Susan Riley | May 2014

Introducing Integrated Math Maps

It’s spring and that means that it’s getting close to curriculum writing season again for many educators across the country.  Whether you are formally writing curriculum for your district, or if you are just tweaking your own, many teachers use the late spring and summer months to adjust their curriculum to reflect changes in their practice and new standards.  Unlike other professions, education changes at a rapid pace and our curricular items need to reflect those changes as soon as possible.  However, curriculum writing is a strenuous process!  Finding standards, reviewing lesson ideas, and ensuring the highest quality instructional alignments are a monumental task.

That’s why one of the biggest requests we receive here at EdCloset is for help in mapping across the curriculum.  Many administrators and curriculum specialists are asking teachers to integrate across subject areas, but many just do not know where to start.  Conversely, many arts educators seek out resources to help align their standards with other areas in order to allow for more authentic integration with classroom teachers.  We work hard to provide you with the process for HOW and WHY to map curriculum, but starting today, we’re also providing you with several ready-made maps to jumpstart your own curriculum projects!

Integrated Math Maps

We’ve started this project using the new Common Core Math Standards as our point of entry.  We’ve developed Integrated Math Maps for each grade, K-5, in each of the math domains.  Each grade level map aligns math standards with either visual art, music, theatre or dance standards across each domain addressed in that grade level.  We have also developed a set of K-5 Integrated Math Maps that provides you with all of the maps at once, making vertical alignment between grade levels so much easier.  Everything is color-coded and sequential, making these some of the most teacher-friendly, practical maps out there.

Why Math?

We have a series of English Language Arts-aligned maps in the book STEAM Point (which will soon be expanded just like these), and that’s because the literacy standards can be directly applied to the arts since artistic compositions can be considered text themselves.  We’ve found that one of the greatest areas of need is in finding natural alignments between the arts and the math standards, so that is where we have placed our first area of focus.  In the coming months, we’ll be sharing ELA, Science and Social Studies aligned maps as well, and we’ll be expanding these resources to include grades 6-12 as appropriate.

FREE DOWNLOAD

We want everyone to have access to SOMETHING to get you started with curriculum writing this spring and summer.  So we’d love for you to download our Integrated Math Map Starter Pack for grades K-5.  This starter pack includes one alignment map from each grade level so that you can see for yourself if this will be a useful tool in your curriculum planning.  Just click the image below and you’ll be able to download the PDF file directly to your computer.

Introducing Integrated Math Maps, Education Closet

Finally…

If you think these maps may be a helpful resource for you, we invite you to purchase your grade level map directly.  Each map is just $9, so it’s extremely cost effective.  If you’re looking for a full set, K-5, we offer that as well for just $49 (a 10% savings), which helps in planning across grade levels as well as across content areas.  We hope this new tool for integrating the arts across the curriculum is helpful to all of you looking for innovative ways to move your students forward this year!

About the Author

Susan Riley is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Institute for Arts Integration and STEAM. This is the world’s largest online resource for educators interested in integrating the arts. She has presented at events and authored articles for many educational organizations including The US Department of Education, Palmetto State Arts Education, Edutopia, Education Week, Americans for the Arts, ASCD, and NPR. She regularly presents at national and international events each year. She is the author of three books and is a sought-after collaborator for innovative educational projects around the globe. Susan brings creativity, practicality, dedication and passion to the education landscape. She is well-respected for her pioneering work in the fields of Arts Integration and STEAM education with a standards-based approach. As an educator who taught for 10 years in public schools, as well as served in central office leadership, she understands the fast-paced change, challenges and promise of 21st century schools. As an entrepreneur, she has successfully taken what was once a simple education blog and developed it into a rapidly-growing and highly-respected educational institution. Her team of 15+ teachers, leaders and coaches support over over 500,000 educators each month worldwide. Susan holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education from the prestigious Westminster Choir College in Princeton, NJ and a Master of Science in Education Administration from McDaniel College in Westminster, MD. She lives in Westminster, MD with her husband and daughter. Email Susan