---
title: "Primary maths scope and sequence explained: phases and strands"
description: The phases and strands of the primary maths continuum used by international schools, in plain words, and where each lives on Numberground, the maths island.
image: https://asurekha.com/hubfs/explorisle/app/share-1200x630.png
---

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● Maths on the island

# The primary maths scope and sequence, explained

Four phases, five strands. A child moves through the phases at their own pace, not by birthday. This page says what each strand and phase means in plain words, and where each one lives on Numberground, the maths island of Explorisle.

Ameera Surekha, who built Explorisle at home for one child · 26 September 2026

## The short answer

Schools that run the IB Primary Years Programme (PYP) plan maths from a document called the mathematics scope and sequence. It sorts maths into five **strands** and describes progress through four **phases**. A phase is a stage of understanding, not a year group: a Year 4 child can be in phase 2 for one strand and phase 3 for another.

This page is my reading of that structure and how the island maps to it. It is not the document. The IB publishes the document to its schools; your coordinator has it, and it comes first.

## The five strands, in plain words

- **Number.** Counting, place value, the four operations, fractions, decimals, percentages, and knowing the facts well enough to think with them.
- **Pattern and function.** Seeing what repeats, describing a rule, and using the rule to predict: skip counting, the tables as patterns, number machines, simple algebra by Year 6.
- **Measurement.** Length, mass, capacity, time, temperature, money and angle: choosing a unit, reading a scale, estimating first.
- **Shape and space.** Naming and sorting shapes, symmetry, position and direction, grids, compass points and, later, bearings and plans.
- **Data handling.** Asking a question, collecting, sorting, showing the data in a chart, reading it back, and probability: what is certain, impossible or somewhere between.

## The four phases, and how the island labels them

The island needs one tap to set a level, so it gives each school year a phase. That link is mine, made for a class teacher in a hurry; the document describes phases as stages, not ages, and a teacher can move a child up or down at any time.

| Island level | Phase on the island | What that mostly looks like in Number |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reception, Year 1 (Pre-K, Kindergarten) | Phase 1 | Counting to 5 and then 10, one more, doubles, bonds to 5 and 10, adding with pictures |
| Year 2, Year 3 (Grade 1, Grade 2) | Phase 2 | Adding and taking away to 20, the 2, 5 and 10 tables, then 3, 4 and 8; skip counting; dividing as sharing |
| Year 4, Year 5 (Grade 3, Grade 4) | Phase 3 | All tables to 12, missing numbers, tens and hundreds, square numbers, factors, near doubles |
| Year 6 (Grade 5) | Phase 4 | Multiples, primes, larger division, ratio and scale, the tables used inside everything else |

The teacher screen lets you name the levels the British way (Reception to Year 6) or the American way (Pre-K to Grade 5). The phase number shows beside either.

## Where each strand lives on the island

| Strand | Regions | What the posts ask |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Number | Home Green (the rocks, trees, eggs and gates), Array Fields, Scale Quarry, the Tower | The facts at the child's level; an array as a floor of tiles; squares and roots, doubles and halves, scale and ratio; ten in a row at the Tower |
| Pattern and function | Pattern Path, Function Forge | Stepping stones that count in steps; a machine takes a number in, sends one out, find the rule |
| Measurement | Measure Meadow, Precision Peak | Rulers, clocks and jugs; then degrees, kilometres in metres, timetables and time zones |
| Shape and space | Sorting Shore, Polygon Point, Map Ridge, Bearing Bay | Sort by property; sides, faces, edges and symmetry; coordinates and turns; the eight compass points and three-figure bearings |
| Data handling | Graph Harbour, Data Observatory, Chance Cove | Read a pictogram or bar chart; range, median and mean, pie charts and line graphs; spinners, dice and a fair race |

Every post asks at the child's level. A wrong answer shows a way to see it and the same question comes back later; a second wrong answer on the same question opens a short picture lesson first.

## How a class uses this

Set the level for the class once. Then set a **class goal**: one table, one kind of post (clocks, say), or a unit of inquiry on one of the six theme islands. The class view shows each seat's quick, slow and wrong facts and the weakest five, so the next lesson starts from what the class actually found hard.

On the island, tap **For teachers** on the first screen, make a class (you get a six-character code and a teacher key), set the level for the class, and pick this unit as the class goal. Children join with the code and a seat number; no name, no email. The **evidence sheet** in the class view prints the central idea, the lines of inquiry, the concepts, what each station practised, and every seat's findings and reasons, ready to paste into your planner.

## What this page is not

It is not the scope and sequence, and it does not quote it. The strand names and the idea of phases are the IB's; the plain-words descriptions, the year-to-phase table and the map of regions are mine, written so a teacher or parent can see where a child is without reading a forty-page document. If your school's document says something different, the school's document wins.

On the island

[Open Numberground](https://explorisle.asurekha.com)[About Explorisle](https://asurekha.com/explorisle?hsLang=en-gb)

**Not on the island yet:** fractions and decimals as posts of their own, negative numbers, and the last stretch of Year 6 algebra. The Number strand on the island stops at multiples, primes, ratio and scale.

Read next

- [Maths inside a unit of inquiry, without losing the maths](https://asurekha.com/explorisle/teachers/maths-in-a-unit-of-inquiry?hsLang=en-gb)
- [The Tower: ten in a row](https://asurekha.com/explorisle/regions/the-tower?hsLang=en-gb)
- [Maths practice tools for primary classrooms, compared](https://asurekha.com/explorisle/maths/practice-tools-compared?hsLang=en-gb)
- [Sharing the planet](https://asurekha.com/explorisle/units/sharing-the-planet?hsLang=en-gb)
- [How we organise ourselves](https://asurekha.com/explorisle/units/how-we-organise-ourselves?hsLang=en-gb)

Explorisle is an independent product of A Surekha (the registered business of Ameera Surekha). It is not endorsed by, affiliated with or licensed by the International Baccalaureate Organization. IB, PYP and International Baccalaureate are registered trademarks of the IBO.

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