Pre-K–5th Grade Elementary Math Curriculum & Standards Glossary
What children learn in each area of math from Pre-K to 5th grade, and what a level like “High 2nd Grade” means.
Bottom-Line Up Front (BLUF): What to Know
- Who It's For: Pre-K–5th grade learners (ages 3–11), their families, and elementary teachers.
- Four Areas of Math: Numbers & Place Value, Problem Solving, Measurement & Data, and Geometry, grouped from the learning standards for each grade.
- Three Levels a Grade: Early, the grade itself, and High, from Early Pre-K to High 5th Grade.
- Aligned Standards: Kindergarten to 5th grade follow the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics; Pre-K follows state Pre-K math learning standards.
- A Level in Each Area: Each child has a level in every area, so practice meets them where they are in each one.
Core Curriculum Principles
Pre-K builds counting to 20, comparing small groups, and naming shapes.
Kindergarten builds counting to 100, adding and subtracting within 10, and teen numbers as ten and some more.
Grade 1 builds adding and subtracting within 20, tens and ones, and telling time to the half hour.
Grade 2 builds place value to 1,000, adding and subtracting within 100, and working with money and time.
Grade 3 establishes fluency in multiplication and division within 100 alongside foundational fraction understanding on number lines.
Grade 4 expands numerical mastery to multi-digit operations, long division with remainders, and fraction equivalence.
Grade 5 deepens fluency in multi-digit decimal operations, fraction division, volume concepts, and coordinate plane geometry.
A question a parent reports comes out of practice right away and stays out until a person has read it.
How Levels Are Named
Every grade has three levels. “Early 2nd Grade” is the kind of math children usually meet at the start of 2nd grade, “2nd Grade” is the middle of the year, and “High 2nd Grade” is the math that wraps the year up.
| Grade | Levels | Key Conceptual Leap |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-K | Early Pre-KPre-KHigh Pre-K | Counting objects, comparing groups, naming shapes |
| Kindergarten | Early KindergartenKindergartenHigh Kindergarten | Counting to 100, adding within 10, flat and solid shapes |
| 1st Grade | Early 1st Grade1st GradeHigh 1st Grade | Tens and ones, facts within 20, telling time |
| 2nd Grade | Early 2nd Grade2nd GradeHigh 2nd Grade | Place value to 1,000, money, bar graphs |
| 3rd Grade | Early 3rd Grade3rd GradeHigh 3rd Grade | Multiplication facts, area formulas, unit fractions |
| 4th Grade | Early 4th Grade4th GradeHigh 4th Grade | Multi-digit division, equivalent fractions, angle measurement |
| 5th Grade | Early 5th Grade5th GradeHigh 5th Grade | Decimal place value, fraction operations, coordinate planes |
What Children Learn in Each Area
How each of the four areas of math builds year over year, from Pre-K to 5th grade.
Numbers & Place Value
Counting, what numbers mean, and how bigger numbers are built from tens and hundreds, then fractions and decimals.
| Grade | What children learn |
|---|---|
| Pre-K | Counting to 20, writing 0 to 5, and comparing small groups. |
| Kindergarten | Counting to 100, writing numbers to 20, and teen numbers. |
| 1st Grade | Counting to 120, tens and ones, and adding within 100. |
| 2nd Grade | Place value to 1,000, and adding and subtracting within 1,000. |
| 3rd Grade | Rounding, adding within 1,000, and what fractions like 3/4 mean. |
| 4th Grade | Big numbers; multiplying and dividing them; and fractions and decimals. |
| 5th Grade | Decimals, multiplying and dividing big numbers, and fraction math. |
Problem Solving
Adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing, and using them to solve story problems and find patterns.
| Grade | What children learn |
|---|---|
| Pre-K | Adding and taking away with real objects, and simple patterns. |
| Kindergarten | Adding and subtracting within 10, and making ten. |
| 1st Grade | Adding and subtracting within 20, story problems, and the equal sign. |
| 2nd Grade | Story problems within 100, facts by heart, and odd and even. |
| 3rd Grade | Multiplying and dividing, times tables, and two-step story problems. |
| 4th Grade | "Times as many," multi-step problems, factors, and patterns. |
| 5th Grade | Parentheses, writing number sentences, and comparing patterns. |
Measurement & Data
Measuring length, time, money, area, and volume, and sorting and graphing information.
| Grade | What children learn |
|---|---|
| Pre-K | Describing size and weight, and sorting things into groups. |
| Kindergarten | Comparing length and weight, and sorting things to count. |
| 1st Grade | Measuring length, telling time to the half hour, and simple charts. |
| 2nd Grade | Rulers, time to five minutes, money, and bar graphs. |
| 3rd Grade | Time to the minute, area, perimeter, graphs, and measuring. |
| 4th Grade | Converting units, area and perimeter, and measuring angles. |
| 5th Grade | Converting units, line plots, and the volume of a box. |
Geometry
Naming, building, and comparing shapes, then lines, angles, and points on a grid.
| Grade | What children learn |
|---|---|
| Pre-K | Naming shapes, flat versus solid, and words for position. |
| Kindergarten | Naming, comparing, building, and combining flat and solid shapes. |
| 1st Grade | What makes a shape, building shapes, and halves and quarters. |
| 2nd Grade | Naming shapes; rows of squares; and halves, thirds, and fourths. |
| 3rd Grade | Sorting four-sided shapes and splitting shapes into equal parts. |
| 4th Grade | Lines, angles, sorting shapes by their sides, and symmetry. |
| 5th Grade | Points on a grid and sorting shapes into families. |
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Key questions about our elementary mathematics framework, question bank, and instructional models.
What areas of math does Bobby's Math Club cover from Pre-K to 5th grade?
Four areas, grouped from the learning standards for each grade: Numbers & Place Value (counting, place value, fractions, and decimals), Problem Solving (adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing, and story problems), Measurement & Data (length, time, money, area, volume, and graphs), and Geometry (shapes, lines, angles, and coordinate grids).
How are levels named from Pre-K to 5th grade?
Every grade has three levels: Early, the grade itself, and High. They run from Early Pre-K to High 5th Grade, and a child has a level in each of the four areas.
What does a level like “High 2nd Grade” mean?
It means a child is working on the kind of math that wraps up 2nd grade. “Early 2nd Grade” is the math children usually meet at the start of 2nd grade, and “2nd Grade” is the middle of the year. A level is an estimate of the math a child is working on now, not a school grade or a test score.
How are fractions taught across upper elementary grades?
In Grade 3, students learn unit fractions and number line placement. In Grade 4, students master fraction equivalence and addition/subtraction with like denominators. In Grade 5, students compute fraction multiplication, division with unit fractions, and unlike denominators.
How does Bobby's Math Club check question quality and mathematical accuracy?
A child who misses a question is shown the answer and how to get there. If a question ever looks wrong, a parent can tap Report an issue: it comes out of practice right away and stays out until a person has read it.
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