Wilmington City Schools 'Bridges' K-5 students to math

In the last 12 months, a K-5 representative team of Wilmington City Schools math teachers and administrators have worked to select a new math program for the current school year. After an extensive review process, the team selected the Bridges in Mathematics program.

According to the Math Learning Center, the Bridges' curriculum "… blends direct instruction, structured investigation, and open exploration. It taps into the intelligence and strengths of all students by presenting material that is as linguistically, visually, and kinesthetically rich as it is mathematically powerful."

Over the summer, teachers attended 12 hours of training to become familiar with The Bridges resources. They learned how the resource can be utilized to engage students in direct instruction, structured investigation, and open exploration. Teachers will also meet on a monthly basis throughout the school year to plan for upcoming units.

Fifth-grade math teacher Jeff Warix said, "I really enjoy the conversations our new math program has allowed us to have in our classroom. The students are gaining confidence each day in their math abilities. I like the variety of the lessons and the concentration on the mathematical practices. The students seem to enjoy the Number Corners, and being able to record and share their thinking as well as new learning."

Fifth-grade student Jaidyn Collier said of the math class, "I like Bridges because of the problem strings, games, and calendar; it adds a fun aspect to math that our other program didn't. It is more entertaining; it takes a little bit to understand but it gets easier with practice."

Fifth-grade math teacher Amy Depp reports that the students have enjoyed learning a real-world experience about volume and the shipping and cost of items. The students built and calculated the volume of rectangular prisms using an omnifix cube.

The students presented their findings to the class in a math forum.

Teachers in the Wilmington City school district are committed to the new learning for both the adults and students this newly selected program will require