Elementary Math Program

Textbooks  – The textbooks and online text resources are just one aspect of the media and methodology used to create rich instructional units.

Arlington Public Schools uses the following purchased resources to support the teaching and learning of the Virginia Department of Education Standards of Learning for Mathematics.

• Savvas Realize/enVision
• Do the Math (Intervention)
• Bridges (Intervention)
• Kathy Richardson (Intervention)
• Project M2 and M3: Mentoring Young Mathematicians

Mathematics instruction in APS is aligned to the five Process Standards for Mathematics developed by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and promoted by the Virginia Department of Education.

Mathematical Problem Solving

Students will apply mathematical concepts and skills and the relationships among them to solve problem situations of varying complexities. Students also will recognize and create problems from real-world data and situations within and outside mathematics and then apply appropriate strategies to determine acceptable solutions. To accomplish this goal, students will need to develop a repertoire of skills and strategies for solving a variety of problem types. A major goal of the mathematics program is to help students apply mathematics concepts and skills to become mathematical problem solvers.

Mathematical Communication

Students will communicate thinking and reasoning using the language of mathematics, including specialized vocabulary and symbolic notation, to express mathematical ideas with precision. Representing, discussing, justifying, conjecturing, reading, writing, presenting, and listening to mathematics will help students to clarify their thinking and deepen their understanding of the mathematics being studied. Mathematical communication becomes visible where learning involves participation in mathematical discussions.

Mathematical Reasoning

Students will recognize reasoning and proof as fundamental aspects of mathematics. Students will learn and apply inductive and deductive reasoning skills to make, test, and evaluate mathematical statements and to justify steps in mathematical procedures. Students will use logical reasoning to analyze an argument and to determine whether conclusions are valid. In addition, students will use number sense to apply proportional and spatial reasoning and to reason from a variety of representations.

Mathematical Connections

Students will build upon prior knowledge to relate concepts and procedures from different topics within mathematics and see mathematics as an integrated field of study. Through the practical application of content and process skills, students will make connections among different areas of mathematics and between mathematics and other disciplines, and to real-world contexts. Science and mathematics teachers and curriculum writers are encouraged to develop mathematics and science curricula that support, apply, and reinforce each other.

Mathematical Representations

Students will represent and describe mathematical ideas, generalizations, and relationships using a variety of methods. Students will understand that representations of mathematical ideas are an essential part of learning, doing, and communicating mathematics. Students should make connections among different representations – physical, visual, symbolic, verbal, and contextual – and recognize that representation is both a process and a product.