Families and caregivers, welcome to Amplify Desmos Math for grades K–5

Amplify Desmos Math is a core math curriculum built for kindergarten through grade 5. We developed the program around the idea that a structured approach to problem-based learning builds on students’ curiosity to develop lasting grade-level understanding for all students. Each lesson offers opportunities to develop students’ comprehension; connect their ideas; grow their skill fluency; and empower them to ask questions, explore, and make discoveries.

Amplify Desmos Math uses a student-centered approach to instruction, which has been proven to significantly increase math learning. Our mission is for your students to learn math—and to love learning math!

In every lesson, the Amplify Desmos Math curriculum poses engaging and relevant problems to solve, giving students daily opportunities to think critically, work collaboratively, and actively participate in their own learning.

Student-centered instruction may look different from the way students learned math in the past and from the way you learned math. Instead of memorizing formulas and tricks, student-centered learning gives students opportunities to figure out how math works. Research shows that students and teachers prefer this method, and teachers report that student-centered learning helps their students learn more math.

This way of learning helps students:

• Understand how math concepts work.
• Remember what they learn in class and apply their knowledge to new situations.
• Perform better on standardized tests and have more growth in their grades than their peers who learn through other methods.
• Learn to communicate in writing and verbally, understand and challenge the opinions of others, and build confidence in solving new problems.
• Develop key skills for success in college and the workplace, such as using technology, completing projects independently and with others, and persevering through difficult problems.

Amplify Desmos Math supports blended learning with supportive print materials and a unique digital experience. All Amplify Desmos Math K–5 lessons are available in a write-in Student Edition book. Many of the lessons include hands-on activities with manipulatives. An age-appropriate number of lessons enable students to use digital devices, such as laptops or tablets. These include enhanced digital experiences that teachers can assign to students.

Here’s what you can expect for your students from Amplify Desmos Math:

• Lessons that drive classroom discussions, so students can work toward a shared understanding and sense of community.
• Responsive Feedback that interprets student responses in context and encourages perseverance and revision.
• Easy-to-follow lesson plans tested in classrooms across the country, with clear teaching suggestions, strategies, and Math Language Routines.
• Practice problems to support fluency and help students review previous topics.
• Recommended differentiation suggestions for teachers so that they can meet the needs of diverse learners.
• Formative assessments that provide information on student understanding, so that teachers can adjust their instruction to meet the needs of all students in their class.
• Summative assessments that help teachers understand what students know about the math content they’ve been learning.
• Daily lesson-level assessments so that teachers can frequently check for understanding.
• A caregiver resource for each unit that includes explanations of key math concepts and problems to try with your student.

When students use devices, teachers can monitor students’ work in real time, making sure they get the exact support that they need at every part of the lesson, in and outside of class.

Students can access their digital work at home. Here’s an article on how to navigate the student home page.

Students in an Amplify Desmos Math classroom can be seen (and heard!)—asking questions, debating answers, justifying their thinking, grappling with problems, and working together and independently.

Here’s what a typical Amplify Desmos Math lesson includes:

• Warm-up: A short, attention-getting problem to get students interested in the lesson.
• Activities: One to two mini-activities that challenge students’ problem-solving skills.
• Synthesis: Discussion to review and bring together the important concepts from the lesson.
• Show What You Know and Reflection: Questions for students to show what they know from the lesson. (Note: The “Show What You Know” lesson assessment is optional for the teacher to assign in kindergarten and grade 1)
• Centers: Student-led activity stations that reinforce the math learned during lesson activities through interactive and often game-like formats. In kindergarten and grade 1, time for Centers is built into the last 15 minutes of every lesson.

Here’s what is available after the lesson to support, strengthen, and stretch students’ learning:

• Differentiation: Mini-lessons, Centers, extensions, personalized learning, and fluency practice.
• Practice: Additional problems your student’s teacher may assign for classwork or homework.

Explore free K–5 content in our Featured Collection. With our featured collections, you can access:

• Digital lessons: Engaging interactive lessons.
• Print lessons: Supportive print materials with interactive presentation screens.
• Mini-lessons: A mix of print and digital activities designed for small-group instruction.
• Math routines and other bite-sized activities.

Click here to access the collection and sign up for a free account.

Your student will have access to all learning, practice, and assessment materials through the Amplify platform. You and your student can access the digital curriculum in school and at home by following these instructions.

• Click the Amplify Desmos Math button.
• Select Log in with Amplify.
• Enter your student’s username and password provided by your student’s teacher.
• Select the desired grade level.

Once logged in, caregivers can view student work by opening previous assignments.