Shifting to the Common Core Mathematics (Grades 2-3)

Shifting to the Common Core provides teachers with classroom strategies and activities to help students achieve greater depths of knowledge, including how to . . .

1. sort out information they receive in text and graphical presentations;
2. judge information and test it for reliability;
3. create information and organize it in new forms.

Standards correlations and model answers help teachers assess students’ comprehension of these important deeper-thinking skills.

Students in grades 2–3 will learn to . . .

• explore the mathematical problem-solving process;
• sort out word problems using knowns and unknowns;
• identify constants and variables;
• sort out formulas to determine which apply;
• recognize patterns and reasoning in mathematical expressions;
• use mathematical modeling to predict values;
• judge mathematical reasoning;
• explain specific problem-solving approaches;
• create new mathematical expressions in order to solve problems;
• model word problems and real-world situations using mathematics.

By developing these deeper-thinking skills, students improve their comprehension in mathematics and across the curriculum, raise their grades, and increase their success on Common Core assessments.