Amplify Desmos sample lesson materials/etc online

[Anonymous]

For anyone who doesn't know, Amplify Desmos has a lot of their materials up online so you can see how their lessons tend to work-- see here: https://classroom.amplify.com/collection/68d58165b21a75b257ae23c2?collections=651ca31cf69ee59aa9e3818a

Select the grade and then select a lesson. Go down to "screens" to see what the teacher sees and what they are supposed to show and say to the kids. At the bottom of each screen, there will be a book icon (click to see what the kids see) and a "teacher moves" tab (what the teacher is supposed to be doing), although some screens don't have both. Some of the "teacher moves" have a "differentiation table" to click on to walk through how to "support," "strengthen," or "stretch" kids for that activity. For example, the 4th grade "Equal Groups of Fractions" lesson has links to differentiation tables on slides 3, 7, and 12.

Also up at the top of each lesson there should be a clock with "at a glance" that breaks down the timing of the lesson and how much of it is whole group/pairs/etc. After skimming a few, it seems like Amplify Desmos likes to spend a lot of their lesson time on pair work, with 10 minutes or so of whole group time at the beginning and end.

I have not had time to look very deeply into this, but wanted to share for others' reference.

[Anonymous]

Also my initial take on this from the enrichment/acceleration perspective, although I've only read through a handful of lessons so far:

This provides a lot of hand-holding to teachers to provide some enrichment in the lower grades where there is usually none, which seems like good progress-- there are some things I don't love about it, but anything is better than nothing!

But the "stretch" material does not at all seem adequate to support compacting/acceleration, unless MCPS is going to write their own material (or ask Amplify Desmos to write material) for accelerated students to cover in small groups during the paired-work time in the middle of lessons. (Although even if they did that, the kids would have to sit through ~10 minutes of whole group introductions, and then the teacher would have to spend her time during the paired-work time teaching the additional material to the accelerated students rather than circulating and providing support to other students who might need it.)

[Anonymous]

Holy moly. Just checked it out and it is TRASH. I don't think anyone can get educated through this website. LOL.

You are better off going through Khan Academy.

Jeesus...AI has already digested your kids jobs and shat it out too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Holy moly. Just checked it out and it is TRASH. I don't think anyone can get educated through this website. LOL.

You are better off going through Khan Academy.

Jeesus...AI has already digested your kids jobs and shat it out too.

What didn't you like about it? The lessons I saw seemed decent.

[Anonymous]

Is there going to be a workbook for class and an accompanying homework book for home?

My favorite thing about Eureka was that it wasn't all screens.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, OP! I was trying to google last week but was not able to navigate to find any details, so this is very helpful web source.

So I just checked the Grade 5 math lessons as I have a rising 5th grader currently in compacted math. They had just finished "decimal and fraction operation", which is the last but one unit. I'm wondering if this is the curriculum for them next year, are they basically repeating every content that they've learnt except the last unit?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there going to be a workbook for class and an accompanying homework book for home?

My favorite thing about Eureka was that it wasn't all screens.

You can see the workbook pages for each unit if you click on the little book icon on the teacher screens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks, OP! I was trying to google last week but was not able to navigate to find any details, so this is very helpful web source.

So I just checked the Grade 5 math lessons as I have a rising 5th grader currently in compacted math. They had just finished "decimal and fraction operation", which is the last but one unit. I'm wondering if this is the curriculum for them next year, are they basically repeating every content that they've learnt except the last unit?

I believe the 5th grade topics that 4/5 students haven't gotten to yet are modules 4-6... multiplication and division of fractions, volume and area, and coordinate plane/data representation.

I think this is Amplify Desmos grade 5: https://amplify.com/pdf/uploads/2023/09/K-5-ScopeSequence.pdf -- so looks like that would be units 1, 2, 3 and 7 that are new?

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the heads up, OP! About a different Desmos product:

My youngest is in 10th grade and uses the Desmos online graphing calculator, which is seamlessly integrated into her AP math and physics courses. It's worth taking a minute to practice working with it, because the day of the exams, it's a HUGE time saver compared to using an external calculator!

FYI...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks, OP! I was trying to google last week but was not able to navigate to find any details, so this is very helpful web source.

So I just checked the Grade 5 math lessons as I have a rising 5th grader currently in compacted math. They had just finished "decimal and fraction operation", which is the last but one unit. I'm wondering if this is the curriculum for them next year, are they basically repeating every content that they've learnt except the last unit?

I believe the 5th grade topics that 4/5 students haven't gotten to yet are modules 4-6... multiplication and division of fractions, volume and area, and coordinate plane/data representation.

I think this is Amplify Desmos grade 5: https://amplify.com/pdf/uploads/2023/09/K-5-ScopeSequence.pdf -- so looks like that would be units 1, 2, 3 and 7 that are new?

It looks to me the simplest and effective "transition" is to use Desmos Gr5 unit 1,2,3,7 or whatever haven't been taught this year and the entire Gr6 for the rising compacted math 5th graders.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Holy moly. Just checked it out and it is TRASH. I don't think anyone can get educated through this website. LOL.

You are better off going through Khan Academy.

Jeesus...AI has already digested your kids jobs and shat it out too.

Hmm. I'm a scientist, know about math, taught it to my kids, and no, it's not trash. It's actually pretty good!

Your over-the-top reaction is so weird. Are you one of those parents who will criticize any product offered by MCPS, just because it's MCPS? Some of them have been terrible, I'll grant you, particularly some of their previous reading initiatives (ugh). But don't knee-jerk your way to an opinion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Holy moly. Just checked it out and it is TRASH. I don't think anyone can get educated through this website. LOL.

You are better off going through Khan Academy.

Jeesus...AI has already digested your kids jobs and shat it out too.

Ai would do better than that. Looks terrible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Holy moly. Just checked it out and it is TRASH. I don't think anyone can get educated through this website. LOL.

You are better off going through Khan Academy.

Jeesus...AI has already digested your kids jobs and shat it out too. :lol: :lol: :lol:

Ai would do better than that. Looks terrible.

Are you guys saying it's trash because it looks more fun/engaging than Eureka? As if that's a bad thing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there going to be a workbook for class and an accompanying homework book for home?

My favorite thing about Eureka was that it wasn't all screens.

There is a workbook but not a separate homework book like in Eureka.

[Anonymous]

I had an educator with more than 30 years of ES experience look at the materials. They confirmed that it allows for enrichment but not acceleration. How can MCPS claim this plan satisfies state requirements?