Math Block

Hey there everyone! October is turning up to be a CRAZY busy month. We have report cards, our first field trip, lesson study, and a Being a Writer lesson study workshop (more to come on the Being a Writer series later). Today was picture day and my kids looked so darn precious! Oh I forgot to mention our Booktacular curriculum night toward the end of the month and that um, "wonderful" school holiday Halloween (aka crazy day).

I wanted to show you guys my math block this year because it's totally different from anything I had done or seen before. In the past I always taught math whole group, and I don't know about you but it was exhausting. My kids who typically struggled in math would lose focus easily or get frustrated, while my higher students would get bored and finish too quickly. I would constantly be battling trying to keep each child in the right spot and help everyone. I was definitely NOT meeting the needs of all of my kids. 

This year, our wonderful math coach gave me the suggestion of teaching my "core lesson" in small groups while the others were doing centers that related to the topic we were learning. This way I could really differentiate my students learning and base the skill we are targeting to meet their current mathematical capabilities and understandings. I couldn't be happier with the system! I feel like each of my children are REALLY getting what they need and are making great strides in math so far (especially my TIER II/TIER III children). 

So here's how it goes: We start off in whole group doing calendar math which consists of a number of things; day and month review, place value, 120's chart, and using coins to count the day. They also identify even/odd, 3 more 3 less, and use a 20's frame to identify the day. This is all done on the promethean board which I also love. It's a great way to interact with technology instead of the basic wall calendar.

After that I typically switch right into centers. SOMETIMES I will do a quick 3 -5 minute mini lesson if I feel my "higher group" would benefit from it in order to be successful in their independent station but typically I do without.

Theres 4 groups (each center is 15 minutes each):

• Independent Station (typically a worksheet associated with the lesson for the day)
• Guided Math (with me)
• Computers (we use JiJi which is the ST Math intervention system - p.s. IT'S AMAZING)
• Math journals (sometimes substitute STEM or a math game)

If the students finish early - which they almost ALWAYS do for journals and the independent worksheet they play a game practicing the skill we just learned or are learning now, so I always have at least two games prepared.

I have my highest children in math start at the independent station, my 2nd highest group at computers, 3rd highest group at math journals, then my lowest group always starts with me.

After each child comes to my station, they then finish the independent portion of worksheet we did at guided math, or do a different work sheet that is targeted for their current skill/learning goal (i.e. my lowest TIER students get a work on something they can actually be successful at…). It's also been really fun actually being able to enrich my highest students and really challenge them. Some of the activities or games we've played I've been shocked they were able to do. Had I kept my whole group rotation I would have never been able to extend their learning that much.

I also want to mention, I LOVE using math journals. As you can see (the left side) there answers are not always correct, but it's super interesting to see how they try to solve things. One of my goals for this year is to help my students revise and reflect on their learning, and I think using the journals would be a great tool. Once I work the kinks out I'll definitely write a post on it! I'm trying to make them more interactive instead of just word problem each day, so I'm going to have them using counters, dice, and gluing/using 10's frames to help support their answers soon. I also have them do games and record their thinking in their journals sometimes.