Mastering 5th Grade Math! Volume 1

Gr 4 Up—This video provides 16 Individual math lessons focusing on fraction skills. Covered topics include a review of fractions, finding factors of a number, prime factorization, simplifying fractions, improper and mixed fractions, and thinking about these numbers as a form of division. Lessons vary in length, from four-and-a-half to 16 minutes. The math is sound, and Jason Gibson is a calm, patient instructor. Each lesson includes an objective, directed instruction and modeling, and guided practice. The worksheets, each containing 10 problems, can be used for independent study. There is some tie-in to the concepts from one lesson to another, although viewers may not initially grasp the connections, for example, between finding factors of a number and simplifying fractions. This is not a flashy video—no catchy tunes or cutesy phrases, and the delivery is simply Gibson talking and working out examples on a white board. Some educators may be concerned that the video will fail to engage students due to its lack of bells and whistles. However, viewers who hang in there can learn a lot. The first DVD contains the 16 lessons; the second the lessons in MP4 format, two or three worksheets for each lesson in PDF format, and an answer key. The course can be downloaded from the website Scienceandmath.com for $14.99. Overall, this is useful to supplement instruction.—Stephanie Farnlacher, Trace Crossings School, Hoover, AL