Investigations © 2012 for the Common Core

Each grade level consists of a set of units that are presented through investigations that involve students in the exploration of major mathematical ideas. Approaching the mathematics content through investigations helps student develop flexibility and confidence in approaching problems, fluency in using mathematical skills and tools to solve problems, and proficiency in evaluating their solutions. Students also build a repertoire of ways to communicate their mathematical thinking, while their enjoyment and application of mathematics grows.

The Core Curriculum Package includes curriculum units, the Implementing Investigations guide , the Differentiation and Intervention Guide (Grades 1–5), the Investigations and the Common Core State Standards Resource Book, Investigations for the Interactive Whiteboard, the Common Core Student Activity Book and a manipulatives kit.

Mathematics teaching and learning at its best is a collaboration among teachers, students, and the curriculum. The curriculum materials provide a coherent, carefully sequenced core of mathematics content for students and supportive professional development materials for teachers. Teachers are active partners in learning the curriculum, understanding how each mathematical focus is developed, and implementing the curriculum in a way that accommodates the needs of their students.

The following software is available for Investigations:
• Shapes software for Grades K–2 provides an environment in which students investigate a variety of geometric ideas, including relationships between shapes, how shapes combine to make other shapes, symmetry, and geometric transformations such as rotations (turns), translations (slides), and reflections (flips). • LogoPaths Software for Grades 3–5 provides an environment in which students investigate movement along paths, length, perimeter, angle, and the characteristics of a variety of shapes. • Investigations for the Interactive Whiteboard makes Investigations activities available on the interactive whiteboard. With support for every Session, teachers can use the interactive whiteboard to do the day's Classroom Routine or Ten-Minute Math, introduce a game or activity, facilitate a discussion, or illustrate a particular idea or solution. Students can use the interactive whiteboard to play a game or do an activity during Math Workshop, and teachers can use these activities to work with small groups. • Teachers can use the ExamView® Tests to Assess New Standards CD-ROM to customize tests and worksheets within seconds. • Available in English or Spanish, the Resource Masters CD-ROM contains all of the transparencies and Resource Masters used in the program. This includes assessment masters, game directions and recording sheets, and family letters. • Investigations online resources are hosted through Pearson SuccessNet. Here, students have access to activities and their online Student Math Handbook . Teachers can find a Lesson Planner, teacher resources, and Success Tracker—a powerful assessment and data management tool.

Students can use calculators as effective tools to help them think critically, develop problem-solving skills, solve more complex problems, and explore number concepts and patterns.

The games included in Investigations are a central part of the mathematics in each curriculum unit; they are not just used as an enrichment activity. Games are used to develop concepts and to practice skills, such as adding strings of single-digit numbers, finding combinations to make 10 or 20, or adding up to or subtracting from 100 or one dollar. The rationale for using games includes the following:
• Games provide engaging opportunities for students to deepen their understanding of the number system operations and to practice computation. • Games encourage strategic mathematical thinking as students find an optimal way (rather than just any way) of winning the game. • Games provide repeated practice without requiring the teacher to provide new problems. • Games enable the teacher to observe students and work with individuals or small groups.

Investigations for the Common Core is a coherent and focused K–5 mathematics curriculum that teachers can use to implement the philosophy and content described by the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Teachers can achieve full alignment by teaching the program fully, as written, and integrating the new content included in Investigations and the Common Core State Standards guide

The Standards for Mathematical Practice are closely aligned with the goals and principles that guided the development of every Investigations Session. The mathematical practices—which include making sense of and reasoning about mathematics, constructing arguments and explanations, and selecting appropriate tools to model mathematical concepts and solve problems—are and always have been deeply embedded in the fabric of the Investigations curriculum and facilitate the teaching and learning of mathematics. Every lesson in Investigations includes one or more of these mathematical practices.

There is strong alignment between Investigations and the Standards for Mathematical Content. Each curriculum unit provides an in-depth study of a specific and related set of mathematical concepts and skills. The design of the materials offers students extended opportunities to make sense of, practice, and develop fluency with the key concepts and skills within a grade level and across grade levels. Most of the CCSS content standards are met by teaching the units, in order, as written. Investigations and the Common Core State Standardsguide provides new content so that all standards are covered.

Most of the CCSS content standards are met by teaching the grade level units, in order, as written. Investigations and the Common Core guide provides new content so that all standards are covered.

The Investigations curriculum assumes that teachers spend one hour of each classroom day on mathematics, in addition to conducting brief Classroom Routines (Grades K–3) or Ten-Minute Math Activities (Grades 3–5). A chart called Today’s Plan appears at the beginning of each session that lays out the suggested pacing for the activities in that one-hour session.

The curriculum at each grade level is organized into nine units ( and only seven for Grade K). These curriculum units are the teaching guides for the program. Each curriculum unit offers from two to five-and-a-half weeks of work and focuses on the area of mathematics indentified in the unit’s subtitle.

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Choose the Planning tab, and then click Lesson Planner.

Choose the Content tab at the top, and click Tests.

Choose the Planning tab, and then click Assignments. A list of all of the tests and lessons you have assigned will appear.

Yes. Choose the Content tab at the top, and click Tests. Then, choose My Test, and follow the four steps to build a test.

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You have five options for viewing the reports. Choose the Reports tab, and then select Test Scores, Lesson Progress, Mastery, Item Analysis or Self-Assessment.

A SuccessNet Administrator is an individual looking to manage student and teacher data within SuccessNet for his or her school or for several schools in the district. This role is often most appropriate for a Technology Coordinator, Curriculum Coach, or Principal.

A SuccessNet Administrator can set up student and teacher accounts for the school or schools in a district. He or she can also update student grade levels, transfer students from one school to another, and get detailed reports by the teacher and the school.