Using Zearn Math for Intervention

Zearn Math builds on-ramps to grade-level content, remediation support, and enrichments opportunities into all parts of students’ core instructional learning. The classroom model also incorporates a weekly Flex Day that creates dedicated time teachers can use to further differentiate instruction and meet student needs as well as administer paper-based assessments at the midpoint and end of each Mission. Flex Days, or any other flexible math block time (e.g. WIN, RTI), can include additional time to learn weekly grade-level lessons, learning extensions for extra challenges, or foundational work on areas of unfinished learning.

During all Flex Day activities, students should work on content directly related to their core grade-level learning. This type of strategic support, unlike disconnected off grade-level work, is the most effective way to help all students access and extend their grade-level math learning. Zearn Math provides teachers with Classroom Reports that can inform Flex Day planning and curricular materials that teachers can draw from to support and enrich student learning.

Zearn Math recommends the following remediation and enrichment options for Flex Day or any other flexible math block time (e.g. WIN, RTI).

Additional Independent Digital Lesson Time: Students need to complete four Independent Digital Lessons each week in order to finish all grade-level content during the academic year. Some students may need longer than the recommended minimum 120 minutes of digital time during core instruction to meet this goal. These students can use time on Flex Day to work on their software-based lessons and continue learning grade-level content at their own pace, supported by on-ramps and embedded remediation. These supports include Number Gym, individually adaptive fluency experiences that help students strengthen foundational number sense, and Boosts, personalized remediation paths that precisely address student misconceptions as they problem solve. 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.

Additional Small Group Instruction Time: Flex Days provide teachers with time they can use to lead targeted mini-lessons addressing specific grade-level areas where students need extra support. 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.  

Learning Extensions: If students are demonstrating mastery in assessments and completing four Independent Digital Lessons each week, teachers can use Flex Day to provide opportunities for additional challenge and growth. Zearn Math provides teachers with curricular materials for extending learning that are aligned to students’ current grade-level work.

Digital Bonuses: Digital Bonuses are challenging problems students can work on after they complete an Independent Digital Lesson. Teachers can assign students to work on bonuses during weekly flex time to enrich and extend learning. Digital Bonuses do not appear automatically in the Student Feed, so teachers should direct students to follow the steps below to navigate to them from their My Stuff page.

1. Click My Stuff on the student homepage
2. Click on a Lesson Badge or use the arrows to navigate to previous grades, Missions, and Lessons
3. In the Lesson pop-up, click the Beat It button

Optional Enrichment Problems: Teacher materials for Small Group Lessons highlight extra, above grade level problems that teachers can assign to students during Flex Day for enrichment. These problems are denoted by a green apple in the teacher materials and marked “Optional for Flex Day: Enrichment”.

Foundational Missions for Areas of Unfinished Learning: Zearn Math recommends students with significant areas of unfinished learning spend flexible math time or other specific intervention time working on earlier content that is directly tied to core grade-level learning. For each Mission of the curriculum, Zearn Math highlights Foundational Missions that point teachers to the specific earlier content areas where grade-level concepts are introduced and developed. Zearn Math does not offer a diagnostic test to identify specific intervention areas for students; rather, students should work on the Foundational Mission tied to their current grade-level work. For students with areas of unfinished learning from prior grades, Foundational Missions can provide essential bridges to the content students are learning during core instructional time.  

Teachers can access information on Foundational Missions from each Mission page within their Zearn account, and direct students to navigate back to the appropriate Foundational Mission through student’s My Stuff page. As students work on Foundational Missions during flex time or intervention time, teachers or intervention specialists should continue to implement the Zearn Math model fully. More on using Foundational Missions can be found here.