The Anatomy of a Eureka Math Lesson

Posted in: Aha! Blog > Eureka Math Blog > High-Quality Curriculum Instructional Design > The Anatomy of a Eureka Math Lesson

Not all Eureka Math lessons are formatted in the same way, but lessons in the same grade-band all follow a similar structure. Lessons in A Story of Units (PK-5) are written for a 60-minute class period, except for Pre-K lessons, which are 25 minutes, and K lessons, which are 50 minutes*. The components of typical lessons are:

Fluency: these activities are focused on one of the following: preparation, maintenance, or anticipation of knowledge and skills.

Application Problem: requires students to utilize the concepts they’ve just learned.

Concept Development: the part of the lesson focused on new learning. Problem Set (usually completed within or after concept development): composed of problems related to the objective of the lesson. Students complete as much of the problem set as they can in 10 minutes — the goal is not finishing the problem set, but doing their personal best.

Debrief: Upon completion of the problem set, students uncover the objective of the lesson and discuss key points. Exit Ticket: Class ends with a 5-minute exit ticket, which gives teachers a quick formative assessment of the lesson. Homework: Most lessons include a homework page.

The format changes for Grades 6–12 lessons, which are written for 45-minute class periods. In A Story of Ratios (6–8) some lessons include fluencies; separate fluency documents for 6–12 are currently being developed. There are four different lesson types, which are indicated by an icon at the beginning of each lesson:

Problem Set - Students and teachers work through examples and complete exercises to develop or reinforce a concept.
Socratic - Teacher leads students in a conversation to develop a specific concept of proof.
Exploration - Independent or small group work on a challenging problem followed by a debrief to clarify, expand or develop math knowledge.
Modeling - Students practice all or part of the modeling cycle with real-world or mathematical problems that are ill-defined.

All Eureka PK-12 lessons are designed to be examples of strong mathematical instruction and should be customized to meet the needs of your students.

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Pam Goodner, chief academic officer

Pam leads a team of teacher-writers in developing PhD Science, Great Minds’ latest curriculum offering. She joined Great Minds in 2012 as a writer for Eureka Math after spending 25 years in the classroom. Pam taught math and science in grades 6 – 12, serving as the Mathematics Department Chair and receiving the Presidential Award of Excellence in Mathematics for the state of Louisiana in 2009. She is a National Board Certified Teacher and taught online college calculus for the University of California Irvine and the Louisiana Virtual School. Pam is a Chemical Engineer and spent 5 years working in the chemical industry, leading safety, health, environmental, and quality teams. She has a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Louisiana State University and an M.A.T. in math and chemistry from Rice University

Topics: High-Quality Curriculum Instructional Design