IM Certified® Blog
Explorations in IM K–5 Math: Challenges for Curious Students
By Jen Hawkins and Mike Nakamaye What do we do with curious students who are ready, willing, and able to go further with math ideas? Some students cannot wait to dig deeper into the mathematics they are studying in class. Their curiosity comes from working with a...
What Does It Mean to Use Mathematics?
By William McCallum Our vision at Illustrative Mathematics is a world where all learners know, use, and enjoy mathematics. In my last post I picked up that first verb and talked about what it means to know mathematics. In this post I'd like to talk about what it means...
Supporting Culturally Responsive Pedagogy with IM K–5 Math™
By Dionne Aminata “We are striving to . . . compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters, and conditions of man. And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us, but what stands before us.” Poet Laureate, Amanda Gorman Amanda Gorman recited...
IM 6–12 Math: Grading and Homework Policies and Practices
By Jennifer Willson, Director, 6–12 Professional Learning Design In my role at IM, working with teachers and administrators, I am asked to help with the challenges of implementing an IM curriculum. One of the most common challenges is: how can we best align these...
By the End of Grade 3: Developing Fluency with Multiplication
By Zack Hill The major work of grade 3 includes representing and solving problems that involve multiplication and division. Then, by the end of grade 3, students are expected to know from memory all products of two one-digit numbers. What does this look like and how...
Growing with the IM Community Hub
By Portia Gibbs Roseboro, Britnee Wright, Justin Brennan The IM Community Hub, affectionately known as “The Hub,” was created to support educators using the IM Curriculum in navigating what teaching looks like now. Educators register for free to access resources from...
What does it mean to know mathematics?
By William McCallum A world where all learners know, use, and enjoy mathematics. Perhaps the most mysterious verb in the IM vision—a world where all learners know, use, and enjoy mathematics—is the first one: know. Knowing mathematics means being able to "do the...
Preparing for the Unknown: Our Journey to Virtual Facilitation
The excitement and nervousness in the room was almost palpable! There were approximately forty facilitators present for the 3-day IM K–5 Curriculum training in Dallas, Texas. We completely immersed ourselves into the curriculum and its components, practiced in-person facilitation moves, and made meaningful connections with one another and our incredible support team. It was an awesome experience!
The Nuances of Understanding a Fraction as a Number
By Kristin Gray This was originally posted on Kristin Gray’s personal blog, Math Minds, on November 15, 2020. Student work is just the best. It is the one thing that will always motivate me to write! So, let’s kick this post off with a great work example from grade 3....
Creating Time and Space for Students to Develop Foundational Mathematical Ideas
By Maureen D. O'Connell “Slow down, you’re moving too fast, you got to make the morning last...” When we consider early childhood mathematics this familiar song comes to mind. In our hurried society where more is more, childhood expectations have been pushed to...
