 1998, pp. 411–12):
Sarah: The first four we cut them in half. (Jasmine divides
squares in half on an overhead transparency.)
Ms. Carter: Now as you explain, could you explain why you did it in
half?
Sarah: Because when you put it in half, it becomes four … four
… eight halves.
Ms. Carter: Eight halves. What does that mean if there are eight
Perseverance is an halves?
Sarah: Then each person gets a half.
important aspect of the
Ms. Carter: Okay, that each person gets a half. (Jasmine labels halves
problem-solving process. 1 through 8 for each of the eight people.)
Sarah: Then there were five boxes [brownies] left. We put
them in eighths.
Ms. Carter: Okay, so they divided them into eighths. Could you tell
us why you chose eighths?
Sarah: It’s easiest. Because then everyone will get … each per-
son will get a half and (addresses Jasmine) … how many
eighths?
Jasmine: (Quietly) Five-eighths.
Ms. Carter: I didn’t know why you did it in eighths. That’s the rea-
son. I just wanted to know why you chose eighths.

Jasmine: We did eighths because then if we did eighths, each
person would get each eighth, I mean one-eighth out of
each brownie.
Ms. Carter: Okay, one-eighth out of each brownie. Can you just,
you don’t have to number, but just show us what you
mean by that? I heard the words, but…
Jasmine: (Shades in one-eighth of each of the five brownies that were
divided into eighths.) Person one would get this … (points
to one-eighth)
Ms. Carter: Oh, out of each brownie.
Sarah: Out of each brownie, one person will get one-eighth.
Ms. Carter: One-eighth. Okay. So how much then did they get if
they got their fair share?
Jasmine &
Sarah: They got a half and five-eighths.
Ms. Carter: Do you want to write that down at the top, so I can see
what you did? ( Jasmine writes 1/2 + 1/8 + 1/8 + 1/8 +
1/8 + 1/8 at the top of the overhead transparency.)
In this discussion, the teacher pressed students to give reasons for
their decisions and actions: What does it mean if there are eight halves?
Could you tell us why you chose eighths? Can you show us what you
mean by that? She was not satisfied with a simple summary of the steps
but instead expected the students to give verbal justifications all along
the way and to connect those justifications with both numbers and rep-
resentations. This particular pair of students used a strategy that was
different from that of other students. Although it was not the most effi-
cient strategy, it did reveal that these students could solve a problem
they had not encountered before and that they could explain and repre-
sent their thinking.
Listening to discussions, the teacher is able to assess students’ under-
standing. In the conversation about sharing brownies, the teacher asked
students to justify their responses in order to gain information about
their conceptual knowledge. For any assessment of problem solving,
teachers must look beyond the answer to the reasoning behind the solu-
tion. This evidence can be found in written and oral explanations,
drawings, and models. Reflecting on these assessment data, teachers can
choose directions for future instruction that fit with their mathematical
goals.

Reasoning and Proof
Standard
for Grades
Recognize reasoning and proof as During grades 3–5, students should be involved in an important transi-
fundamental aspects of mathematics tion in their mathematical reasoning. Many students begin this grade band
believing that something is true because it has occurred before, because
they have seen several examples of it, or because their experience to date
Make and investigate mathematical seems to confirm it. During these grades, formulating conjectures and as-
conjectures sessing them on the basis of evidence should become the norm. Students
should learn that several examples are not sufficient to establish the truth
of a conjecture and that counterexamples can be used to disprove a conjec-
Develop and evaluate mathematical ture. They should learn that by considering a range of examples, they can
arguments and proofs reason about the general properties and relationships they find.
Much of the work in these grades should be focused on reasoning
about mathematical relationships, such as the structure of a pattern, the
Select and use various types of similarities and differences between two classes of shapes, or the overall
reasoning and methods of proof shape of the data represented on a line plot. Students should move from
considering individual mathematical objects—this triangle, this number,
this data point—to thinking about classes of objects—all triangles, all
numbers that are multiples of 4, a whole set of data. Further, they
should be developing descriptions and mathematical statements about
relationships between these classes of objects, and they can begin to un-
derstand the role of definition in mathematics.
Mathematical reasoning develops in classrooms where students are en-
couraged to put forth their own ideas for examination. Teachers and stu-
dents should be open to questions, reactions, and elaborations from oth-
ers in the classroom. Students need to explain and justify their thinking
and learn how to detect fallacies and critique others’ thinking. They need
to have ample opportunity to apply their reasoning skills and justify their
thinking in mathematics discussions. They will need time, many varied
and rich experiences, and guidance to develop the ability to construct
valid arguments and to evaluate the arguments of others. There is clear
evidence that in classrooms where reasoning is emphasized, students do
engage in reasoning and, in the process, learn what constitutes acceptable
mathematical explanation (Lampert 1990; Yackel and Cobb 1994, 1996).
What should reasoning and proof look like in grades 3

through 5?
In grades 3–5, students should reason about the relationships that
apply to the numbers, shapes, or operations they are studying. They

need to define the relationship, analyze why it is true, and determine to
what group of mathematical objects (numbers, shapes, and operations)
it can be applied. Consider the following episode drawn from unpub-
lished classroom observation notes:
In Ms. Taylor’s third-grade class, students were having a discussion
of how to compute 4 × 8. One student, Matt, explained, “I thought
of 2 × 8, that’s 16, then you just double it.” The teacher asked sev-
eral students to restate the idea and then asked the class, “Do you
think Matt’s way of multiplying by 4 — by doubling then doubling
again—works with problems other than 4 × 8?” When the response
from students was quite mixed, she asked them to try some prob-
lems like this themselves before gathering again to discuss Matt’s
method.
This example shows a teacher taking advantage of an opportunity
to engage students in mathematical reasoning. By asking the question
“Do you think that always works?” she moved the discussion from the
specific problem to a consideration of a general characteristic of mul-
tiplication problems—that a factor in a multiplication expression can
itself be factored and then the new factors can be multiplied in any
order.
After students had worked on several problems and had discussed
with a partner why “doubling then doubling again” was a strategy
for multiplying by 4, the teacher reconvened the class for further
discussion. Student responses to whether Matt’s strategy would
always work showed a wide range of thinking:
Carol: Because if you have 2 times 8 and 4 times 8, you’re dou-
bling the answer. It works every time.
Malia: It has to be doubled because you’re doing the same thing
over again. It’s like you did 2 times 8 is 16 and then you
did 2 times 8 is 16 again, so it has to be 32.
Steven: What you’re doing is counting by 8s, so you’re counting
ahead, you’re skipping some of the 8s. You’re doing
another two of them, so it’s like doubling them up.
Matt: I tried to see if it would work with triples, so I did 2 times
8 and 6 times 8, and it worked. You times it by 3 and the
answer is tripled.
These students’ explanations are tied to the specific example, but
there is evidence that some students are constructing arguments that Mathematical reasoning
may lead to more-general conclusions. Carol is satisfied that “it
works every time” but does not have an argument that is based on the develops in classrooms
structure of multiplication. Malia refers to breaking up one of the
factors in the problem into two parts, multiplying the other number where students are
by both parts, and then adding the results—the distributive property
of multiplication over addition. Steven’s explanation is based on
encouraged to put forth
modeling multiplication as skip-counting, and Matt takes his original their own ideas for
idea further by testing whether multiplying by 6 is the same as multi-
plying by 2 then by 3. Although none of these third graders’ argu- examination.
ments is stated in a way that is complete or general, they are begin-
ning to see what it means to develop and test conjectures about
mathematical relationships.
Standards for Grades 3–5: Reasoning and Proof 189

Fig. 5.29. Following this discussion, the teacher sent students off to work on a
A student’s solution to the problem set of multiplication problems. Their work on the problems gave
74 × 6 involves the distributive evidence that some of them were applying aspects of the reasoning
property. discussed in the class session. For example, Katherine computed
74 × 6 by first computing 74 × 2 and writing the product. Then she
doubled the answer to get the solution to 74 × 4 and added the two
products together to get the solution for 74 × 6 (see fig. 5.29). She
was using thinking similar to Malia’s, which seemed to involve the
distributive property.
During grades 3–5, students should move toward reasoning that de-
pends on relationships and properties. Students need to be challenged
with questions such as, What if I gave you twenty more problems like
this to do—would they all work the same way? How do you know?
Through comparing solutions and questioning one another’s reasoning,
Fig. 5.30.
they can begin to learn to describe relationships that hold across many
A rectangle cut into halves in two instances and to develop and defend arguments about why those rela-
different ways
tionships can be generalized and to what cases they apply (Maher and
Martino 1996).
At these grades, students need experiences in learning about what
constitutes a convincing argument (Hanna and Yackel forthcoming).
For example, in this episode drawn from unpublished classroom obser-
vation notes, a third-grade class explored the following problem
(adapted from Tierney and Berle-Carman [1995, p. 22]).
Start with two identical rectangular regions—each the same size. Cut
each of the two rectangles in half as shown in figure 5.30. Compare one
of the smaller rectangles to one of the right triangles; do they have the
same area or does one have a larger area than the other?
Initially, the students tried to solve the problem by just looking at
the figure. For example, they reasoned:
“The triangle is bigger because it goes way up.”
“I think they’re the same because the triangle’s taller, but the rec-
tangle’s longer.”
As the students worked on this problem, some were convinced that
they could decide if the areas were equal (or not) by whether or not
Fig. 5.31.
they could cut the triangle into a set of haphazard pieces and fit
Students’ attempts to demonstrate them on the rectangle so that they cover the space (see fig. 5.31a).
that a triangle has the same area as a
rectangle
Others thought about how to organize the cutting and pasting by,
for example, cutting the triangle into two pieces to make it into a
rectangle that matches the other rectangles (see fig. 5.31b).
Still others developed ways to reason about the relationships in the
figure without cutting and pasting. For example: “We folded each
paper in half and each paper was the same size to begin with, so the
half that’s a rectangle is the same as the half that’s a triangle.”
(a) At this grade level, many students are just beginning to develop an
idea about what constitutes a convincing argument. The first solution—
cutting and pasting in a disorganized way—does not make use of the
properties of the two shapes and therefore may not convince the student
doing the cutting and pasting or other students that the areas are equal.
The second solution takes into consideration geometric relationships
(b) between the particular triangle and rectangle and therefore may be more

convincing. The third solution is the beginning of a logical analysis of
the relationships among the shapes—that halves of equal areas must be
equal to each other.
Students in grades 3–5 should frequently make conjectures about
mathematical relationships, investigate those conjectures, and make
mathematical arguments that are based on their work. They need to
know that posing conjectures and trying to justify them is an expected
part of students’ mathematical activity. Justification will have a range of
meanings for students in grades 3–5, but as they progress through these Posing conjectures and
grades and have more experiences with making mathematical argu-
ments, they should increasingly base their arguments on an analysis of trying to justify them is
properties, structures, and relationships.
Sometimes students’ conjectures about mathematical properties and an expected part of
relationships will turn out to be wrong. Part of mathematical reasoning
is examining and trying to understand why something that looks and
students’ mathematical
seems as if it might be true is not and to begin to use counterexamples in activity.
this context. Coming up with ideas that turn out not to be true is part of
the endeavor. These “wrong” ideas often are opportunities for important
mathematical discussions and discoveries. For example, a student might
propose that if both the numerator and denominator of a fraction are
larger than the numerator and denominator, respectively, of another
fraction, then the first fraction must be larger. This rule works in com-
paring 3/4 with 1/2 or 6/4 with 2/3. However, when thinking about this
conjecture more carefully, students will find counterexamples—for
example, 3/4 is not larger than 2/2 and 2/6 is smaller than 1/2.

reasoning and proof in grades 3 through 5?
In order for mathematical experiences such as those described in this
section to happen frequently, the teacher must establish the expectation
that the class as a mathematical community is continually developing,
testing, and applying conjectures about mathematical relationships. In
the episode in Ms. Taylor’s third-grade classroom, where students ex-
plored the effects of multiplying by 2 and by 2 again, the teacher looked
for an opportunity to go beyond finding the solution to an individual
problem to focus on more-general mathematical structures and rela-
tionships. In this way, she helped her students recognize reasoning as a
central part of mathematical activity.
Part of the teacher’s role in making reasoning central is to make all
students responsible both for articulating their own reasoning and for
working hard to understand the reasoning of others, as shown in the fol-
lowing episode, drawn from unpublished classroom observation notes.
In a fourth-grade classroom, the students were ordering fractions. To
begin this activity, the teacher had asked them to identify fractions
that are more than 1/2 and less than 1. After the students talked in
pairs, the teacher asked how they were choosing their fractions:
Patrize: We were talking about how you could get it, and if you
make the top number, the numerator, higher than a half of
the denominator, but you don’t make it the same as the
denominator like 5/5 ’cause then it will be a whole.
Standards for Grades 3–5: Reasoning and Proof 191

Teacher: It sounds like you have a conjecture. Can someone else

explain it?
Justin: Like if you have 3/4, half of 4 is 2, so you want the number
higher than 2 but not 4.
By routinely questioning students in this way, the teacher is establishing
the expectation that students listen carefully to one another’s ideas and
try to understand them.
The teacher should continually remind students of conjectures and
mathematical arguments that they have developed as part of the shared
classroom experience and that can be applied to further work. Teachers
should look for opportunities for students to revise, expand, and update
generalizations they have made as they develop new mathematical skills
and knowledge. Matt’s idea about tripling in Ms. Taylor’s third-grade
Teachers should look class could provide the basis for students to reason about a larger class
of problems. Even students who seem to have developed a clear argu-
for opportunities for ment about a mathematical relationship need to be questioned and
challenged when they are ready to encounter new aspects of the rela-
students to revise, tionship. For example, a class of third graders had spent a great deal of
time working with arrays in their study of multiplication. As a group,
expand, and update they were very sure that multiplication was commutative, and they
generalizations they could demonstrate this property using an area model. In the fourth
grade, they began encountering larger numbers; when the teacher no-
have made. ticed that some students were using commutativity, she asked the class
what they knew about it. At first they seemed certain that multiplication
is commutative in all cases, but when she pressed, “But would it work
for any numbers? How about 43 279 times 6 892?” they lost their con-
fidence. They could no longer use physical models to show commuta-
tivity with such large numbers, and they needed further work to de-
velop mental images and mathematical arguments based on what they
had learned from the physical models. It is likely that these students
will also need to revisit commutativity when they study computation
with fractions and decimals.
The teacher will also have to make decisions about which conjectures
are mathematically significant for students to pursue. To do this, the
teacher must take into account the skills, needs, and understandings of
the students and the mathematical goals for the class.

Blank Page
Communication
Standard
for Grades
Organize and consolidate their The ability to read, write, listen, think, and communicate about prob-
mathematical thinking through lems will develop and deepen students’ understanding of mathematics.
communication In grades 3–5, students should use communication as a tool for under-
standing and generating solution strategies. Their writing should be
more coherent than in earlier grades, and their increasing mathematical
Communicate their mathematical vocabulary can be used along with everyday language to explain con-
thinking coherently and clearly to cepts. Depending on the purpose for writing, such as taking notes or
peers, teachers, and others writing to explain an answer, students’ descriptions of problem-solving
strategies and reasoning should become more detailed and coherent.
In grades 3–5, students should become more adept at learning from,
Analyze and evaluate the mathe- and working with, others. Their communication can consist not only of
matical thinking and strategies of conversations between student and teacher or one student and another
others student but also of students listening to a number of peers and joining
group discussions in order to clarify, question, and extend conjectures.
In classroom discussions, students should become the audience for one
Use the language of mathematics another’s comments. This involves speaking to one another in order to
to express mathematical ideas convince or question peers. The discourse should not be a goal in itself
precisely but rather should be focused on making sense of mathematical ideas and
using them effectively in modeling and solving problems. The value of
mathematical discussions is determined by whether students are learning
as they participate in them (Lampert and Cobb forthcoming).
What should communication look like in grades 3

through 5?
E-example 5.1 In a grades 3–5 classroom, communication should include sharing
thinking, asking questions, and explaining and justifying ideas. It should
Communication through Games be well integrated in the classroom environment. Students should be
encouraged to express and write about their mathematical conjectures,
questions, and solutions. For example, after preparatory work in deci-
mals, a fifth-grade teacher engaged her students in the following prob-
lem in order to help them think about and develop methods for adding
decimals (episode adapted from Schifter, Bastable, and Russell [1999,
pp. 114–20]).
Pretend you are a jeweler. Sometimes people come in to get rings resized.
When you cut down a ring to make it smaller, you keep the small portion

of gold in exchange for the work you have done. Recently you have col-
lected these amounts:
1.14 g .089 g .3 g
Now you have a repair job to do for which you need some gold. You are
wondering if you have enough. Work together with your group to figure
out how much gold you have collected. Be prepared to show the class your
solution. (P. 114)
In this activity, the teacher presented the students with a problem-
solving situation. Although they had worked with representing deci-
mals, they had not discussed adding them. As was customary in the
class, the students were expected to talk with their peers to solve the
problem and to share their results and thinking with the class. The
students used communication as a natural and essential part of the
problem-solving process. As the groups worked, the teacher circulated
among the students:
Nikki:We could line the numbers up on the right like you do
with other numbers.
Ned:Maybe we should line up the decimals, but I don’t know
why we would do that.
Teacher:I think you’re suggesting that you might line this prob-
lem up differently from the way you line up whole-
number addition. Is that right?
Ned:(Nods. )
Teacher:Why do you line whole numbers up the way you do?
What’s the reason for it?
Ned:I don’t know. It’s just the way you do it. That’s how we
learned to do it.
Malik:I think it would help if we drew a picture, like of the
[base-ten] blocks. Maybe we could figure it out then.
(P. 114)
The teacher moved to another group where the students had repre-
sented their problem as shown in figure 5.32.
Teacher:What happened to the decimal numbers?
Fig. 5.32.
Jaron:We just decided to drop the decimals and add the num-
Jaron’s group’s incorrect solution to
bers like usual. That way we could line them up on the 1.14 g + .089 g + .3 g
right and add. We left the zero in there, but you can
just leave it out since it doesn’t mean anything.
Teacher:Do you all agree?
Johanna &
Jerry:Yes.
Teacher:Are you saying, then, that if you start out with 1 and 14
hundredths grams of gold and some other little bits that
it adds up to 206 grams of gold? (P. 115)
Listening carefully to the discussions, the teacher rephrased Ned’s
suggestion in order to make sure she had accurately captured his think-
ing, to help him focus on the important mathematical concepts, and to
guide him in considering how this problem is related to those more
Standards for Grades 3–5: Communication 195

familiar to him. Ned’s response gave her important assessment informa-

tion about whether he understood his method for adding whole num-
bers. Although he was able to use an algorithm to add whole numbers,
he lacked an understanding of the concepts behind the procedure and
therefore was unsure if or how it could be used or adapted for this new
purpose.
In talking with Jaron’s group, the teacher asked a question that led stu-
dents to think about the reasonableness of their response by considering it
in relation to its real-world context. The realization that their response
didn’t make sense caused the students to revisit the problem. In this par-
ticular instance, the teacher chose to let students work through their con-
fusion. The teacher’s decisions about what to say or not say, what to ask or
not ask, were based on her observations of the students and their conver-
sations. For example, What strategies were they using? Were misconcep-
Fig. 5.33. tions being challenged? Her goal was to nudge the students to reflect on
Rob’s group’s solution to their answer and to do further mathematical reasoning.
1.14 g + .089 g + .3 g
After the groups finished their work, the class as a whole had a dis-
cussion. Rob reported that the students in his group represented
the problem as shown in figure 5.33 (p. 116).
Ned immediately asked why they had decided to line up the num-
bers that way, and Rob responded that the group thought they
needed to line up the tenths with the tenths and the hundredths
with the hundredths to “make it come out right.” Jaron speculated
that it was possible to drop the zero in .089, since “it doesn’t stand
for anything.” Teresa jumped in the conversation by stating, “You
can’t just drop that zero. It has to be there or you get 89 hundredths
instead of 89 thousandths, and they’re not the same at all.” Malik
continued to push for a model, but he was stumped. “If I had the
flats be one whole, then the rods are tenths and the units are hun-
dredths, but I don’t know how to draw the thousandths except as
dots. Then I can’t really tell what’s going on.” Another student,
Ben, suggested that the block be one whole, so a flat could be
tenths, the rod could be hundredths, and the unit could be thou-
sandths. He and several other students drew and presented a picture
to illustrate their thinking (see fig. 5.34).
Fig. 5.34.
Ben’s group’s solution to
1.14 g + .089 g + .3 g
Malik paid close attention during Ben’s explanation, nodding that he

understood. Teresa was also interested in the explanation, noting the
significance of how zero was represented. After this presentation, the

students wrote in their journals, explaining what they thought was
a correct procedure for adding the numbers. Many mentioned
that the demonstration had made it clear that tenths had to be
added to tenths and hundredths to hundredths for the right an-
swer. Some made up new problems and made drawings of the
base-ten model.
Because discussion of thinking was a regular occurrence in this class-
room, students were comfortable describing their thinking, even if their
ideas were different from the ideas of their peers. Besides focusing on
their own thinking, students also attempted to understand the thinking Teachers may need to
of others and in some cases to relate it to their own. Ned, who earlier
had been unable to articulate why he lined up whole numbers in a par- explicitly discuss
ticular way when he added, questioned Rob about why his group had
lined up the numbers the way they did. Ned was taking responsibility students’ effective and
for his learning by asking questions about a concept that wasn’t quite
clear to him. Ben thought about Malik’s dilemma and came up with a
ineffective
solution that became clear to Malik. communication
The use of models and pictures provides a further opportunity for
understanding and conversation. Having a concrete referent helps stu- strategies.
dents develop understandings that are clearer and more easily shared
(Hiebert et al. 1997). The talk that preceded, accompanied, and fol-
lowed Ben’s presentation gave meaning to the base-ten model. Malik
had been “stuck” by viewing the model in one way until Ben showed
him another way to look at it.
Throughout the lesson, the interactions among students were neces-
sary in helping them make sense of what they were doing. Because
there was time to talk, write, model, and draw pictures, as well as occa-
sions for work in small groups, large groups, and as individuals, stu-
dents who worked best in different ways all had opportunities to learn.

communication in grades 3 through 5?
With appropriate support and a classroom environment where com-
munication about mathematics is expected, teachers can work to build
the capacity of students to think, reason, solve complex problems, and
communicate mathematically. This involves creating classroom envi-
ronments in which intellectual risks and sense making are expected.
Teachers must also routinely provide students with rich problems cen-
tered on the important mathematical ideas in the curriculum so that
students are working with situations worthy of their conversation and
thought. In daily lessons, teachers must make on-the-spot decisions
about which points of the mathematical conversation to pick up on and
which to let go, and when to let students struggle with an issue and
when to give direction. For example, the teacher in the episode above
chose to let one group of students struggle with the fact that their an-
swer was unreasonable. Teachers must refine their listening, question-
ing, and paraphrasing techniques, both to direct the flow of mathemati-
cal learning and to provide models for student dialogue. Well-posed
questions can simultaneously elicit, extend, and challenge students’
thinking and at the same time give the teacher an opportunity to assess
the students’ understanding.

Periodically, teachers may need to explicitly discuss students’ effec-

tive and ineffective communication strategies. Teachers can model
questioning and explaining, for example, and then point out and explain
those techniques to their students. They can also highlight examples of
good communication among students. (“I noticed that Karen and Malia
disagreed on an answer. They not only explained their reasoning to
each other very carefully, but they listened to one another. Each under-
stood the other’s reasoning. It was hard, but eventually, they realized
that one way made more sense than the other.”)
Teachers need to help students learn to ask questions when they
disagree or do not understand a classmate’s reasoning. It is important
that students understand that the focus is not on who is right or
wrong but rather on whether an answer makes sense and can be justi-
fied. Students need to learn that mathematical arguments are logical
and connected to mathematical relationships. When making a con-
cept or strategy clear to a peer, the student-explainer is forced to re-
examine and thus deepen his or her mathematical understanding. In
settings where communication strategies are taught, modeled, and
expected, students will eventually begin to adopt listening, para-
phrasing, and questioning techniques in their own mathematical
conversations.
Teachers must help students acquire mathematical language to de-
scribe objects and relationships. For example, as students use informal
language such as “the corner-to-corner lines” to describe the diagonals
of a rectangle, the teacher should point out the mathematical term given
to these lines. Specialized vocabulary is much more meaningful if it is in-
troduced in an appropriate context. Teachers in grades 3–5 should look
for, and take advantage of, such opportunities to introduce mathematical
terms. In this way, words such as equation, variable, perpendicular, product,
and factor should become part of students’ normal vocabulary.
Teachers also need to provide students with assistance in writing
about mathematical concepts. They should expect students’ writing to
be correct, complete, coherent, and clear. Especially in the beginning,
Teachers must help

students acquire
mathematical language.

teachers need to send writing back for revision. Students will also need
opportunities to check the clarity of their work with peers. Initially,
when they have difficulty knowing what to write about in mathematics
class, the teacher might ask them to use words, drawings, and symbols
to explain a particular mathematical idea. For example, students could
write about how they know that 1/2 is greater than 2/5 and show at
least three different ways to justify this conclusion. To help students
write about their reasoning processes, the teacher can pose a problem-
solving activity and later ask, “What have you done so far to solve this
problem, what decisions did you make, and why did you make those de-
cisions?” As students respond, the teacher can explain, “This is exactly
what I’d like you to tell me in your writing.”
Having students compare and analyze different pieces of their work
is another way to convey expectations and help them understand what
complete and incomplete responses look like. For example, students
were asked to use pictures and words to explain their thinking for the
following question (Kouba, Zawojewski, and Strutchens 1997, p. 119):
José ate 1/2 of a pizza.
Ella ate 1/2 of another pizza.
José said that he ate more pizza than Ella, but Ella said they both ate the
same amount. Use words and pictures to show that José could be right.
Students’ responses reflected different levels of understanding (see
the examples in fig. 5.35). The first student assumed that each pizza was
the same size. Although the student used words and drawings in the
response, the answer was correct only if the units were the same, an
assumption that cannot be made from the statement of the problem.
The second student suggested by the drawing that the size of 1/2 de-
pends on the size of the unit. The teacher might ask this student to ex-
plain his or her thinking. The third solution, including written words
and drawings, was correct and complete in that it communicated why
José could be correct. Discussion of various student responses, espe-
Fig. 5.35.
cially as mathematical concepts and problems become more complex, is
an effective way to help students continue to improve their ability to Students’ responses to the “pizza”
problem (Dossey, Mullis, and Jones
communicate. 1993)

Connections
Standard
for Grades
Recognize and use connections Students in grades 3–5 study a considerable amount of new mathe-
among mathematical ideas matical content, and their ability to understand and manage these new
ideas will rest, in part, on how well the ideas are connected. Connecting
mathematical ideas includes linking new ideas to related ideas consid-
Understand how mathematical ered previously. These connections help students see mathematics as a
ideas interconnect and build on one unified body of knowledge rather than as a set of complex and disjoint
another to produce a coherent concepts, procedures, and processes.
whole
What should connections look like in grades 3
Recognize and apply mathematics through 5?
in contexts outside of mathematics Two big ideas that recur throughout the study of mathematics in
grades 3–5 were elaborated on in the introduction at the beginning of the
chapter: equivalence and multiplicative reasoning. Each should receive
major emphasis at this level, in part because each is connected to so many
topics studied in grades 3–5. For example, students learn that a fraction
has an equivalent decimal representation, that the area of a right triangle
is equal to half of the area of a related rectangle, that 150 centimeters is
the same as 1.5 meters, and that the likelihood of getting heads when
flipping a coin is the same as the likelihood of rolling an even number on
a number cube. Some equivalences are not obvious to students and thus
prompt further exploration to understand “why.” As equivalence contin-
ues to emerge in the study of different mathematical content areas, it fos-
ters a sense of unity and connectedness in the study of mathematics.
Likewise, as students solve problems as diverse as counting the possible
combinations of shirts and shorts in a wardrobe and measuring the area
of a rectangle, they begin to see and use a similar multiplicative structure
in both situations. Their work in developing computational algorithms
highlights properties of multiplication that they can model geometrically,
reason about, and express in general terms. Thus, multiplicative struc-
tures connect ideas from number, algebra, and geometry. Equivalence
and multiplicative reasoning help students see that mathematics is not a
set of isolated topics but rather a web of closely connected ideas.
Real-world contexts provide opportunities for students to connect
what they are learning to their own environment. Students’ experiences
at home, at school, and in their community provide contexts for worth-
while mathematical tasks. For example, ideas of position and direction

such as those used in walking from one place to another can be used to
develop the geometric idea of using coordinates to describe a location. The value of a
In a fourth-grade class, students could make a map on a coordinate sys-
tem of the various routes they use to walk to school. With the map, they mathematical task is not
could determine and compare the distances traveled. Everyday experi-
ences can also be the source of data. In a fifth-grade classroom, students dependent on whether it
may want to investigate questions about after-school activities. How
many students participate in such activities? What are the activities?
has a real-world context.
How frequently do they participate? Is the level of participation consis-
tent across the year? Is there a way to describe the class on the basis of
their activities? Encouraging students to ask questions and to use mathe-
matical approaches to find answers helps them see the value of mathe-
matics and also motivates them to study new mathematical ideas.
There are connections within mathematics, and mathematics is also
connected to, and used within, other disciplines. Building on these con-
nections provides opportunities to enrich the learning in both areas.
For example, in a social studies unit, a fifth-grade class might discuss
the population and area of selected states. They can investigate which
states are most and least crowded. By using almanacs, Web-based data-
bases, and maps, they can collect data and construct charts to summa-
rize the information. Once the information is collected, they will need
to determine how to consider both area and population in order to
judge crowdedness. Such discussions could lead to an informal consid-
eration of population density and land use.
In grades 3–5, students should be developing the important processes
needed for scientific inquiry and for mathematical problem solving—
inferring, measuring, communicating, classifying, and predicting. The
kinds of investigations that enable students to build these processes
often include significant mathematics as well as science. It is important
that teachers stimulate discussion about both the mathematics and the
science ideas that emerge from the investigations, whether they occur
in a science lesson or a mathematics lesson. For example, students
might study the evaporation of liquid from an open container. How
does the volume of liquid in the container change over time? From
which type of jar does 100 cubic centimeters of water evaporate faster—
one with a large opening or one with a small opening? Figure 5.36
(Goldberg 1997, p. 2) shows the results of an experiment to examine
this question. The table shows the volume of water in each jar over a
five-day period. Is there a pattern in the data? If so, what are some ways
to describe the pattern? How many days will it take for all the water in
jar 1 to evaporate? A discussion about why the water evaporates faster
from a wider container and what might happen if certain conditions are
altered—for example, if a fan is left blowing on the containers—inte-
grates concepts of both mathematics and science.
The development of mathematical ideas and the use of mathematics
in other disciplines are intertwined. At times, new ideas develop in a
purely mathematical context and are applied to other situations. At
other times, new mathematics arises out of situations in other disci-
plines or in real-world contexts. Mathematical investigations that are
drawn strictly from the realm of mathematics are also appropriate and
important. The value of a mathematical task is not dependent on
whether it has a real-world context but rather on whether it addresses
important mathematics, is intellectually engaging, and is solvable using
Standards for Grades 3–5: Connections 201

Time Jar 1 Jar 2

(in days) (volume in cc) (volume in cc)
Jar 1 Jar 2
Fig. 5.36.
tools the learner has or can draw on. The use of similar mathematics
Results of an evaporation experiment
within different contexts gives students an appreciation of the power of
mathematics and its generality. As stated in a National Research Coun-
cil report (1996, p. 105):
Students at all grade levels and in every domain of science should
have the opportunity to use scientific inquiry and develop the abil-
ity to think and act in ways associated with inquiry, including asking
questions, planning and conducting investigations, using appropri-
ate tools and techniques to gather data, thinking critically and logi-
cally about relationships between evidence and explanations, con-
structing and analyzing alternative explanations, and
communicating scientific arguments.

connections in grades 3 through 5?
Teachers should select tasks that help students explore and develop
increasingly sophisticated mathematical ideas. They should ask ques-
tions that encourage and challenge students to explain new ideas and
develop new strategies based on mathematics they already know. For
example, asking students to describe two ways they can estimate the
cost of twelve notebooks can prompt different strategies. Figure 5.37
illustrates two strategies that might emerge—a rounding strategy and
another strategy based on proportionality, a new idea that will receive
considerable attention in later grades.

Estimate the cost of 12 notebooks Fig. 5.37.
Two estimation strategies—one
using rounding and the other based
You on proportionality
for a can get
litt 2n
48 so 1 le less t oteboo
i m es is . 2n han ks
4 d .80 be le otebook a dolla
12 × s, or $4 ss th s wo r,
dime an $ u
6.00 ld
.
¢
43
Teachers should help students explore and describe mathematical

connections and ensure that they see mathematical ideas in a variety of
contexts and models. For example, as students explain their strategies
for estimating the cost of the twelve notebooks, the teacher should
point out how the second strategy relates to multiplication and how it
can be modeled using a fractional representation (e.g., 2 for $1 means
12 for $6, or 2/1 = 12/6).
Teachers should encourage students to look for mathematical ideas
throughout the school day. For example, geometry can play an important
role in art, data should have a prominent role in social studies discussions,
and communication and problem solving should be integrated with lan-
guage arts. Scientific contexts can be especially productive for exploring
and using mathematics. Mathematics and science have a long history of
close ties, and many mathematical notions arose from scientific problems.
Teachers should build on everyday experiences to encourage the study of
mathematical ideas through systematic, quantitative investigations of
phenomena that students can experience directly. These may include ap-
plications as varied as studying the relationship between the arm span and
height of students, investigating the strength of a particular brand of
paper towel, or studying the volume and surface area of different cereal
boxes.
At times, opportunities for mathematical investigations arise sponta-
neously in class. For example, after a fifth-grade class spent some time At times, opportunities
learning about environmental issues, a question arose as to whether the
water fountain was an efficient way of getting water to students. The for mathematical
class formulated a plan to respond to the question. This included esti-
mating how much water the fountain released during a “typical” turn at investigations arise
the fountain and how much water was actually consumed. In a situation
like this, the teacher plays an important role in helping students under-
spontaneously in class.
stand and think about the scientific and mathematical topics that this
investigation evokes.

Building on connections Although the teacher’s role includes being alert and responsive to un-
expected opportunities, it is also important that teachers plan ahead to
can make mathematics a integrate mathematics into other subject areas and experiences that stu-
dents will have during the year. Consider, for example, the following
challenging, engaging, episode, adapted from Russell, Schifter, and Bastable (1999).
and exciting domain of Ms. Watson’s fourth grade runs a snack shop for two weeks every
school year to pay for a trip to meet the class’s pen pals in a neigh-
study. boring state. Since the students run the whole project, from plan-
ning what to sell to recording sales and reordering stock, Ms. Wat-
son uses this project as an opportunity for students to develop and
use mathematical ideas. It is clear that a great deal of estimation and
calculation takes place naturally as part of the project: projecting
what will be needed for the trip, making change, keeping records of
expenses, calculating income, and so forth. This year Ms. Watson
decided to extend some of the ideas her students had encountered
about collecting and describing data through their work on this
project.
At the beginning of the project, she gave the class a list of twenty-
one items, available at a local warehouse club, that she and the prin-
cipal had approved as possible sale items. The students needed to
decide which of these products they would sell and how they would
allocate the $100 provided for their start-up costs to buy certain
quantities of those products. They had limited time to make these
decisions, and the class engaged in a lively discussion about how
best to find out which of the snack items were most popular among
the students in the school. Some students insisted that they would
need to survey all classes in order to get “the correct information.”
If they surveyed only some students, this group contended, then
“we won’t give everyone a chance, so we won’t know about some-
thing that maybe only one person likes.” Others argued that survey-
ing one or two classes at each grade level would provide enough of
an idea of what students across the grades like and would result in a
set of data they could collect and organize more efficiently. As they
talked, the teacher reminded them of the purpose of their survey:
“Will our business fail if we don’t have everyone’s favorite?” The
class eventually decided to survey one class at each grade. Even the
students who had worried that a sample would not give them com-
plete information had become convinced that this procedure would
give them enough information to make good choices about which
snacks to buy.
The students went on to design their survey—which raised new
issues—and to collect, organize, and use the data to develop their
budget. Once they had their data, another intense discussion ensued
about how to use the information to guide their choices on how to
stock their snack shop. They eventually chose to buy the two top
choices in each category (they had classified the snacks into four
categories), and since that didn’t use up their budget, they ordered
additional quantities of the overall top two snacks.
Ms. Watson used this realistic context to help her students see how
decisions about designing data investigations are tied to the purpose or

the problem being addressed. The real restrictions of time and re-
sources made it natural for the students to consider how a sample can
be selected to represent a population, and they were able to interpret
their data in light of the decisions they needed to make.
Ultimately, connections within mathematics, connections between
mathematics and everyday experience, and connections between mathe-
matics and other disciplines can support learning. Building on the con-
nections can also make mathematics a challenging, engaging, and excit-
ing domain of study.

Representation
Standard
for Grades
Create and use representations to In grades 3–5, students need to develop and use a variety of repre-
organize, record, and communicate sentations of mathematical ideas to model problem situations, to inves-
mathematical ideas tigate mathematical relationships, and to justify or disprove conjectures.
They should use informal representations, such as drawings, to high-
light various features of problems; they should use physical models to
Select, apply, and translate among represent and understand ideas such as multiplication and place value.
mathematical representations to They should also learn to use equations, charts, and graphs to model
solve problems and solve problems. These representations serve as tools for thinking
about and solving problems. They also help students communicate
their thinking to others. Students in these grades will use both external
Use representations to model and models—ones that they can build, change, and inspect—as well as
interpret physical, social, and mental images.
mathematical phenomena
What should representation look like in grades 3–5?
Students in grades 3–5 should continue to develop the habit of repre-
senting problems and ideas to support and extend their reasoning. Such
representations help to portray, clarify, or extend a mathematical idea
by focusing on essential features. Students represent ideas when they
create a table of data about weather patterns, when they describe in
words or with a picture the important features of an object such as a
cylinder, or when they translate aspects of a problem into an equation.
Good representations fulfill a dual role: they are tools for thinking and
instruments for communicating. Consider the following problem:
What happens to the area of a rectangle if the lengths of its sides are
doubled?
Students who represent the problem in some way are more likely to
see important relationships than those who consider the problem with-
out a representation. One student’s initial response to the problem was
that the new rectangle would be twice the size of the first rectangle.
Her thinking might have stopped there, but another student questioned
her answer, prompting her to think more deeply. She decided she
needed a picture to help her think about the problem. Her drawing (see
fig. 5.38) helped her consider the complexity of the problem more care-
fully and showed her that the new rectangle is not only bigger but that
it is four times bigger than the original rectangle. It was also a way to
show her answer and to justify it to others.

Fig. 5.38.
A student’s representation of the re-
sults of doubling the lengths of the
sides of a rectangle
Students will have learned about, and begun to use, many symbolic
and graphical representations (e.g., numerals, equals sign, and bar
graphs) in the primary grades. In grades 3–5, students should create
representations that are more detailed and accurate than is expected in
the primary grades. Their repertoire of symbols, tools, and conven-
tional notation should expand and be clearly connected to concepts as
they are explored. For example, in representing algebraic and numerical
relationships, students should become comfortable using equations and
understanding the equals sign as a balance point in the equation. Many
students who have only seen equations with an arithmetic expression on
the left side of the equation and a call for the numerical answer on the
right side, such as 6 × 30 = ! , don’t understand that equations may
have several symbols on each side, as in 2 × 5 × 6 = 3 × 4 × 5.
Students in grades 3–5 should also become familiar with technological
tools such as dynamic geometry software and spreadsheets. They should
learn to set up a simple spreadsheet (see fig. 5.39) and use it to pose and
solve problems, examine data, and investigate patterns. For example, a
fourth-grade class could keep track of the daily temperature and other
features of the weather for the whole year and consider questions such as
these: What month is coldest? What would we tell a visitor to expect for
weather in October? After two months, they might find that they are
having difficulty managing and ordering the quantity of data they have
collected. By entering the data in a spreadsheet, they can easily see and
select the data they want, compare certain columns, or graph particular
aspects of the data. They can conveniently find the median temperature
for February or calculate the total amount of rainfall for April. In January, E-example 5.5
if the class notices that temperature alone is no longer giving them
enough information, they can add a column for wind chill to get a more Linking Spreadsheets and Graphing
accurate summary of the weather they are experiencing.
Learning to interpret, use, and construct useful representations
needs careful and deliberate attention in the classroom. Teaching forms
of representation (e.g., graphs or equations) as ends in themselves is not
productive. Rather, representations should be portrayed as useful tools
Standards for Grades 3–5: Representation 207

Fig. 5.39.
A simple spreadsheet can be used to
organize and examine data, pose
and solve problems, and investigate
patterns.
for building understanding, for communicating information, and for

demonstrating reasoning (Greeno and Hall 1997). Students should be-
come flexible in choosing and creating representations—standard or
nonstandard, physical models or mental images—that fit the purpose at
hand. They should also have many opportunities to consider the advan-
tages and limitations of the various representations they use.

representation in grades 3–5?
Learning to record or represent thinking in an organized way, both in
solving a problem and in sharing a solution, is an acquired skill for many
students. Teachers can and should emphasize the importance of repre-
senting mathematical ideas in a variety of ways. Modeling this process as
they work through a problem with the class is one way to stimulate stu-
dents to use and analyze representations. Talking through why some rep-
resentations are more effective than others in a particular situation gives
prominence to the process and helps students critique aspects of their
representations. Teachers can strategically choose student representations
that will be fruitful for the whole class to discuss. For example, consider
the following question, which a third-grade class might explore:
Are there more even or odd products in the multiplication table shown in
figure 5.41? Explain why.
Students may initially generate many examples to formulate an an-
Fig. 5.40.
swer, as illustrated in figure 5.40. Other students may use the multipli-
cation table to organize their work, as illustrated in figure 5.41. Orga-
An exploration of odd and even num-
bers in the multiplication table
nizing the work in this way highlights patterns that support students in
thinking more systematically about the problem.
Each representation reveals a different way of thinking about the
problem. Giving attention to the different methods as well as to the dif-
ferent representations will help students see the power of viewing a
problem from different perspectives. Observing how different students
select and use representations also gives the teacher assessment informa-
tion about what aspects of the problem they notice and how they reason
about the patterns and regularities revealed in their representations.

Fig. 5.41.
x 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Using a multiplication table to solve
an “odd and even numbers” problem
1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
2 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
3 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 27
4 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36
5 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
6 6 12 18 24 30 36 42 48 54
7 7 14 21 28 35 42 49 56 63
8 8 16 24 32 40 48 56 64 72
9 9 18 27 36 45 54 63 72 81
As students discuss their ideas and begin to develop conjectures

based on representations of the problem, the teacher might want to
represent the students’ thinking in other ways in order to support and
extend their ideas. For example, when students notice that an even
number multiplied by an even number always produces an even result,
the teacher might record this idea as “even × even = even.” This repre-
sentation serves as a summary of the students’ thinking. It suggests a
way to record the generalization and may prompt students to look for
other generalizations of the same type.
Some students will need explicit help in representing problems. Al-
though in the rectangle problem (fig. 5.38), the student quickly de-
cided on a representation that was effective in showing the important
relationships, many students need support in constructing pictures,
graphs, tables, and other representations. If they have many opportu-
nities for using, developing, comparing, and analyzing a variety of rep-
resentations, students will become competent in selecting what they
need for a particular problem.
As students work with a variety of representations, teachers need to
observe carefully how they understand and use them. Representations
do not “show” the mathematics to the students. Rather, the students
need to work with each representation extensively in many contexts as
well as move between representations in order to understand how they
can use a representation to model mathematical ideas and relationships.
By listening carefully to students’ ideas and helping them select and
organize representations that will show their thinking, teachers can
help students develop the inclination and skills to model problems ef-
fectively, to clarify their own understanding of a problem, and to use
representations to communicate effectively with one another.
Standards for Grades 3–5: Representation 209

Middle-grades students are drawn toward
mathematics if they find both challenge and
support in the mathematics classroom.
Ambitious expectations in
algebra and geometry
stretch the middle-grades program beyond
a preoccupation with number.

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Nearly three-quarters of U.S.

report liking mathematics.

Instruction at this level must be active

and intellectually stimulating.

Standards for Grades 3–5: Introduction 145

146 Principles and Standards for School Mathematics

Understand meanings of operations • understand various meanings of multiplication and division;

Understand numbers, ways of representing numbers,

Standards for Grades 3–5: Number and Operations 149

by 36, whereas thinking of it as 6 sixes or 9 fours is helpful when con-

Students in these grades should use models and other strategies to

150 Principles and Standards for School Mathematics

Understand meanings of operations and how they

Standards for Grades 3–5: Number and Operations 151

Students can extend their understanding of multiplication and divi-

152 Principles and Standards for School Mathematics

Standards for Grades 3–5: Number and Operations 153

Michaela showed her solution:

Maya: They both did twenty 34s first.

154 Principles and Standards for School Mathematics

Standards for Grades 3–5: Number and Operations 155

156 Principles and Standards for School Mathematics

158 Principles and Standards for School Mathematics

Understand patterns, relations, and functions

Standards for Grades 3–5: Algebra 159

Examples like this one give the teacher important opportunities to

160 Principles and Standards for School Mathematics

As students learn about the meaning of multiplication and develop

Standards for Grades 3–5: Algebra 161

Use mathematical models to represent and understand

162 Principles and Standards for School Mathematics

Analyze change in various contexts

Time Height Change 10

Standards for Grades 3–5: Algebra 163

Use visualization, spatial reasoning, • build and draw geometric objects;

Analyze characteristics and properties of two- and

Standards for Grades 3–5: Geometry 165

Fig. 5.11. formulate conjectures about geometric properties and relationships.

166 Principles and Standards for School Mathematics

Apply transformations and use symmetry to analyze

Standards for Grades 3–5: Geometry 167

Use visualization, spatial reasoning, and geometric

Front view Top view Right side view

Standards for Grades 3–5: Geometry 169

170 Principles and Standards for School Mathematics

In learning about measurement and learning how to measure, stu-

Standards for Grades 3–5: Measurement 171

Understand measurable attributes of objects and the

172 Principles and Standards for School Mathematics

Apply appropriate techniques, tools, and formulas to

Standards for Grades 3–5: Measurement 173

area of an irregular polygon or a leaf by covering it with transparent

Rectangle Length (cm) Width (cm) Area (cm 2)

174 Principles and Standards for School Mathematics

Standards for Grades 3–5: Measurement 175

176 Principles and Standards for School Mathematics

Formulate questions that can be addressed with data and

Standards for Grades 3–5: Data Analysis and Probability 177