Adults who are beginning math learners can sometimes find themselves left behind by HSE curriculum or stuck trying to memorize their way through calculations they don’t understand. BeCALM (Beginning Curriculum for Adults Learning Math) was designed to be a conceptually focused, cognitively rigorous curriculum that supports beginning math learners in developing math concepts and skills.
This 1.5-hour online workshop will introduce a curriculum specifically designed to help beginning-level math learners develop part-whole reasoning with benchmark fractions. This resource can be used for remote or in-person classes and includes a student packet, teacher’s guide, and other downloadable materials. Units include application activities in the context of financial literacy that integrate TSTM (Teaching Skills That Matter) identified skills. All materials will be available on the SABES website prior to the workshop.
- ABE teachers teaching math at GLE levels 2-4 and administrators at all levels of math ability and comfort
This professional development activity/course is designed for:
Benchmark fractions (and their decimal and percent equivalents) are fractions that are easy to visualize and calculate, such as one-half and one-fourth. Benchmark fractions are a powerful way to develop number sense in beginning math learners and give them a way to reason about other, less familiar fractions. During the workshop, you will be introduced to the materials in the BeCALM Benchmark Fractions packet and will hear recommendations for their use from the developer and pilot teacher.
View/download BeCALM Benchmark Fractions materials here.
Note: Many of the math activities in this unit are adapted from EMPower Plus Using Benchmarks. They were adapted for beginning level learners and made accessible for remote teaching. The math content in this unit is designed for students with a math level GLE 2-4 (CCRSAE Math level A-B). The materials are also appropriate for students with limited literacy levels (Reading level GLE 2+).
Please note: Registrants will receive a separate email from Sherry Soares (sherry_soares@terc.edu) from the SABES Math team at TERC with instructions on how to access the Zoom session.
- Gain familiarity with the materials and some of the activities in the packet
- Identify which fraction concepts are important for beginning math learners
- Introduce part-whole reasoning with the benchmark fractions one-half and one-fourth
- Use benchmark fractions and visual models, such as number lines and circle graphs, to estimate less-familiar fractions
Upon completion of this professional development activity/course, you will be able to:
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