Learning how to use mathematics curriculum materials effectively is arguably an important part of the work of teaching. Through my work on the BIFOCAL Project, a multi-year professional development project aimed at supporting middle school math teachers' use of curriculum materials, I began to think about the precise role that these materials play in the work of teaching, which led to my dissertation study. Briefly, the focus of my dissertation is an examination of how experienced middle school math teachers use the teacher guide from the Connected Mathematics Project (CMP) to inform their planning and instructional decisions around mathematical tasks. In addition to my experiences as a researcher, I have served as an instructor for mathematics methods and content courses for preservice elementary teachers. In regards to curriculum materials, little guidance and support is often provided for elementary preservice teachers in using math curriculum materials despite the prevalence of these materials in elementary classrooms. For this reason, I designed tasks and activities in my courses to help preservice teachers learn to use these materials effectively. In this talk, I will first describe my professional development work with inservice teachers in the BIFOCAL Project, and then talk at some length about my dissertation study, and finally move to discuss my research related to preservice elementary teachers' use of math curriculum materials in methods and content courses.