Session 8 Math Activity: Counting and Calculating in Base 5

Physical Materials:

  • Graph paper 
  • Paper
  • Interlocking cubes to construct your own base-5 blocks

Digital Materials:

Instructions:

  1. Watch the introduction video below.
  1. Complete each part of the activity.  Be sure to stay in base 5 and to call the numbers by their digit names and not their base 10 names.  (Example:  “12” in base 5 is “one-two” and not “twelve”.) 
  2. When you feel ready, select from the videos below to hear more about how other educators worked through these problems.
  1. When you are finished, watch the synthesis video.

(Optional) Extended Synthesis

If you are interested, watch Mike and Kaneka take a deep dive into base five and unpack the math from this activity.