Math Workshops: Great Resources

 I've been seeing so many great posts on Math Workshops that I thought I'd gather some of them up so you can check them out too.

1.  The first is from Mandy Gregory from Mandy's Tips for Teachers.

This post includes a FREEBIE that gives a 6 day plan for setting up your Guided Math program. 

(There's another one for setting up Writer's Workshop, too!)

Click here to access her blog post about Math Workshops. 

2.  Next from Mrs. Beattie's Classroom:

In this post Erin from Mrs. Beattie's Classroom explains how she organizes and runs her Math time using the M.A.T.H. acronym. 

She also has a good selection of products in her TpT STORE for you to use during Math Workshop time.  These resources are focused on Grades 2-4.

 The Growing Bundle is on sale right now.  It is mostly made up of centers that you can use while you are working with small groups.  The center packages have varying numbers of activities included. For example the fractions centers file contains 13 different activities for students. 

This Odd and Even Numbers pack is a FREE SAMPLE of Erin's centers.  It includes three different activities: a game for 2 players and 2 activities for individual students.  One of these uses manipulatives and would also useful for small group instruction.

3.  Reagan Tunstall from Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits has oodles of ideas. This is a recent post showing her newly created bundle of Math lessons for whole/small group. A whole year's worth!  I was so impressed that I bought it during the TpT BTS sale and it is worth every penny. A truly impressive document!  The post has a FREEBIE SAMPLE of the package.

Another post from Reagan tells how she sets up her Math Workshop time and offers these FREEBIE POSTERS.

4.  Tammy at The Owl Teacher did a 4 part series on Math Workshop to kick off 2016. She presents LOTS of great info on how she implements it in her classroom.

HERE IS THE LINK to the first installment, which is a quick overview. 

PART 2 is a rundown of Math "stretchers" that she uses as warm ups. 

PART 3 is a detailed breakdown of how she runs her Math block. 

PART 4 is a brief post on assessment. 

I found lots of useful info in this series, especially the second and third parts. Tammy included links ahead and back in each post to help you easily navigate between them (you don't have to come back here every time, but I did put links in the pictures above).  

5.  Dr. Nikki Newton has a Guided Math blog that you can visit HERE.

She has HUNDREDS of posts on this site for you to peruse. They include categories such as:

Assessment, Differentiated Instruction, During the Guided Math Lesson, Math Centers, and Math Workstations.  Many of these include links to resources that you can use in your Math Workshops.

Here is one that I plan to use with my third graders this year:

She also has an excellent PINTEREST BOARD for you to check out.   

I hope this post has been useful to you.  I know I certainly got LOTS of great ideas and information as I was putting it together!

BTS in a Flash: Curriculum Must-Haves

Happy Sunday!  It's almost time for many of you out there to go back to your classroom. This always brings mixed emotions for me;  the exciting freshnes and anticipation of a brand new school year, and the sadness that summer is done. The first is always foremost for me, though.   I love going back every SEPTEMBER, so I'm enjoying all these great ideas. Last week's linky featured must-haves for the classroom. I found a bunch of things to put on my own shopping list!

I don't go back to school until SEPTEMBER, but I'm thinking about it early (did I ever stop?) and sharing you these curriculum favourites of mine with you. Visit the linky by clicking HERE.

The first product is one I've created and just recently added to my TpT store. 

I had so much fun making this Scaredy Squirrel Goes Camping pack that I am really looking forward 

to making them for the other books in the series. 

There are 10 literacy activities included. 

The first is my favourite. I used it after reading the book to my class last year and they were very 

enthused. It's an emergency kit craftivity for things you might need on a camping trip. 

Also in the pack are an interview with Scaredy, writing instructions for putting up a tent and making 

S'mores, making lists, a sheet for recording connections after listening to the story, a book recommendation sheet, and writing an opinion piece on camping vs watching TV.  It's available at my TpT store HERE.

If you'd like a preview of this pack I made up a freebie with 3 of the activities in it. Get it You can pick it up HERE.

My second must-have is something I use all the time in my classroom. It is Digit Dual by Miss 

Nelson. 

It is an excellent combination of flashcards and Snap!  As they come in after recess each day my students pair up to practise their Math facts. These cards are by far the most sought after activity during this time.  I printed up 6 sets on different coloured papers and they are always selected first. The partners sit facing each other with the cards face down between them. They take turns flipping the cards and the first to say the correct answer gets the card. 

There are 19 pages with 12 cards on each. 

Last, but not least is a product that's on my Wish List. I can hardly wait until the Teachers Pay Teachers BTS sale starts. My list is pretty crowded but this is at the top. It is from the immensely talented Reagan Tunstall. 

I do Guided Math in my classroom and am always scrambling to put together both a whole class lesson plus small group lessons. In the fall I'll have a conbined class and have been groaning about how much more planning that will entail. But Regan has made this brilliant set of lessons for Math. It includes whole group lessons, small group lessons, detailed instructions, and differentiation for a variety of learners. I read her blog about this product I knew I HAD to have it. 

These are some of the pages from the preview. 

Click to see her post. She has much better pictures and information on it than I can give you. Go to her blog HEREto learn more. 

Get this product HERE

It's almost midnight here on the west coast and that means the TpT sale is officially ON!  I'm heading there to do a little shopping before I go to sleep. I hope you are able to get some of those great items off your wish list and into your classroom too!

Math workshops - small groups

I'm back home from my holiday and ready to join Kathy at Third Grade Doodles for Math Workshop Monday. 

Five important advantages of meeting with small guided Math groups:
1.  The kids prefer small group of instruction. They're always asking, "When will it be MY group's turn?", even when they know it's their group's day to meet. If their group doesn't meet when they're expecting they don't hesitate to protest.
2.  You capture their attention much more effectively than in a whole class setting.
3.  You can monitor their thinking and pick up on confusions quicker.
4.  Kids having problems understanding the concept are less hesitant to ask for clarification.
5.  It's easy to switch the groups around or add another student to the group.

 My Small Groups
I meet with my small groups during the last hour of the Math block, starting with the group that needs the most help.   This works well for two reasons:
First:  they are the kids that are most likely to need extra instruction and if things go sideways later in the Math block (someone comes to the door, there's a fire drill, someone drops a basket of crayons, other students get into a disagreement or are off task, pieces are missing from the Math centers.....) I will have already met with them and their group won't be missed
Second: it is always much quieter when the rest of the class is working at individual seat work, so we can all concentrate better.  Because I have such small groups I sometimes combine 2 of them for small groups, or if there were kids from other groups that needed differentiated instruction I can just add them to a group for one or more meetings.

This is my centers rotation board with the groups listed above it.

I usually start out with a quick warm up exercise that takes 2-3 minutes, or do a quick review of the previous concept.  This might be as simple as looking back at their Math work from the day before and asking if they have any questions about it.
Next I introduce the main activity that we'll be covering in the small group lesson, which is related to the whole group lesson that I just taught. Usually this part of the Guided Math lesson includes some manipulatives or graphic organizer or game that will give them a chance to practice  the concept   In a
small group setting I can closely observe what they are doing and how they're doing it. I encourage
them to explain what they're thinking. Often I draw them out by asking questions, but I've noticed that when kids are in a small group setting they are much more willing eager to ask their own questions spontaneously than they would when the whole class is together.

After about 10 minutes I get them started on their seat work for the day. If the group has kids who are having difficulty with the concept I walk them through at least one of the questions.  Then I have them complete one on their own which they show to me so I can see if they clearly understand before going to work independently.

If I'm working with a group of kids who quickly understand Math concepts they will usually have completed and marked their independent work before I meet with them. We usually start off with a quick discussion about the work they did and what (if anything) caused them to get incorrect answers.  The main part of the lesson is an extension of the main lesson where I show them "mathematician tricks" to find answers quicker along with an activity that will challenge their thinking.

I have been reading lots about Math Workshop and Guided Math in the last few weeks and found this Pinterest board from Dr. Nicki Newton that is full of great information.

She has a Guided Math blog you might find interesting too.