Contexts for Learning Mathematics
Math fact drills and endless word problem worksheets are ineffective and meaningless to students. Contexts for Learning Mathematics provides carefully crafted units designed to foster deep understanding in a math workshop environment. By setting each unit in the context of students' lives, teaching and learning immediately becomes engaging and meaningful in your classroom.
-
Overview
Contexts for Learning Mathematics (CFLM) is a rigorous K–6 classroom resource that makes use of a math workshop environment to bring the Standards for Mathematical Practice to life. Rich, authentic contexts provide a backdrop for fostering the use of mathematical models as thinking tools, tenacious problem solving, and the reading and writing of mathematical arguments and justifications to ensure the development of a positive growth-mindset.
-
Unit Books
Flexibly designed, Contexts for Learning Mathematics units can help enhance your teaching, supplement your curriculum, or differentiate instruction. Each unit stands on its own, presenting a two-week sequence of interconnected investigations, games, and minilessons created to support development of key topics such as place-value, subtraction, multiplication, or fractions.
Units are available as part of a grade-span package or individually:
Bunk Beds and Apple Boxes: Early Number Sense (K–1)Organizing and Collecting: The Number System (K–1)Beads and Shoes, Making Twos: Extending Number Sense (1–2)The Double-Decker Bus: Early Addition and Subtraction (1–2)Measuring for the Art Show: Addition on the Open Number Line (1–2)Trades, Jumps, and Stops: Early Algebra (2)Ages and Timelines: Subtraction on the Open Number Line (2–3)The T-Shirt Factory: Place Value, Addition, and Subtraction (2–3)Groceries, Stamps, and Measuring Strips: Early Multiplication (2–3)The Big Dinner: Multiplication with the Ratio Table (3–4)Muffles’ Truffles: Multiplication and Division with the Array (3–4)The Teachers’ Lounge: Place Value and Division (4–5)The Box Factory: Extending Multiplication with the Array (4–5)Field Trips and Fund-Raisers: Introducing Fractions (4–5)The Mystery of the Meter: Decimals (5–6)Best Buys, Ratios, and Rates: Addition and Subtraction of Fractions (5–6)Exploring Parks and Playgrounds: Multiplication and Division of Fractions (5–6)The California Frog-Jumping Contest: Algebra (5–6)**New CFLM units available only through New Perspectives on Learning
Baby’s Wild Adventure: Navigation and Shapes (K–1)Shaping Up the Yard: Paths, Turns, and Polygons (1)Farms and Fences: Linear Measurement (1–2)Tabletops, Floors, and Fields: Area, Perimeter, and Partitioning (3)The Architects’ Project: Area, Volume, and Nets (6) -
Minilesson Books
Minilesson books are yearlong resource guides that support the development of mathematical understanding and a growth-mindset. In contrast to a full Context for Learning Mathematics investigation, the minilesson is more guided and explicit. These math minilessons can be used to launch your daily instruction, as content for number talks, or with small groups of students as your differentiate instruction.
Math minilesson books are available as part of a grade-span package or individually:
-
Grade-Span Packs
While Contexts for Learning Mathematics units can be purchased individually, they are also available as part of three different grade-span packages.
Each grade-span package includes a set of Unit Books, along with additional resources to support instruction and student understanding, including:
All three Overview Books offer a deaper dive into the content, instructional strategies and overall philosophy specific to that grade span.
Read-Aloud Books and Posters help set the stage for learning by bringing the rich contexts of each unit to life.
Digital Resources include videos of classrooms in action, access to reproducibles, and overviews of lessons and program componenets.
Resource Books provide carefully designed problems for guided group work, intervention, enrichment, and minilessons throughout the year.
"Our work is driven by the desire to transform classrooms into communities of mathematicians."
