Students are continuously building upon their prior math knowledge to construct new understandings. As teachers, a solid understanding of the scope and sequence of mathematics learning is an essential component for responsive planning and instruction.

Many school divisions across the province have created their own versions of scope and sequence documents. We encourage you to seek out the scope and sequence documents in your division to use alongside or in place of these documents when planning for and supporting your students.

Saskatchewan has a diverse body of school and classroom demographics and as such, these documents are meant to support a variety of different applications such as the following¹:

1. Supporting vertical planning by providing a quick reference of the prerequisite knowledge for topics at each grade level and how that topic is built upon in future grades. By providing an understanding of how the mathematical concepts can be introduced and built upon, teachers are able to structure the learning in their classroom to support students in building their mathematical understandings.
2. Supporting teachers with combined grade classrooms in coordinating topics of study. A reality in our province is that teachers are often teaching combined grade classes of two or more curricula. It is our hope that this document will provide teachers with support to build their year and lesson plans with coordinated topics and activities.
3. Supporting interventions for students that have gaps in their prerequisite knowledge. We know that when a student is missing one of these important pieces of the puzzle, it is essential to bridge the gap that exists in student prior knowledge before we can continue into new territory. Occasionally, when a gap is identified in a student’s prior knowledge, we struggle to find where this concept or skill was initially covered in the curriculum or where to find additional support to meet our students where they are in understanding.
4. Determining appropriate course pathways applicable for students. Having an understanding of how students progress through the curriculum, along with an understanding of post-secondary program requirements, will enable thoughtful decision-making when completing course registration and graduation plans.

Scope and Sequence Documents 

¹Adapted from Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools Concept Map with Basic Concepts of Math Correlation January 2015