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Find Your Curriculum Companion Guide

Curriculum Companion Guides help you use Zearn alongside your curriculum by showing which Zearn Mission to assign at the start of each unit. In Zearn, each grade’s math is organized into Missions—coherent sequences of lessons focused on connected sets of grade-level math ideas. Students begin at the first lesson and work through each Mission in order, progressing at their own pace and building understanding over time. This helps connect students’ digital learning to the grade-level math they are learning in class.

Educators nationwide can use the downloadable Curriculum Companion Guides linked in this Help Center article. These guides can be opened or downloaded as PDFs and used as a reference when assigning Missions in the Zearn Math platform.

Educators in Louisiana and South Carolina also have access to a guided Curriculum Companion experience directly in the Zearn Math platform. From their Zearn Math Welcome Page, they can open the guide for their curriculum, find the unit they are teaching, and assign the recommended Mission as part of the same workflow. This platform-based experience is not currently available nationwide.

Available Curriculum Companion Guides

Louisiana 

South Carolina

Texas

National

How to use your Curriculum Companion Guide

At the start of each unit, use your Curriculum Companion Guide to identify the Zearn Mission for that unit and assign students to the first lesson.

Students work through the Mission at their own pace. When you begin a new unit, assign the next recommended Mission so students continue moving forward in the learning progression, even if they have not finished their previous Mission.

Don’t see your guide? Learn how to use Zearn alongside your HQIM.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is the Curriculum Companion Guide, and how does it work?

The Curriculum Companion Guide helps you use Zearn Math as a coherent companion to your high-quality Tier 1 instruction, connecting students’ digital learning to the grade-level concepts they are developing in class. The guide helps ensure coherence between live instruction and digital learning by identifying which Zearn Mission reinforces each unit in your curriculum. At the start of each curriculum unit, assign the recommended Zearn Mission. Students work through the digital lessons in the mission at their own pace, building deep understanding of connected math concepts grounded in the CPA approach, with no daily lesson setting or reassignment required. Then set goals, monitor progress, and provide support as students move through the lesson sequence within the Mission. 

2. Which Mission should I assign my students?

Use the Curriculum Companion Guide to find the Zearn Mission connected to the curriculum unit you are currently teaching, and assign students to that Mission. At the start of each new unit, return to the guide to determine the next assignment. Each Mission is intentionally selected to support the curriculum unit, reflecting strong alignment between your curriculum and Zearn's research-based learning progression. Rather than matching individual lessons, students begin at Lesson 1 and work through the Mission in order, building fluency and conceptual understanding through a Concrete–Representational–Abstract (CRA) progression, with embedded support that maintains grade-level rigor.

3. What if the content of the recommended Zearn Mission doesn’t exactly match the content in my core curriculum unit?

Students may be on different lessons, encounter concepts earlier or later than in class, or move at different speeds. This works because every Zearn Mission is designed with an intentional learning progression where each lesson within a Mission builds on the previous one. What matters most is that students move through the lessons within a Mission in order and stay engaged in grade-level learning. Even when the timing isn’t perfectly in sync, students are still developing and reinforcing the same underlying math ideas across both experiences.

4. When I start a new unit, what should I do if students haven’t finished their current Mission?

As students work at their own pace, it is normal for some to not finish a Mission before a new curriculum unit begins. When you move to a new curriculum unit, assign the recommended Zearn Mission to all students to keep their digital learning connected to your instruction. Each Mission includes built-in supports and scaffolds, so students can engage with new content even if they are at different points in their learning. This ensures students experience the full breadth of grade-level math while continuing to build understanding and fluency.

5. What should I do if a student finishes their Mission before the class moves to the next unit?

If a student completes their Mission before the class moves to the next curriculum unit, they will automatically unlock and advance to the next Mission in Zearn's grade-level sequence. If you'd prefer to choose what they work on next, you have two options: have them complete Digital Bonuses within their current Mission, or assign the next recommended Mission using the Curriculum Companion Guide. Either way, students remain productively engaged, whether deepening their understanding of current concepts or continuing to advance through grade-level content.

6. Are Course Guides the same as Curriculum Companion Guides?

No. Course Guides and Curriculum Companion Guides serve different purposes.

Course Guides explain the grade-level instructional materials, assessments, reports, and student supports included in Zearn Math. They are available as PDFs directly in all Zearn Math accounts.

Curriculum Companion Guides show which Zearn Math Mission connects to each unit of another core math curriculum. Downloadable Curriculum Companion Guides are available through the Zearn Help Center.