The Math curriculum is designed for understanding as students continue to grow as mathematicians. Branford uses instructional programming that is consistent with the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. The curriculum seeks to deepen students’ ability to use mathematical reasoning, make conjectures, and justify and communicate their conclusions in order to solve math problems that arise in the real world. Students are taught to “think mathematically” as they encounter new material and to look for multiple ways of solving math problems.
The Branford Mathematics curriculum reflects the district priorities at each grade level, as well as the Global Learning Competencies. The Common Core content standards help to shape the direction and focus of each unit while the practices (listed below) mirror the instructional beliefs in Branford. Using these as driving factors, the district developed K-12 Transfer Goals that appear in all curricular units and are revisited throughout a student’s academic career.
Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them
Reason abstractly and quantitatively
Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others
Model with mathematics
Use appropriate tools strategically
Attend to precision
Look for and make use of structure
Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning