By ALEXIS BARTOLOMUCCI
The Boardman School District has implemented a new math curriculum for students in kindergarten through sixth grade starting at the beginning of the 2016 school year.
Jared Cardillo, Boardman Director of Instruction, wanted to implement something that would match the common core standards along with making sure every student is on the same page. If a student transfers from one school to another in Boardman, they should be able to start where they left off at their old school.
The new curriculum is structured in a way for the students to have a workbook they can take home and show their parents what they’re working on. There is also a website the students can log on to from another location if they want to practice some of what they are learning.
Students in Jeff Hammerton’s fourth-grade class at Robinwood Lane Elementary use dry erase boards at their seats to follow along and solve the problems that are displayed on the SMART Board at the front of the class. The class starts out with a four-problem warm-up lesson that matches a standard in the common core. At the end of the week, the students will be quizzed over the materials they learned. The new curriculum is about game play. The students are supposed to play an hour of games every week that relate to what they’re learning to allow them to have fun with the material.
“The series has you explore, you have to problem solve, think and explain,” said Hammerton.
Several of the students have easily picked up the new methods that are being taught. There are a few different methods the students learn and they are able to use the one that they feel the most comfortable with.
There was a math night toward the beginning of the school year where the parents came and were introduced to the curriculum. The curriculum has helped keep all of the math teachers teach with a similar structure and keep on schedule with each other.