Massachusetts Standards
Massachusetts 5th Grade Math Standards
All 26 Massachusetts math standards for 5th grade, each explained in plain English. The official wording is in Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's document, linked at the end of this page.
26 standards
Operations and Algebraic Thinking
3 standards5.OA.A.1
Use grouping symbols such as parentheses, brackets, and braces in number expressions and find their value, like six times 30 plus six times one half.
5.OA.A.2
Write an expression for a described calculation, like 2 × (8 + 7) for add 8 and 7 then double it, and compare expressions without working them out.
5.OA.B.3
Build two number patterns from two rules, compare their matching terms, and graph the pairs as points on a coordinate grid.
Number and Operations in Base Ten
7 standards5.NBT.A.1
Explain that in any number, decimals included, a digit is worth ten times as much as one place to its right and one tenth as much as one place to its left.
5.NBT.A.2
Explain how the zeros and the decimal point move when a number is multiplied or divided by a power of 10, and write powers of 10 with exponents.
5.NBT.A.3
Read and write decimals to thousandths, like 347.392, in words and expanded form, and compare two decimals digit by digit.
5.NBT.B.5
Multiply multi-digit whole numbers quickly with the standard algorithm, up to two-digit by four-digit and three-digit by three-digit problems.
5.NBT.B.6
Divide up to four-digit numbers by two-digit numbers with place-value strategies, and show the thinking with equations, arrays or area models.
5.NBT.B.7
Find sums, differences, products, and quotients of decimals to hundredths with models, drawings, and place value strategies, link each to a written method, and explain it.
Number and Operations—Fractions
7 standards5.NF.A.1
Add and subtract fractions and mixed numbers with unlike denominators by rewriting them with a common denominator, like 2/3 + 1/4 using twelfths.
5.NF.A.2
Solve word problems adding and subtracting fractions of one whole, which can be a set of objects, with unlike denominators, and check answers against benchmarks like 1/2.
5.NF.B.3
See a fraction as division, like 3/4 as 3 ÷ 4, and solve sharing problems whose answers are fractions or mixed numbers, like 9 people splitting 50 pounds of rice.
5.NF.B.4
Multiply a fraction by a whole number or by another fraction, like 2/3 × 4/5 = 8/15, and find the area of a rectangle with fractional sides.
5.NF.B.5
Tell, without multiplying, whether a product will be bigger or smaller than one factor, since multiplying by a fraction less than 1 shrinks a number.
5.NF.B.6
Solve real-world problems that multiply fractions and mixed numbers, like how much flour is in half of a recipe that calls for 2 1/2 cups.
5.NF.B.7
Divide a unit fraction by a whole number and a whole number by a unit fraction, like 1/3 ÷ 4 = 1/12 and 4 ÷ 1/5 = 20, and use this in real-world problems.
Measurement and Data
5 standards5.MD.A.1
Convert between units in the same measurement system, like 5 cm to 0.05 m, and use the conversions in multi-step problems.
5.MD.B.2
Make a line plot, or dot plot, of measurements in fractions of a unit and use fraction operations to answer questions, like evening out liquid among beakers.
5.MD.C.3
Understand volume as the space inside a solid, measured by how many unit cubes fill it without gaps or overlaps.
5.MD.C.4
Find volume by counting unit cubes in cubic centimeters, inches, or feet, or in nonstandard units like small blocks.
5.MD.C.5
Find the volume of a box-shaped prism with the formulas V = l × w × h and V = b × h, and add up the volumes of two prisms joined together.
Geometry
4 standards5.G.A.1
Explain how two perpendicular number lines, the axes, meeting at zero form a coordinate grid, and how an ordered pair tells how far to move along each axis.
5.G.A.2
Graph real-world data as points in the first quadrant of a coordinate grid and explain what each point’s coordinates mean.
5.G.B.3
Know that a property of a category of shapes holds for all its subcategories, like every square has four right angles because a square is a rectangle.
5.G.B.4
Sort two-dimensional shapes into a hierarchy by their properties, like seeing that every rectangle is a parallelogram because both pairs of opposite sides are parallel.
The official Massachusetts documents
- Massachusetts Curriculum Framework for Mathematics, Pre-K to 12, 2017 · adopted March 2017 · current for 2026-27
The plain-English lines on this page are EMStudio's own explanations of Massachusetts's standards, not the official wording, which Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education publishes in the documents above. Codes and strand names identify each standard.