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 * Welcome to the 2012 Core Academy in Mathematics** . We are excited that you have chosen to spend a week with us in exploring these new standards. We have designed an outstanding experience for you over the course of four days that has the potential to change the way you view mathematics understanding and impact the way you teach mathematics forever.

Please be aware that this Core Academy is different than those of earlier years. This year’s academy is different by design from the ground up.

First, it is based on the Utah Core Standards in Mathematics that were adopted by the Utah State Board of Education in June, 2010. These standards are different than what we have had in the past. Properly implemented, the standards have the promise of leading students to really understand mathematical concepts and to be able to use those concepts to solve real world problems.

Second, the academy is designed to help you understand the standards. Facilitators have created a learning-task based atmosphere that will engage you as a learner. As you allow yourself to become immersed in the mathematics you will come to appreciate the concepts being taught and will become excited about their implementation. You will probably truly understand mathematical concepts you have not understood or have taken for inconceivable in the past.

Third, the academy is designed to help you, the teacher, understand a different way of teaching mathematics. You will see the power of rich mathematical tasks in helping learners understand mathematical concepts. You will experience the integration of mathematical practices into everyday math lessons and see how students can become mathematically proficient. You will also begin to see how mathematics instruction can be balanced between direct instruction and inquiry lessons that allow learners to explore and understand mathematical concepts.

Please bring the following with you, if possible:
 * A calculator (it doesn’t have to be fancy. A basic four function calculator will do.)
 * Rulers, metric and customary
 * Pens and pencils
 * Markers
 * Highlighters
 * Colored Pencils
 * Manipulatives appropriate to your grade level.
 * Laptop Computer (internet access will, most likely, not be available in the classroom. However, we will be asking you to create mathematical tasks to share across the state and will need to have those lessons typed into a template on the computer.)

Please be sure to read the Utah Core Standards in Mathematics prior to your Core Academy experience. It would be best to read all the elementary standards. At a minimum, however, you should read the introduction (pages 3 through 8) and the entire section of your grade level standards. = =