Guided Math Update

Happy Tuesday, everyone! Today was our first day back with kiddos, and it was a great day! I felt well-rested and well-planned...a perfect combo! I've had lots of questions about our guided math routine lately, so I snapped a bunch of pics today to share with you.

(I have no idea why these first 2 pics are wonky, but I can't fix  them!)

I first want to say that I TOTALLY slacked off on math groups during December. Things were just too crazy, I was exhausted from my first trimester, and we mostly did whole group lessons. I know... I know. Today when I told the kids we were getting back into our routine- they were so happy! I felt bad!

Anywho, I'm just going to go from beginning to end.

We do math right after lunch. As soon as we come in, the kids get their weekly 5-a-Day Math from their busy bee folders and get to work. This takes about 5 minutes.

This is our "warm-up." The 5-a-days spiral and review skills previously taught. It also repeats the same skills for 3 weeks at a time, so they are very independent before moving on to something new. I cannot tell you how much this has helped my firsties solidify their math skills. I am always so impressed when we do math tests!

After the 5-a-day, the kids come to the rug. Someone usually starts the Quiet Game while we're waiting for our friends to all finish. This is my teacher table at the front where I have all of materials prepped for the math lesson.

Once all friends are accounted for, I show an interactive video from our math curriculum. We use Pearson Envision. While I'm still not quite used to the curriculum, I do like these videos! They are short and really cover the topic of the day. I've also shown my focus board with our current "I Can" statements. This week were are working on adding 3 numbers.

After the video, we go back to our seats to complete the workbook page from our curriculum. I originally thought that this would be our independent practice, but we quickly discovered that the pages were overwhelming and confusing for the kids. (Let's just say...I'm not a fan.) We do most of this whole group, and I walk around and check while they are working independently. It's about 10 minutes tops. While we are not required to use the workbook, they will very likely use them in upper grades, and we want the kids to be familiar with the format and expectations.

Now that the mini-lesson is complete, it's time for some fun! I use the smartboard to rotate the groups. I always start with my lowest group at the teacher table and my highest group at "paper practice." This is because the more advanced group can usually function independently, and my lower math students can get the extra practice before working independently. This has worked perfectly thus far.

 

Today, in my group, we used a math game to practice our skill of the day. This game comes from my January Math Centers. Tomorrow I'll add it to our math tubs! The teacher table group always looks different depending on the skill. I do love when I can play a game with them, though!

We took turns finding the parts to build our snowmen. Once he was built, they took turns solving the equation. I had plans for my advanced group to do something different, but by the time I got to them, they were too excited for the snowman game!

After teacher table, students move to math journals. I try to always make this an extension of what we've done that day in groups. I literally create these a day or so ahead of time or pull them from my math centers. The activity on the right is part of the snowman game in  my math center bundle.

If students finish their paper practice activity, they are able to move to technology. We have ipads, so they are able to do an ipad math app or a QR scavenger hunt if available.

(This is a pic from last year.)

After math journals, we move to Math Tubs. This is a fave, but they must finish their paper practice or they have to finish during math tubs.

  

These are also from my January Math Tubs. We ordered the little foam snowflakes from Oriental Trade, and the adorable penguins were my son's. I almost threw them away!!

A few notes: between each round, students come back to the rug and we rotate the circles. I release them group by group. This seems to work much better than just rotating between rounds-less chaotic!

Alright, ya'll. Sorry if this is jumbled. I'm tired!! I hope you find this helpful. What do you think of guided math? Let us know! Thanks for stopping by!