BeCALM (Beginning Curriculum for Adults Learning Math) contains remote-ready units for adult learners who need math instruction at beginning levels (GLE 2-4). Adults who are beginning math learners sometimes find themselves left behind by high school equivalency curricula, or stuck trying to memorize their way through calculations they don’t understand. What will help these learners is a conceptually-focused, cognitively rigorous curriculum that supports them in developing number sense. Number sense is the ability to break down and recombine numbers in useful ways, based on a conceptual understanding of how numbers work. Developing number sense can help beginning learners improve their mathematical fluency without memorization, while building a solid foundation for later study.

The math content of this resource was developed for ABE level math students (approximately GLE 2–4). While adult students at this math level may have any level of reading, the student materials were designed to be used by adults with a reading level GLE 2 or above. To keep things accessible, however, the text in the Student Packet is kept to a minimum, so it can be used with students who are beginning and intermediate English Learners as well with those at an ABE reading level.

The Student Packet was designed to be used by students attending remote or in-person synchronous classes. Most of the activities in each unit work best when done synchronously, but the routines, once established, could be assigned for homework.

Note that Part 2 of the curriculum (Operation Sense) can be found here.