Differentiating Math in a First-Grade Inclusion Classroom: Happy Numbers at New Albany Elementary

New Albany Elementary is a K–2 school in Cinnaminson Township Public Schools, New Jersey. In 2025–26, Jodi Pinto and Samantha Hoos co-taught first grade there, in an inclusion classroom with a mix of special education and general education students.

“All of our students think that they’re doing the same thing, but they are all on different learning scopes and sequences throughout the school year,” Pinto says.

Pinto, the general education teacher, and Hoos, the special education teacher, each teach separate math and reading groups, and math runs as daily centers. While Pinto or Hoos works with one group, the rest of the class works on its own.

Starting each student on their own path

Happy Numbers assesses each student at the beginning, middle, and end of the year, and their path starts where the first assessment places them.

Pinto says the program meets each student at their level, with work they can do to feel confident each day.

Helping first graders work on their own

Hoos thinks the school chose Happy Numbers for its step-by-step instructions and the manipulatives it shows on screen. “It will really walk them through each problem. So it’s kind of like having a little teacher on the computer for them,” she says.

“It reads it to them, which is very important because, you know, first graders, a lot of them cannot read on their own,” Pinto says.

In a classroom like theirs, she says, having the manipulatives on screen and readily available is crucial for the students

Examples of on-screen manipulatives first graders use in Happy Numbers.

By the end of the year first graders are “super experts at getting onto the computer” through ClassLink and go straight to their path. They can choose between Happy Numbers and other platforms, and a lot of them pick Happy Numbers.

The students working in the program don’t come up to interrupt the teachers’ small groups, Pinto says, and “it just gives us, like, peace of mind knowing that they’re on a site that we can trust.”

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Planning small groups from
the data

In the teacher view, Pinto and Hoos check each student’s skills and progress. The program flags students who are struggling in certain areas, Pinto says, and the teachers help them during small groups.

“That beginning, middle, and end of the year assessment is the biggest navigator for us,” Hoos says. The teachers use it to decide whether a student needs more enrichment or a review of earlier work.

They compare the Happy Numbers results with the assessments they give in class. “That’s also a great data point for us because it does align mostly with our scope and sequence even though it’s on the needs of the students,” Hoos says.

Tracking growth across the school year

One student had a challenging year, Hoos says. In June 2026, the student jumped out of their seat, thinking they had completed their entire Happy Numbers path. When the teachers checked, Hoos believes, there was still more to do.

“But the fact that he was excited was, like, shocking — like an academic excitement for this student,” Hoos says. “We were like, ‘wow.’ And this particular student, we went and looked at their data through Happy Numbers and they’ve had continuous growth all year in the program.”

The teachers also compare each student’s results at the beginning and the end of the year against grade-level expectations on the Happy Numbers assessment. In 2025–26, the class used the program every day.

“We keep looking at it like, ‘Oh my gosh, all of our students got the green dots!’ Like they’re exceeding or they’re on, which is fantastic, especially with our population of students,” Pinto says.

The share of first-grade students meeting or exceeding grade-level expectations moved from 43% to 99% by the end of the year.

Sharing results with the first-grade team

The principal gets the program’s reports as well, Pinto says, and sends her the first-grade team’s results. As the grade-level chair, she passes them on to the team. Hoos says the monthly grade-level reports let the teachers talk about what’s working and what isn’t across all of their classrooms.

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