Two examples follow that demonstrate some basic principles of incorporating and applying standards. Examples of the resulting student work are provided, with a demonstration of how the grading rubric is applied.
Writing is important in standards-based classrooms.
Even in mathematics, if students can explain their answers in writing it shows that they understand not only how to perform the necessary operations, but also the underlying process and principles. Fair Snack is a statistics problem that should be interesting to kids in grades 3-5. It allows them to use the concepts of mean, median, and mode to determine how to fairly distribute some cookies among the class. Students will enjoy being able to use these mathematical ideas at home or in any situation where a fair distribution of resources is desired. It challenges students to think visually about mathematical concepts and to apply them to a real-life problem.