The big ideas that define each unit of InsightMath connect to one another within and across grade levels. The Mathematics Framework for California Public Schools defines four Content Connections that provide structure to the connected network of big ideas: Reasoning with Data, Exploring Changing Quantities, Taking Wholes Apart and Putting Parts Together, and Discovering Shape and Space. These Content Connections provide a framework for designing and understanding a progression of big ideas across the curriculum in keeping with the CA CCSSM principles of focus, coherence, and rigor. Table 1 highlights those connections within and among grade levels through the lens of the four Content Connections.
Table 1: Progression of Big Ideas, Kindergarten - Grade 2
| Content Connection | Big Ideas: Kindergarten | Big Ideas: Grade 1 | Big Ideas: Grade 2 |
| Reasoning with Data | Asking questions and using data to critically answer those questions help to make sense of the world. | Asking questions, and using data to critically answer those questions, help to make sense of the world. | Asking questions and using data to critically answer those questions help to make sense of the world. |
| Reasoning with Data | n/a | Comparing and measuring length helps to describe and analyze objects and their relationships among other objects. | Measuring length with standardized units and tools helps to communicate precisely, compare lengths, and solve problems. |
| Exploring Changing Quantities | A number represents a fixed quantity, with each being one more than the previous number in the count sequence. | n/a | The number line is a powerful tool that can show magnitudes of and relationships between numbers. |
| Exploring Changing Quantities | Mathematics is a way to think about and describe the world. | Addition and subtraction can help to describe and solve word problems. | Fluently solving addition and subtraction problems relies on flexibly selecting models and strategies. |
| Exploring Changing Quantities | n/a | Applying place value understanding helps to add and subtract efficiently and use estimation to determine reasonableness. | Place value understanding helps to efficiently add, subtract, and estimate the reasonableness of answers. |
| Taking Wholes Apart, Putting Parts Together | Addition and subtraction can be used to show how numbers can be composed and decomposed in various ways without changing the total. | Reasoning about equality helps to add and subtract efficiently. | Creating structured, equal groups supports visualizing numbers, counting efficiently, and understanding money. |
| Taking Wholes Apart, Putting Parts Together | Addition and subtraction are the mathematics of parts and totals. | Addition and subtraction are the mathematics of parts and totals. | n/a |
| Taking Wholes Apart, Putting Parts Together | The base-ten number system relies on identifying and composing groups of 10. | The base-ten place value system provides a structure to represent all numbers symbolically using the same 10 digits. | n/a |
| Taking Wholes Apart, Putting Parts Together | Numbers are composed of other numbers. | Understanding the value of a two-digit number relies on understanding the value of each digit. | The place value system is based on patterns, which makes expressing and working with numbers efficient. |
| Discovering Shape and Space | Objects can be named, sorted, and compared based on particular attributes. | Names and defining attributes of shapes are determined by how their component parts are put together. | n/a |
| Discovering Shape and Space | n/a | Wholes and parts of wholes can be named by the number of equal-size parts which compose them. | Wholes and parts of wholes can be named by the number of equal-size parts that compose them. |