Module 2 explores two-dimensional and three-dimensional shapes.  Students learn about flat and solid shapes independently as well as how they are related to each other and to shapes in their environment.  Students begin to use position words when referring to and moving shapes.  Students learn to use their words to distinguish between examples and non-examples of flat and solid shapes.

After students observed, analyzed, and classified objects by shape into pre-determined categories in Module 2, they now compare and analyze length, weight, volume, and, finally, number in Module 3. The module supports students’ understanding of amounts and their developing number sense. The module culminates in a three-day exploration, one day devoted to each attribute: length, weight, and volume.

Module 4 marks the next exciting step in math for kindergartners, addition and subtraction! They begin to harness their practiced counting abilities, knowledge of the value of numbers, and work with embedded numbers to reason about and solve addition and subtraction expressions and equations. In Topics A and B, decomposition and composition are taught simultaneously using the number bond model so that students begin to understand the relationship between parts and wholes before moving into formal work with addition and subtraction in the rest of the module.

Kindergarten comes to a close with another opportunity for students to explore geometry in Module 6. Throughout the year, students have built an intuitive understanding of two- and three-dimensional figures by examining exemplars, variants, and non-examples. They have used geometry as a context for exploring numerals as well as comparing attributes and quantities. To wrap up the year, students further develop their spatial reasoning skills and begin laying the groundwork for an understanding of area through composition of geometric figures.

Up to this point in Grade K, students have worked intensively within 10 and have often counted to 30 using the Rekenrek during fluency practice. This work sets the stage for this module where students clarify the meaning of the 10 ones and some ones within a teen number and extend that understanding to count to 100.

Module 1 of the Kindergarten curriculum in A Story of Units.  In Topics A and B, classification activities allow students to analyze and observe their world and articulate their observations.  Reasoning and dialogue begin immediately.  In Topics C, D, E, and F, students order, count, and write up to ten objects to answer “how many?” questions from linear, to array, to circular, and finally to scattered configurations wherein they must devise a path through the objects as they count.  In Topics G and H, students use their understanding of relationships between numbers and know that each successive number name refers to a quantity that is one greater and that the number before is one less.