Selecting and implementing a new mathematics curriculum program that is both high quality and is supported by stakeholders is a challenging endeavor. In this article, the authors share a year-long process in which a school district's (SD) elementary mathematics committee (EMC) engaged in exploring, testing, and selecting a curriculum program to…

Digital curricula can constrain teachers with ready-made instructional materials. The authors used Mathematics Teaching Practices (MTPs) to modify a digital curriculum to engage students in more thoughtful and meaningful lessons. In this article, the authors visit one of their third-grade classrooms, in which they used the prescriptive digital…

The authors define two mathematical cognitive verbs which are fundamental to the development of mathematical thinking and reasoning. They distinguish between 'describing' and 'explaining' in relation to doing mathematics, rather than using them interchangeably.

Foundation and Year 1/2 teachers at Saint Martin de Porres Primary School, a Catholic School in Laverton, Melbourne have been collaborating with a team of researchers from Monash University on a four-year project led by Professor Peter Sullivan and colleagues. The teachers have been trialling and implementing a series of lesson sequences as part…

The authors share the results of a research project involving the use of mathematics to develop students' Numeracy General Capabilities. The current article delves into an example of a teacher supporting 'good habits of mind' through focussing on the Critical Learning Disposition of accuracy.

Informal strategies reflecting the representation of a situation described in an arithmetic word problem mediate students' solving processes. When the informal strategies are inefficient, teaching students to make way for more efficient ways to find the solution is an important educational issue in mathematics. The current paper presents a…

We describe here lessons learned in designing an early algebra curriculum to measure early algebra's impact on children's algebra readiness for middle grades. The curriculum was developed to supplement regular mathematics instruction in Grades K-5. Lessons learned centered around the importance of several key factors, including using conceptual…

Six widely used US Grade 1 curricula do not adequately address the following three developmental prerequisites identified by a proposed learning trajectory for the meaningful learning of the subtraction-as-addition strategy (e.g., for 13-8 think "what + 8 = 13?"): (a) reverse operations (adding 8 is undone by subtracting 8); (b) common…

During the author's everyday math discussions with her class, young children talk about mathematical ideas, theories, and concepts within a predictable structure. These discussions include many concepts from--and beyond--the first-grade math curriculum, and their depth and complexity build throughout the school year. Concepts and skills include…

The movie "Frozen" took the world by storm and this global popularity of the movie and its music can be harnessed by teachers of mathematics. This article builds on the "frozen fractal" lyric from "Let It Go" to incorporate fractal geometry into primary mathematics classrooms.

A team of teachers from the same New York City public school met to discuss and compare the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM) to their current math curriculum. The group consisted of four kindergarten teachers, a representative from the first-grade teaching team, and the school's math coach. During the first meeting, the…

The everyday use of "proficient" carries connotations of having reached a level of expertise. One would not describe someone stumbling through a rendition of "Chopsticks" as a proficient piano player; but novice pianists work on musical proficiencies--practicing scales or playing a polka--in parallel. They do not put off…

Equivalence is mostly associated with the strand of Number and Algebra and is fundamental in both of the substrands. Equivalence is considered a key and foundational concept of algebra, and whereas an assumption might be made that equivalence is a relatively "easy" concept; studies have shown that when asked to balance an equation such…

The purpose of this article is to explain the authors' model of numeracy and outline how the project was conducted. The idea of numeracy is a relatively recent one. The term was first introduced in the UK by the "Crowther Report" (Ministry of Education, 1959) and was defined as the mirror image of literacy, but involving quantitative…

Mathematics education is a critical part of the curriculum for students worldwide. The foundation for understanding mathematical concepts related to number sense begins early in life, and early childhood classrooms can provide the seeds for mathematical skills that will be needed later in life. In this article, the authors make a case for…