They then submit a written report explaining why their games should be chosen for the school carnival. In the first project, students write a story which must utilize various mathematical ideas and strategies presented in the unit. In the second project, students use Cuisinaire rods or paper strips of various lengths to investigate the number of ways different-sized train cars could be configured to total a given length and to generalize their findings. Bits and Pieces, Part II -Ordering from a Catalog Students find three different items from a catalog, calculate shipping and tax, and apply a number of other ideas from the unit to their orders. Top A notebook checklist is offered with each unit.
Some teachers give students notebook grades.
The notebook checklist can be a helpful tool in making sure that students have all of the necessary pieces of their notebooks before turning them in for a grade. Some teachers give the notebook checklist to students at the beginning of a unit to remind them what they are to have in their notebook. After every unit, students are asked to put together a written summary of the mathematics they have learned in the unit, ideas that they are still struggling with, and examples of how and what they did in class that added to the learning of the mathematics. The goal of this activity is to have students reflect on the mathematics they learned as a result of completing this unit. For many students, self-assessment is a new experience.