See how the educators of Springfield Public Schools District 186 are helping students learn to love math.
There’s no denying it: young children say the best things.
The elementary students of Springfield Public Schools District 186 in Springfield, IL are no exception—when we asked, “What do you like best about math class? What are your favorite activities?”, their answers shone with an unfiltered, genuine joy for learning.
They told us:
"I like when we play games, talk to friends, and learn about money."
"I like when we do math activities with friends because as we go to harder things, if they need help, I’ll be there to help them."
"My favorite activities? That’s hard because I like a lot about math!"
"I like trying new things."
"The math every day is really fun and we get to do fun games."
Not one student had a negative word to say about math class—a credit to the hard work and inspiring practices of the educators of District 186.
Here’s a little peek into how they’re using our ClearMath Elementary program to turn math classrooms into places where play and love of math go hand in hand.
The power of play
Young children like to play, right? It’s how they explore and make sense of the world around them—so the best learning solutions should leverage that natural curiosity.
But that hasn’t always been the case for elementary math education at District 186. Although they’ve always known that hands-on learning through play is the answer to getting young kids to love math, they never quite found a program that balanced the need for play, active learning, and developing conceptual understanding.
Enter ClearMath Elementary, the K–5 math solution powered by play and backed by research into how kids learn best. District 186 has been implementing the math solution since the beginning of the 2023-24 school year. Teachers like Emily Osowski are excited to have a resource that taps into young learners’ curiosity and ignites a love of mathematics.
“Having the power of play in ClearMath Elementary is a lot different than other programs we’ve had,” shares Ms. Osowski, a third grade teacher at McClernand Elementary School. “It brings learning and fun into math. That's been missing in a lot of other programs. The kids really enjoy it, and it grows their confidence when they can see that what they're doing is not only learning, but it's fun.”
Kate Dabbs, a kindergarten teacher at Lee School and building math leader, agrees. “It’s been so nice having a new perspective on how to teach math with lots of hands-on activities, learning through play, learning through exploring, working in small groups, and not just the teacher talking.”
Soaring engagement and student performance
Another common thread we heard from District 186 educators? The newfound engagement their students have during math class. Kids love hands-on learning and collaboration!
Robert Deaton, 4th and 5th grade math teacher at Sandburg Elementary School, explains, “I've seen kids this year far more engaged in math than in the past. The hands-on activities are huge. They like being able to get up and put their hands on things, even if it's just a number cube.”
“They love the collaboration in each lesson,” continues Traci Bremer, a kindergarten teacher at Blackhawk Elementary. “Even just a turn and talk to a partner or playing a game with partners. We didn’t have that before, and they love it.”
Collaboration, hands-on activities, and meaningful play all contribute to active classrooms where student engagement isn’t the only benefit—research has shown increases in academic performance, too.
Serita Lott, Principal at Southern View Elementary School, has seen that evidence first-hand in the short time District 186 has been using ClearMath Elementary.
“As far as quantitative improvements, our MAP math scores have gone up,” she shares. “Some grade levels significantly, but they're all growing. And we have not seen growth in our MAP math scores in quite a long time.”
An instructional model that puts play to the test
All of the play in the world isn’t enough to make kids good at math and help teachers feel confident teaching it. It takes dedicated educators and a well-thought-out instructional model to bring it all together.
As any teacher knows, instructional schedules are jam-packed to get all content in within a school year. But those schedules often don’t play out in the real world the same way they do on paper, and especially in math, students need time to pause and circle back to concepts to solidify their skills.
District 186 educators have found welcome relief in ClearMath Elementary's unique instructional model. This model allows students to learn new concepts and skills over a series of lessons and then pause to reflect on their learning.
“The Teach Teach Pause instructional model has been really beneficial,” says Kandi Tarvin, a first grade teacher at Lindsay Elementary. “In using past curriculums, I've found myself creating that model on my own by putting pause days in. ClearMath Elementary already has that embedded.”
Those pause days, called Re-Engagement days, allow teachers and students to collaborate to ensure everyone is on track with the learning targets and revisit essential concepts.
JT Armbruster, a fourth grade teacher at McClernand Elementary School, emphasizes the importance of re-engaging with past learning. “Re-Engagement day gives us time to explore something we talked about maybe two or three days ago,” he says. “The kids have to reset and go, ‘Oh, I'm going to have to really keep this in my head for a little bit longer because it's going to keep coming up.’”
In addition to revisiting past concepts, Re-Engagement days empower teachers to move every student toward mastery.
“Another thing that I really like about ClearMath Elementary is that it helps you see how students are progressing throughout a topic or a module,” says Ms. Osowksi. “I can see that, okay, they've been in a solidify activity for the past two Re-Engagement days. How can I push them to get to a stretch activity? And Carnegie Learning provides those activities that will push students a little farther.”
An essential part of Re-Engagement days is MATHia® Adventure, a game-based online learning software that lets students engage with previously taught concepts in a fun and motivating environment. After all, kids learn best through play, right?
“They really enjoy that MATHia Adventure has different games that they can explore,” says Ms. Osowski. “They like that it connects the gameplay to what they're learning in the topic.”
“ClearMath Elementary tells you specifically which game to use to help further develop those skills,” continues Mr. Deaton, of the benefits of re-engagement with MATHia Adventure. “There's no guesswork. It's all outlined for you.”
Ms. Tarvin laughs, “Even on days that they've earned some type of free choice, I look over, and the kids are playing MATHia Adventure!”
The future of elementary math in District 186
It’s been an honor and privilege to support the District 186 crew on their journey to improving math education for all students. With the right team of educators, math can be fun and engaging.
Ms. Osowski said it best: “The power of play is more important than ever when it comes to math. It can really bring math to life and engage your students in ways that you'd be surprised by.”
We can’t wait to see how far District 186 students and teachers go. Is your district next?
Before joining Carnegie Learning's marketing team in 2022, Karen spent 16 years teaching mathematics and social studies in Ohio classrooms. She has a passion for inclusive education and believes that all learners can be meaningfully included in academic settings from day one. As a former math and special education teacher, she is excited to provide educators with the latest in best-practices content so that they can set all students on the path to becoming confident "math people."
Explore more related to this authorAs far as quantitative improvements, our MAP math scores have gone up. Some grade levels significantly, but they're all growing. And we have not seen growth in our MAP math scores in quite a long time.
Serita Lott, Principal at Southern View Elementary School, Springfield District 186
