Math

The desire to achieve educational excellence is the driving force behind the Texas essential knowledge and skills for mathematics, guided by the college and career readiness standards. By embedding statistics, probability, and finance, while focusing on computational thinking, mathematical fluency, and solid understanding, Texas will lead the way in mathematics education and prepare all Texas students for the challenges they will face in the 21st century.

The process standards describe ways in which students are expected to engage in the content. The placement of the process standards at the beginning of the knowledge and skills listed for each grade and course is intentional. The process standards weave the other knowledge and skills together so that students may be successful problem solvers and use mathematics efficiently and effectively in daily life. The process standards are integrated at every grade level and course. When possible, students will apply mathematics to problems arising in everyday life, society, and the workplace. Students will use a problem-solving model that incorporates analyzing given information, formulating a plan or strategy, determining a solution, justifying the solution, and evaluating the problem-solving process and the reasonableness of the solution. Students will select appropriate tools such as real objects, manipulatives, algorithms, paper and pencil, and technology and techniques such as mental math, estimation, number sense, and generalization and abstraction to solve problems. Students will effectively communicate mathematical ideas, reasoning, and their implications using multiple representations such as symbols, diagrams, graphs, computer programs, and language. Students will use mathematical relationships to generate solutions and make connections and predictions. Students will analyze mathematical relationships to connect and communicate mathematical ideas. Students will display, explain, or justify mathematical ideas and arguments using precise mathematical language in written or oral communication.

For students to become fluent in mathematics, students must develop a robust sense of number. The National Research Council's report, "Adding It Up," defines procedural fluency as "skill in carrying out procedures flexibly, accurately, efficiently, and appropriately." As students develop procedural fluency, they must also realize that true problem solving may take time, effort, and perseverance. Students in Grade 5 are expected to perform their work without the use of calculators.

The primary focal areas in Grade 5 are solving problems involving all four operations with positive rational numbers, determining and generating formulas and solutions to expressions, and extending measurement to area and volume. These focal areas are supported throughout the mathematical strands of number and operations, algebraic reasoning, geometry and measurement, and data analysis. In Grades 3-5, the number set is limited to positive rational numbers. In number and operations, students will apply place value and identify part-to-whole relationships and equivalence. In algebraic reasoning, students will represent and solve problems with expressions and equations, build foundations of functions through patterning, identify prime and composite numbers, and use the order of operations. In geometry and measurement, students will classify two-dimensional figures, connect geometric attributes to the measures of three-dimensional figures, use units of measure, and represent location using a coordinate plane. In data analysis, students will represent and interpret data.