Welcome to Stepping Stones
This page has been created to introduce ORIGO Stepping Stones. Click the links on the right to find out more about this dynamic new program for Australian students. Parents often have the most incisive questions about the resources ORIGO produce. Feel free to email ORIGO today (please include your state).
The New Australian Curriculum
The Australian curriculum will be published later this year. This new curriculum represents a significant challenge for students and teachers in all states. ORIGO Stepping Stones addresses the content and proficiency strands as currently described in the draft K–10 mathematics curriculum (ACARA, April 2009). This online program (see below) will be updated with any changes as the final version is released. See the authors discuss features and the release date of Stepping Stones here.
A Note on "F" Terminology
States and territories represent the year prior to Year 1 with different terms: K (Kindergarten), P (Preparatory), R (Reception) and T (Transition). For the purposes of the new Australian curriculum, ACARA are using F (Foundation). This is transitionally being reflected in our core program.
Online Delivery
ORIGO Stepping Stones is provided online to give teachers the option of varying (or 'differentiating') lessons to suit students' ability levels. At the click of a button teachers can move back in the teaching sequence (for the topic at hand) to bring everyone up to speed – or forward to provide confident students with new challenges.
Online delivery also allows lessons to be quickly and accurately supported by a range of top-quality online resources (like Flare or Fundamentals Game Boards). To find out more about online delivery and the entire program, watch the program presentation or read the full program overview.
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Optional Student Journals
Despite all student journal and assessment pages being available for teachers to print as required, ORIGO is aware that many teachers prefer to have these in traditional book format. The decision to use these optional printed journals will be made by your child's school. For this reason, and because of the differentiation feature, your child may not complete a full journal in one year – and may work on pages from years above or below the grade they are in. Optional features like this often raise questions for parents.
Parents also ask, 'Where is the lesson that introduces these student pages?' The mathematics behind each student page is part of the online component provided to teachers (though these pages can also be printed).
Feel free to email ORIGO with your queries.
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Other Program Features
- 16 modules of work per grade
- 8 × 3-step lesson plans per module (4 lessons in Year K)
- open tasks for small-group work (learning centres in Year K)
- multiple options for assessing and recording
- problem-solving activities
- differentiated instruction for each lesson
- differentiated instruction across years
- printable resources
- references to optional resources
- ideas to link numeracy with other subjects
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