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Stepping Stones 2.0 from ORIGO: K-6 Comprehensive, Blended Math Program

6/11/2017

7 Comments

 
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Stepping Stones 2.0 from ORIGO Education is a K-6 math program that offers both online and in-person/physical components.  It’s an excellent, customizable resource that elementary teachers can use to provide students with an enormous variety of interactive math lessons, all of which are aligned to Common Core Standards.  In addition to the interactive, digital content, Stepping Stones also includes hands on manipulatives and work journals so students can work without technology as well.  Let’s take a look!

Overall, Stepping Stones is meant to provide a teacher with everything she or he might need in terms of their elementary math curriculum.  However, the goal of Stepping Stones is not to be used as a teacher replacement, with students sitting on iPads and just working through the curriculum.  Instead, it’s meant to support teachers in their instruction by providing a wonderful collection of resources.  And, I say this without exaggeration, there are an enormous variety of resources that are included with a Stepping Stones subscription, and we’ll touch on many of them throughout this review. 

For those interested in testing out Stepping Stones, you can sign up for a free 30-day trial, or contact their team for pricing details.  When a teacher has a subscription, they’ll have access to all the K-6 content, not just their own grade level.  I think this is wonderful, and makes for a ton of differentiation possibilities.

To begin, ORIGO Slate is organized by channels, and Stepping Stones 2.0 is one of those channels. Several channels additional channels are also available with the Stepping Stones subscription, and we’ll touch on some of these throughout the review, but mainly focus on Stepping Stones 2.0

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For example, in the “Flare” channel, you can create interactive digital simulations and tools that you can add into your lessons.  In the “Honey Pot” channel you can access all your blackline masters and over 140 templates to use with your students.

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All of these channels come with excellent resources, but the Stepping Stones channel is where the K-6 math lessons, objectives, assessments, and so on are located. 

Overall, Stepping Stones is organized by grade level, and each grade level contains 12 modules. Within those 12 modules, you have 12 lessons, which gives you a total of 144 lessons for each grade level (Kindergarten is organized a little differently to be more developmentally appropriate).  Hovering over each individual lesson will also give you a quick overview of the topic/standard that will be addressed.

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Each lesson gives you the option of “Steps,” which will walk you through how to prepare for the lesson and teach it, as well as “Differentiation,” which will provide options for extra help, extra practice, and extra challenges for those students who might need it. 

All of the lessons are also aligned with the CCSS Standards for Mathematical Practice (SMP).  Plus, many of the lessons include videos of classroom teachers implementing the lesson, so if you’d like to get a quick look at how the lesson is being approached by others, you can.

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In addition to these digital resources, teachers also get sent out physical materials to supplement these lessons.  K-2 teachers will get big book story books, which they can use for activities like reading circles.  Additionally, all teachers receive a number case, full of tools like number lines and sharing mats. 

All students also receive two books (one for each semester) that act as work journals (Kindergarten has one journal and one practice book instead). These journals are a far cry from the typical math worksheets that you see in many classrooms.  They’re fun, colorful, and full of ideas for helping students make real world connections.  Because of these physical resources and manipulatives, I see Stepping Stones more as a Blended Learning resource, as opposed to being strictly digital.

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In addition to the lessons that are provided, and the physical materials that teachers can use, teachers also have access to a wealth of additional features, tools, and activities.  For example, each module also contains multiple “Investigations.”  I would compare this to more problem-based learning, where students are charged with solving a challenge using the math skills they’ve learned from that particular module.

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Teachers can also design playlists, which are setup by default to include all the resources a teacher might need to teach a topic, but are also completely customizable for teachers who feel comfortable doing so. 

These playlists can include any tool or resource within the ORIGO Slate ecosystem, so if you want to create an interactive activity in the Flare channel, that can be added to your lesson playlist as well.  These playlists can be accessed by clicking on the stack of papers at the top right corner.

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You can also use the drop down menu right above that to access the complete scope and sequence of the entire K-6 curriculum, and see exactly what’s covered at each grade level.  I find this feature enormously helpful just to get a quick, big picture snapshot of where the topic being taught falls in relation to the rest of the curriculum.

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Finally, in terms of professional development, the “MathEd” channel in Origo SLATE includes professional development videos, all of which are included with the Stepping Stones 2.0 subscriptions. Districts can also request onsite professional development, and you can contact the ORIGO team for more information on what those look like.  

​It’s great to see the included video PD being offered, because while I do think that Stepping Stones is incredibly well-designed and easy to use, I also think it’s beneficial to be able to see the enormous range of possibilities that are available with this resource.


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Overall, there is absolutely no shortage of high-quality, standards-aligned material that teachers have access to.  Whether you want to use Stepping Stones occasionally to supplement your math curriculum, or as a replacement to a standard textbook curriculum, Stepping Stones has you covered. 

I absolutely love the focus on hands-on activities, real-world connections, and lessons that are designed to get students thinking about why math can be useful, as opposed to just doing math because it’s required, or it’s something their teacher is telling them to do.  With so many stigmas surrounding Math, it’s wonderful to see a resource like this that is both rigorous and enjoyable, while still being designed to help students make connections between the activities the real-world importance of the skills they’re learning. 

If you’re interested in learning more, I absolutely recommend signing up for a free trial, or contacting their team for more information.  Plus, for those working at the preK level, Stepping Stones has a program specifically designed for that age level as well!

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The opinions expressed in this review are my own.
I was not compensated for writing this review.


7 Comments
Chantelle
6/12/2017 08:34:13 am

Fantastic resources!

Reply
Ilove Libros
10/22/2017 08:23:15 pm

Origo Stepping Stones leaves a lot to be desired. If you don't have a projector that projects onto a whiteboard, you really can't use this. There is no teacher's guide, you must run it off lesson by lesson which is a huge waste of time. Otherwise, you end up toggling back and forth, to see the plans, pulling up what is to be projected, etc. If your computer goes down, or is slow, so will your lesson. Each lesson is NOT common core aligned, you will have to open yet another window to see the standards for a whole module. To just make yourself the equivalent of a teacher's guide is extremely time consuming. V2 doesn't have teacher's notes in Spanish. You may think once you have wasted hours making your teacher's guide, you are set. Yet next year, it may all change again, and you have to start from square one. The pages in the books (student journals) are not perforated, so you can't rip out a page and take it home and check it. My advice? Get on your school's curriculum committee and just say NO.

Reply
Mike
11/1/2017 01:26:46 pm

Hi Ilove Libros,

I am sorry for the delay in this response, and I'm also sorry you've had a negative experience! I wanted to reach out to the ORIGO team to see if they would be more able to address any of these issues you were having as well. Here is there response, and I hope it's helpful for you. Thank you for reading and sharing your experiences!

ORIGO's Response:

"Thank you for taking the time to provide feedback about our program, ORIGO Stepping Stones 2.0. Our ORIGO Education writers value this type of feedback to know how to make improvements.

ORIGO SS 2.0 integrates both print and digital resources into the classroom. After receiving customer feedback, we’ve created a print teacher edition, QUICKsteps for Stepping Stones 2.0 found here https://www.origoeducation.com/quicksteps/.

To clarify, ORIGO SS 2.0 is aligned with Common Core standards. Learning List, a third-party reviewer, evaluated ORIGO Stepping Stones First Edition as 100% Common Core aligned. The review is posted here: http://blog.learninglist.com/origo-stepping-stones-is-100-aligned/. ORIGO SS 2.0 was developed from the first edition ensuring that 100% alignment was maintained.

While some materials are developed to be stand-alone, the student journals are intended to be a collection of students’ thoughts and, therefore, not perforated keeping the journal intact for continued reflection.

We appreciate the feedback and encourage you to contact ORIGO Education at www.origoeducation.com for support regarding additional concerns and suggestions."

Reply
Wyllalyn link
3/18/2018 12:09:07 pm

I really like this because I can make it to MP

Reply
cristina
10/10/2019 07:00:37 pm

Hi so do you think a mom can use this for homeschool?

Reply
Mike
10/11/2019 08:12:50 am

Hi Cristina - I definitely think it could be! I would just recommend contacting their team about the licensing / purchasing, since you wouldn't need a "typical" classroom amount of resources, which would be a little different than what they normally offer: 1-888-674-4601

Mike

Reply
Mency Pasamonte link
6/8/2021 12:35:28 am

thank u

Reply



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