Scope and Sequence Alignment

School day teachers are doing good work with students. After-school has an opportunity to support that good work by understanding how to align with the “scope and sequence” of both the English/Language Arts and Math curriculums.

The scope and sequence refers to the material to be covered (scope) and the order it will be covered in (sequence). Textbooks usually prepare a scope and sequence for the classroom teacher. In many cases, this scope and sequence is adopted as is, in other cases, it is adapted by the teacher to meet the needs of students. A grade level’s scope of sequence documents typically build in times to review and re-teach skills throughout the year. This spiral continues to loop students into the learning. For example, in 4th grade it is expected that students will master Number Sense Math Standard 3.4--

Solve problems involving division of multi-digit numbers by one-digit numbers.

Throughout fourth grade students will visit and revisit this standard. The 5th grade scope and sequence builds upon the 4th grade scope and sequence, creating a continuum of learning that is progressive and focused. Standard 3.4 in 4th grade morphs in fifth grade to Number Sense Math Standard 2.2:

Demonstrate proficiency with division, including division with positive decimals and long division with multi-digit divisors.

This process of scope and sequence support student development, but when put together, the various grade level scope and sequence documents allows you to track the development of student knowledge over time, and a place to go when you are trying to offer remedial support during the after-school program.

When you use the scope and sequence documents in this way, you are doing a task analysis and determining what skills are needed at what time.

If you were to look at the 5th grade standard, students must have a variety of skills in order to complete long division problems with multi-digit divisors correctly. With a simple review of the problem it is easy to determine that the student must certainly understand the concept of division and what it means to separate a conglomerate into equal parts. The student must also know how to estimate so he/she has a place to begin the solving of the problem. The student must know his/her multiplication facts or how to access that information, how to subtract, how to follow the division internal procedure, and at the completion of the problem, the ability to look at the answer and identify whether or not that answer is plausible—all part of mathematical reasoning. By using this system of task analysis, you can observe the student as they work on a problem and determine where they are challenged. You can then select materials—games and other activities—that students can participate in to build the skills that are deficit.

While we don’t want to replicate the school day in after-school, we do want to support the student and the classroom teacher by knowing what is going on and bringing in after-school materials to reinforce the learning.

Being a good partner to the school day is a critical link for a strong after-school program. Check out our website, www.consultfourkids.com for Online Instruction videos on alignment.