The Zearn Math recommended schedule incorporates a weekly Flex Day that creates dedicated time teachers can use to further differentiate instruction and helps students meet the pace required to complete all grade-level content. Zearn Math provides teachers with Class Reports that can inform Flex Day planning and curricular materials that teachers can draw from to support and enrich student learning. Flex Day activities can include:
Additional Independent Digital Lesson Time
Extra time on Digital Lessons helps ensure that all students have the time they need to meet their weekly goal of completing four Independent Digital Lessons, and stay on track to complete all grade-level content. Students can use time on Flex Day to work on their digital lessons, learning grade-level content at their own pace with on-ramps and embedded support.
This support includes Number Gym, individually adaptive fluency experiences that help students strengthen foundational number sense, and Boosts, support and scaffolding from prior grades or units that students receive the moment they need it. To identify which students need additional digital time to meet learning goals, teachers should check the Pace Report to see how many lessons students have completed each week.
Mini-Lessons for Small Group Instruction
Targeted mini-lessons can provide an opportunity to support small groups of students who need more engagement with a particular concept. During these mini-lessons, students can re-engage with the content they are learning during core instructional time, with opportunities to explore new problems, model their thinking with concrete manipulatives, discuss strategies with classmates, and receive direct feedback from their teacher.
Zearn Math materials for Small Group Lessons highlight extra problems, tied directly to students’ grade- level learning, that teachers can use during this flexible time. These problems are denoted by a green apple in the teacher materials and marked “Optional for Flex Day.” To identify which students may benefit from extra practice with a specific math idea, teachers should check the Tower Alerts Report each week.
Mission-level Assessments
Mid- and End-of-Mission assessments are built around open response items that require students to show their work or explain their thinking in a variety of ways, including drawing models and writing explanations. Assessments take approximately 30 minutes to complete. Teachers can use time on Flex Days to administer these paper-based assessments at the midpoint and end of each Mission.
Enrichment Opportunities
Teachers can use Flex Day to provide opportunities for additional challenge and growth to students who are meeting their goal of completing four Independent Digital Lessons each week and demonstrating mastery in their assessments.