In grades 5 - 8, the Standards recommend that students be presented with opportunities to compute with whole numbers, fractions, decimals, integers, and rational numbers. 4- 6 should also describe and represent relationships using tables and graphs. In grades K-4, the Standards also emphasize the importance of developing and sharpening students' spatial sense.
Spatial sense is an intuitive feel for one's surroundings.
To develop spatial sense, students must have experiences that focus on the direction, orientation, and perspective of objects in space. Students also need to learn how to describe objects in relation to each other using such terms as above, below, behind, near, etc. The Standards also emphasize making links across the curriculum. This activity integrates geography and mathematics by allowing students to learn about different state and country capitals while performing subtraction. In this activity, students will subtly be introduced to coordinate graphing by using latitude and longitude coordinates to find distances between cities.