Curriculum Mapping ~ Math Style

I recently(ish) blogged about how I map out my ELA curriculum for the year.

I thought I would share how I am going to do my Math curriculum-which is different from how I handle my ELA.

The first thing you should know is that I do follow the math program (although I do supplement, I follow the order of the lessons).

I follow it because this was our first year with it (and we spent a lot of money on it!), and I'm not as comfortable yet pulling away from it as I was with ELA (although I should note that it did take me three years to get frustrated with the order of the ELA program before I ripped it apart and reorganized it).

The things I recommend in my ELA post, I also recommend here.

The first thing I did was to sit down with the math book, and sheets of paper.

Since we had testing for TWO weeks, I used that time to work on this.

I started by going through each chapter/lesson and writing down the skills that it focused on (not just what the book says it focuses on) and write down the CCSS it covers.

This way, I could clearly see the skills that are being covered, as well as the standards.

Now, having said that ever since we looked at this program that it is not CCSS aligned (and there have been articles to proven I was right-it often goes above and beyond, or just mentions a standard here and there in a problem-which is not the same as teaching it), I also went through and added 5th grade CCSS where applicable (mostly in our fraction unit).

I also added the number of 'recommended' days to teach each lesson.

Now all the chapters are planned out, with skills and standards.

Then, since we had ANOTHER three days of testing for science (and we still have MAPS to take....sigh), I brought in my computer to start transferring it over.

I sat down with the chapter maps I had created, the book, and iPad (turned to CCSS standards so I could write them down) to plot it out (I pretty much use PowerPoint for everything now-it just gives me so much more versatility).

I talk about this app here and here

I started going through each chapter again, and noting down the skills in more detail on the computer.

Sorry for the glare...my desk is right under the fluorescent lights

I'll also be adding the big idea in.

Now (when I finish), I'll have all the chapters and skills at a glance, and can fill in and supplement as needed. :)

Since I'm doing this one by chapter, and not necessarily by week like my ELA maps, I'll be able to use it for years to come.

I should add that I usually follow the 'flow'-chapter 2 follows chapter 1, etc., although I did put in geometry, angles and area and perimeter in between the fraction chapter and the decimals chapter-mostly because we were testing and I wanted something more fun. I also think it gives the kids a break from the heavy computation math.

Ideally, I would put the 'fun stuff' in between division and fractions-but we'll see for next year :)

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn