Guided Math

I hopped on tonight wanting to show you my Daily 5 tubs and realised I left my hard drive with the photos on it at school. So all your getting is how I organise my guided math groups because I took some photos today and I brought my camera home!

Like reading, I love meeting with math groups. I have four activities that we go through using the T.I.M.E. acronym.

T: Teacher's Choice. I work with ability based groups during this time. However, around report cards I might have to meet with individuals to do assessments, hence why I've called it Teacher's Choice - I might choose to have some kids do something else! I use manipulatives, the interactive whiteboard, songs etc here.

I: Independent Work - This is some type of activity to do with our current math concept. It isn't necessarily paper based (and we don't have a math textbook, but if you did, you could do it here). Students may be on the computers (Mathletics, SmartKiddies etc) or using some type of manipulative.

M: Math Facts - Partner math fact games, flash cards etc. Lots of the games I make I put in here. I also have lots of choices so students can choose a game that is right for them.

E: Essential Revision - An activity or game to revise a math concept from two or three weeks ago to keep it 'fresh'. I usually have a couple of options in this box. 

I have these clear tubs that I keep the activities in. I love them because they have lids (so nothing gets lost) and they stack in my bookshelf perfectly.

Here are our math tubs from this week. We have started learning multiplication. This is the first time students have learned about it.

This week in the Teacher's Choice box, I have bowls, cups and counters. I also have a checklist on a clipboard so I can check off what I notice the kids doing. It has all of the main learning objectives for the week. I record a number on the checklist that roughly aligns to: 

1: able to do independently

2: small amount of assistance/prompting

3: needed a lot of assistance and guidance

4: could not do

These checklists help me with signing the continua for the Year 2 Net and allows me to see what I need to work with certain kiddos on.

 

The first pic is what's inside. The second shows the laminated page that is on the lid of the box. I paperclip my lesson plan to it or write with a dry erase marker to remind me of what I'm doing (on the I, M and E boxes, I write what they can do in an I Can format or just plain dot points). The third pic shows how the clipboard fits inside. This was one of the reasons why I chose these boxes - I'm always misplacing my clipboards!

This week, I have placed copies of an activity from Amy Lemon's Multiplication Situations unit in the Independent Work tub along with some counters for students to make the arrays, a couple of Doubles games (the blue containers hold the counters/dice) and also some Addition/Subtraction games (to 10, to 20 and to 50 for different abiliteis) for the Math Facts tub. I also throw in some flash cards - the kids really like doing this with each other for some reason! For Essential Revision, I have put in a range of place value activities. I've got my place value dominoes and bingo in there and a freebie Place Value board game (to use with the bundling sticks) that I got online. I'll put in the link for it when I bring my hard drive home, hopefully the authors name is on the file somewhere (it wasn't.... but thank you to whoever made it!).

On a typical week, I do a a pre-assessment to determine my groups and a whole class lesson to introduce the concept on Monday. I also explain the activities for the tubs. 

On Tuesday and Wednesday, I do a mini-lesson and meet with 2 groups.  Each component is about 20 minutes. The four tubs are completed over these two days.

Thursday and Friday I'm flexible based on what I learned meeting with the groups. Most weeks, I repeat the Tues/Wed structure (but I swap out the activities- different independent work/computer, add some different math facts games, a different review concept) and on Friday, instead of the mini-lesson, I'll have a short post-assessment. The Essential Review tub is easy to swap over because I use materials and games from when we learned the concept - don't have to reteach, just review the instructions. Math Facts is also easy because I love making new math games and the kids love it when their favourite games make their way back in - they even love flash cards if I pop them in there! Other weeks, I might decide to do more whole class, or a craft, project, math investigation etc.and not follow the Tues/Wed structure.

But if you are new to math groups, you could even just do one group per day over four days or any other way that you can fit it in. 

I like this system because most weeks I get to meet in small groups with every student twice. The tubs are also easy to maintain and swap out. The Essential Review tub is my favourite because I dislike how there is often a big gap between the times we learn about a concept. I like the constant review that I incorporate each week. 

How do you teach math? Do you have a structure you love and that works for you? How do you store your games and materials?

Edit: I've uploaded Posters, Tub/Rotation Labels and I-Can charts for T.I.M.E Math at my TpT store.