Since our theme is Mathematical May, I want to share with you how I do my math block because I just changed it this year and LOVE it! I moved from doing mostly whole group teaching to mostly small group teaching and noticed so much growth in my students. I did have 90% of my class make benchmark this year (not to toot my own horn : )
On Mondays, I introduce all of the games they will be playing throughout the week so when they go to play they won't be totally lost. I rotate the game basket every 2 weeks so I don't have to change it our every week.
We then have a 10 minute mini lesson before we bust out into our rotations.
Here is what my guided reading rotation board looks like.
The numbers across the top are the rotation number and the numbers down the side are the group numbers. The group signs on the right have their number with Velcro so they know what group they are in. As I said above I do four 15-20 minute rotations each day. The shapes say "Teacher Time" "Own My Own" "Math Games/Manipulatives" and "Practice Math Facts." Teacher time of course is with me. On my own is a workbook page or some type of page that covers the skill from the mini lesson. I have also been doing a lot of math journals during own my own. Notice the smaller rectangle below the blue octagon? That is blank and I write what page number in their workbook or whatever it is I want them to work on. For practice math facts we use Fast Math which is awesome. For math games we use games that cover various skills that I use from my TPT shop, other TPT shops, or the curriculum closet at our school.
At the end of the rotation I ring a bell and they know to clean up and quickly check the board to go to their next rotation. The first week we did it, they were awesome. They caught on so quick. They have memorized the order of their rotations and the transition is so smooth!
If you use Envision for math {HERE} is a pacing guide my district sent us with the lessons that align from common core along with several other lessons and activities that I use during teacher time.
And that's it! Super easy...Super fun!
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Congrats on the your success with your kiddos this year...90% is awesome! I can't thank you enough for sharing your pacing guide! We use envision too and I am looking forward to comparing our pacing guides and getting new ideas.
ReplyDelete-Jaime
I use Envision math too! My parish also sends out a recommended pacing guide for us to follow. I peeked at yours and it very similar to the setup of ours. We are told to not be no more than a week off of the pacing guide, because of kids that may move within the parish. I guess if they don't want the kiddos to be far behind if they move from one school to another. We have a military base nearby, so within our parish some of the schools can experience a lot of movement.
ReplyDeleteJamie
I love the Envision pacing guide. Do you happen to have access to a First Grade one? We teach Envision at our school too!! I would love a copy. sindlou94@yahoo.com
ReplyDeleteLOVE how you organize your Math block. I'm over my set up so perhaps I can tackle something new this summer!
ReplyDeleteSlainte,
Molly
Lucky to Be in First
I think small group is the way to go, but I LOVE how you don't change the activities out every week... every other week makes it more manageable for the teacher.
ReplyDeleteChristy
Crayons and Whimsy
Great tip!! Loved using Envision math at my old school...wish I could still use it now! :)
ReplyDelete-Aris