Each indicator is followed by activities which illustrate how it can be addressed in the classroom in grades 5 and 6. Understand money notations, count and compute money, and recognize the decimal nature of United States currency. They research and consider the variety of expenses to be incurred - lodging along the way and at the park, meals, souvenirs, gasoline, admission, and so on. A reasonable budget for the trip is the centerpiece of a report prepared by each student group. Their reports are assessed using a scoring rubric that includes mathematical correctness as well as creativity.
Students use play money to model decimal numbers.
They use decimal language and find fractional equivalents for each coin. Students first estimate and then use a calculator to find out how long it would take to spend one million dollars at a rate of one dollar per second. Extend their understanding of the number system by constructing meanings for integers, rational numbers, percents, exponents, roots, absolute values, and numbers represented in scientific notation. Students each develop questions, the answers to all of which are equivalent to some target number. Issues that point out the importance of defining the unit are special topics for discussion.