WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.960 Let's talk about setting up a math block when 00:00:01.960 --> 00:00:11.439 you do not have a curriculum. Hello and welcome 00:00:11.439 --> 00:00:14.619 to Making Number Sense Make Sense, a podcast 00:00:14.619 --> 00:00:17.260 for elementary teachers, specifically early elementary 00:00:17.260 --> 00:00:20.300 teachers, looking to really make an impact in 00:00:20.300 --> 00:00:22.600 the number sense of their students. I want to 00:00:22.600 --> 00:00:24.660 say it was my second or third year teaching. 00:00:25.339 --> 00:00:27.699 When we had a curriculum that we had been using, 00:00:27.760 --> 00:00:30.019 but then my district decided, curriculum, we 00:00:30.019 --> 00:00:33.340 don't know her, and decided to use a completely 00:00:33.340 --> 00:00:36.299 different curriculum, which was a hodgepodge 00:00:36.299 --> 00:00:38.780 of a bunch of different things, not an actual 00:00:38.780 --> 00:00:41.399 curriculum. So if you are in a similar boat, 00:00:41.640 --> 00:00:43.859 then I'm going to share with you today some ideas 00:00:43.859 --> 00:00:46.340 of how to set up your math block that you can 00:00:46.340 --> 00:00:49.539 use when you need to piece a lot of things together 00:00:49.539 --> 00:00:53.399 to keep the flow coherent. and so that your students 00:00:53.399 --> 00:00:56.840 know what to expect every time it's time for 00:00:56.840 --> 00:00:59.840 math. An option for the main components to use 00:00:59.840 --> 00:01:01.780 when setting up your math curriculum is to have 00:01:01.780 --> 00:01:05.359 some kind of warm -up, a mini lesson or main 00:01:05.359 --> 00:01:08.400 lesson, station or center time, and a guided 00:01:08.400 --> 00:01:11.420 math time for either intervention, students who 00:01:11.420 --> 00:01:12.920 are right where they need to be but might need 00:01:12.920 --> 00:01:16.200 a little bit more support, or students who may 00:01:16.200 --> 00:01:19.319 need some enrichment. The purpose of the warm 00:01:19.319 --> 00:01:21.700 -up is to get your students kind of primed in 00:01:21.700 --> 00:01:24.260 thinking about what they learned before, maybe 00:01:24.260 --> 00:01:26.760 activating some prior knowledge, and get them 00:01:26.760 --> 00:01:29.439 used to having academic conversations about math. 00:01:29.659 --> 00:01:32.840 Since this is such a short window, it's usually 00:01:32.840 --> 00:01:36.719 nothing long, probably five minutes or less, 00:01:36.920 --> 00:01:39.799 they can get some practice with having an academic 00:01:39.799 --> 00:01:42.760 conversation that rolls right into your mini 00:01:42.760 --> 00:01:45.920 lesson or your main lesson. Some examples of 00:01:45.920 --> 00:01:48.500 some Number sense routines or warmups you might 00:01:48.500 --> 00:01:53.099 use are quick images, a number talk, choral count, 00:01:53.299 --> 00:01:55.920 things of that nature. Now, a warmup doesn't 00:01:55.920 --> 00:01:58.340 necessarily have to connect with what your lesson 00:01:58.340 --> 00:02:00.260 is going to be, but it's definitely helpful. 00:02:00.439 --> 00:02:02.560 But if there's other little things that you'd 00:02:02.560 --> 00:02:05.280 like to work on, that's something else that can 00:02:05.280 --> 00:02:07.969 be done. during your warmup. Now, after you have 00:02:07.969 --> 00:02:10.210 your students all primed and ready to go, you're 00:02:10.210 --> 00:02:12.889 gonna go into the mini lesson or main lesson. 00:02:13.110 --> 00:02:15.810 I differentiate because sometimes a mini lesson 00:02:15.810 --> 00:02:18.289 is just that you don't need more than 15 minutes. 00:02:18.710 --> 00:02:21.289 Sometimes if a lesson is more involved, it can 00:02:21.289 --> 00:02:24.409 take a little longer. For a mini lesson, you 00:02:24.409 --> 00:02:27.620 might consider something small like. We're learning 00:02:27.620 --> 00:02:30.120 about how to write the number five. So this is 00:02:30.120 --> 00:02:31.759 how you write a number five. This is how many 00:02:31.759 --> 00:02:34.699 five is. So it's just bite -sized pieces of information 00:02:34.699 --> 00:02:38.240 that students will need to move on. And there 00:02:38.240 --> 00:02:40.500 can be a little bit of practice in writing that 00:02:40.500 --> 00:02:42.979 number and then moving on to whatever it is that 00:02:42.979 --> 00:02:45.759 you're doing during stations or centers. An example 00:02:45.759 --> 00:02:48.020 of a lesson that might take a little bit longer 00:02:48.020 --> 00:02:52.289 might be a problem solving lesson. or a decomposing 00:02:52.289 --> 00:02:55.009 numbers lesson. So for example, sticking with 00:02:55.009 --> 00:02:57.330 five, if instead of working on writing the number 00:02:57.330 --> 00:03:00.270 five and how many five is, you're working on 00:03:00.270 --> 00:03:02.710 different number combinations that make five, 00:03:02.969 --> 00:03:05.370 you might want to show students that there are 00:03:05.370 --> 00:03:07.449 different ways to make five and kind of show 00:03:07.449 --> 00:03:10.030 them how to systematically figure out. all the 00:03:10.030 --> 00:03:13.270 combinations of five. So that might include using 00:03:13.270 --> 00:03:15.650 double -sided counters and showing them how to 00:03:15.650 --> 00:03:18.270 just turn over one counter at a time to find 00:03:18.270 --> 00:03:20.729 a new number combination for five and kind of 00:03:20.729 --> 00:03:22.930 expanding that to be for any number, but today 00:03:22.930 --> 00:03:25.949 we're just working on five. So depending on how 00:03:25.949 --> 00:03:27.990 many materials you need and how deep you want 00:03:27.990 --> 00:03:31.090 to get into a topic would decide if it was a 00:03:31.090 --> 00:03:34.560 mini lesson or a main lesson. Something else 00:03:34.560 --> 00:03:37.560 I mentioned in a main lesson situation might 00:03:37.560 --> 00:03:39.719 be something more like a problem solving session. 00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:43.180 Now, this shouldn't just be reserved for when 00:03:43.180 --> 00:03:46.599 it's your problem solving unit, because as we 00:03:46.599 --> 00:03:49.259 know, word problems can be tricky for students 00:03:49.259 --> 00:03:52.139 to figure out, especially if they don't have 00:03:52.139 --> 00:03:55.680 practice. So this might be a time to include. 00:03:56.430 --> 00:03:59.169 a problem solving framework similar to a building 00:03:59.169 --> 00:04:02.250 thinking classroom style framework that you could 00:04:02.250 --> 00:04:05.110 use to replace your warm -up and mini lesson 00:04:05.110 --> 00:04:08.069 to practice those problem solving skills. If 00:04:08.069 --> 00:04:10.750 you want a deeper dive into how to do that, I 00:04:10.750 --> 00:04:14.050 will link below some blog posts and previous 00:04:14.050 --> 00:04:16.850 podcast episodes that go deeper into it if problem 00:04:16.850 --> 00:04:18.889 solving is what you're looking to have a little 00:04:18.889 --> 00:04:22.300 bit more support in. The next part of your math 00:04:22.300 --> 00:04:25.819 block can be your math centers or your math stations, 00:04:25.879 --> 00:04:28.740 and these are opportunities for students to work 00:04:28.740 --> 00:04:31.800 individually with a partner or in a group to 00:04:31.800 --> 00:04:33.759 practice the skills that you have been working 00:04:33.759 --> 00:04:37.920 on in your mini lessons or main lessons. Now, 00:04:37.959 --> 00:04:40.800 in terms of setting up your math centers, there 00:04:40.800 --> 00:04:45.439 is no one -size -fits -all for how to do stations 00:04:45.439 --> 00:04:48.060 or centers. Some teachers prefer to have only 00:04:48.060 --> 00:04:50.680 two students per activity, but if you're thinking 00:04:50.680 --> 00:04:53.839 about your class of 24, you would need 12 different 00:04:53.839 --> 00:04:56.040 areas or 12 different things that they're doing 00:04:56.040 --> 00:04:58.740 and it can get a little bit messy in terms of 00:04:58.740 --> 00:05:01.819 if you're having them rotate or not. If you're 00:05:01.819 --> 00:05:03.839 not having them rotate, then that could be a 00:05:03.839 --> 00:05:05.339 little bit different. That's something you might 00:05:05.339 --> 00:05:09.040 want to explore. For me personally, I have found 00:05:09.040 --> 00:05:13.509 four or five students in a group to be kind of 00:05:13.509 --> 00:05:16.009 the sweet spot. So if it's a partner game, they 00:05:16.009 --> 00:05:18.790 can play in a group of two or three, but there's 00:05:18.790 --> 00:05:21.689 enough space for them to spread out their materials 00:05:21.689 --> 00:05:24.490 so they're not on top of each other. There's 00:05:24.490 --> 00:05:26.350 a lot of discussion about if your group should 00:05:26.350 --> 00:05:29.550 be heterogeneous or homogeneous, and there's 00:05:29.550 --> 00:05:32.449 really pros or cons to both. And what you really 00:05:32.449 --> 00:05:35.829 want to consider is how they're going to move 00:05:35.829 --> 00:05:38.290 around the room. If you have homogeneous groups, 00:05:38.449 --> 00:05:40.329 then that whole group is just going to travel 00:05:40.329 --> 00:05:42.430 together if you're having your students rotate 00:05:42.430 --> 00:05:45.050 stations, which can be helpful for classroom 00:05:45.050 --> 00:05:47.790 management. If you're having heterogeneous groups, 00:05:47.889 --> 00:05:50.509 you might need a little bit more support or a 00:05:50.509 --> 00:05:52.990 way for students to figure out where they're 00:05:52.990 --> 00:05:55.149 supposed to go when and how they're supposed 00:05:55.149 --> 00:05:58.120 to complete their stations. or select the correct 00:05:58.120 --> 00:06:01.000 differentiated material depending on what their 00:06:01.000 --> 00:06:03.860 needs are. Either one can work. It's really up 00:06:03.860 --> 00:06:06.620 to you and figuring out what works best for your 00:06:06.620 --> 00:06:09.480 students in your classroom. Either way, you want 00:06:09.480 --> 00:06:12.259 to develop some kind of system where students 00:06:12.259 --> 00:06:15.019 can move independently from one station to another, 00:06:15.180 --> 00:06:17.709 consider How they're going to get water. Do they 00:06:17.709 --> 00:06:20.129 need to ask you to get water? Do they need to 00:06:20.129 --> 00:06:22.389 ask you to go to the restroom? Things like that. 00:06:22.430 --> 00:06:23.930 Like if you want them to be a little bit more 00:06:23.930 --> 00:06:27.529 independent, having those things in place. Also 00:06:27.529 --> 00:06:30.170 being able to access appropriately differentiated 00:06:30.170 --> 00:06:32.910 materials and how to save work for another day 00:06:32.910 --> 00:06:35.310 if it's not completed. So that might be folders, 00:06:35.490 --> 00:06:39.129 cubbies, things like that are things to consider 00:06:39.129 --> 00:06:41.870 when you're thinking about how to plan your math 00:06:41.870 --> 00:06:44.860 stations or math centers. When it comes to what 00:06:44.860 --> 00:06:47.360 they're actually doing at their math stations 00:06:47.360 --> 00:06:49.839 or math centers, I like to combine some kind 00:06:49.839 --> 00:06:53.699 of practice, some kind of game, or some opportunity 00:06:53.699 --> 00:06:56.399 to work collaboratively with a partner or in 00:06:56.399 --> 00:06:59.079 their group. And sometimes it has some technology, 00:06:59.100 --> 00:07:01.879 like a technology station, sometimes it doesn't, 00:07:01.879 --> 00:07:05.160 and sometimes they will be working with me in 00:07:05.160 --> 00:07:08.250 a small group for some kind of guided... math. 00:07:08.350 --> 00:07:10.750 In terms of introducing a new station or new 00:07:10.750 --> 00:07:13.850 center, some teachers will introduce all new 00:07:13.850 --> 00:07:16.170 centers at the same time. To be honest with you, 00:07:16.189 --> 00:07:18.050 I never tried, but I don't know that I would 00:07:18.050 --> 00:07:20.569 just because at that point, if you're thinking 00:07:20.569 --> 00:07:23.230 about how your math block went, they would have 00:07:23.230 --> 00:07:25.069 already been sitting for their warm -up, they 00:07:25.069 --> 00:07:26.589 would have been doing their mini or their main 00:07:26.589 --> 00:07:28.829 lesson, and at that point, you're probably reaching 00:07:28.829 --> 00:07:31.589 the point where They're needing to move around 00:07:31.589 --> 00:07:34.129 a little bit, so explaining four or five new 00:07:34.129 --> 00:07:37.649 stations might be a bit much. What I would usually 00:07:37.649 --> 00:07:41.449 do is just introduce one new station a day, and 00:07:41.449 --> 00:07:44.889 then the oldest station they had. So the one 00:07:44.889 --> 00:07:47.470 that was introduced the earliest would be the 00:07:47.470 --> 00:07:49.990 one I remove and it would be replaced with a 00:07:49.990 --> 00:07:53.009 new station or center. So I wasn't having to 00:07:53.009 --> 00:07:54.990 explain every single thing that they're doing. 00:07:55.069 --> 00:07:56.790 And the students could help each other because 00:07:56.790 --> 00:07:59.129 at least one student usually remembered what 00:07:59.129 --> 00:08:01.649 to do if they were unsure of what to do at a 00:08:01.649 --> 00:08:04.699 station. But I would encourage you to reinforce 00:08:04.699 --> 00:08:07.560 that if they really don't remember how to do 00:08:07.560 --> 00:08:10.220 a station or not sure what to do to ask, I would 00:08:10.220 --> 00:08:12.480 rather have them ask me and explain it again 00:08:12.480 --> 00:08:14.959 than have them playing around for 15 minutes. 00:08:15.000 --> 00:08:17.620 That's not a good use of their time or your time. 00:08:17.740 --> 00:08:19.879 Now, when it comes to where students are supposed 00:08:19.879 --> 00:08:23.959 to be, usually a digital or physical pocket chart 00:08:23.959 --> 00:08:26.759 that has it listed is something that can be helpful 00:08:26.759 --> 00:08:30.300 for organizing that kind of situation so students 00:08:30.300 --> 00:08:33.419 know where to go. or know where to look to figure 00:08:33.419 --> 00:08:35.700 out where they're supposed to go. After students 00:08:35.700 --> 00:08:37.779 are settled where they're supposed to be, that 00:08:37.779 --> 00:08:39.539 we don't have any technology issues, everybody 00:08:39.539 --> 00:08:41.820 knows what they're doing, that would be a time 00:08:41.820 --> 00:08:44.220 where you could pull small groups who either 00:08:44.220 --> 00:08:49.399 need intervention support, reinforcement, or 00:08:49.399 --> 00:08:52.700 some kind of enrichment in guided math. There's 00:08:52.700 --> 00:08:55.159 a lot of different ways you can do guided math, 00:08:55.320 --> 00:08:58.700 but especially if you're working without a curriculum, 00:08:58.799 --> 00:09:01.710 you've already planned your lessons and gathered 00:09:01.710 --> 00:09:05.230 your centers, planning out five or six different 00:09:05.230 --> 00:09:07.990 guided math stations might be a bit of a challenge. 00:09:08.129 --> 00:09:11.929 So if you are not granularly planning everything, 00:09:12.149 --> 00:09:15.269 I would suggest having some games or some things 00:09:15.269 --> 00:09:18.299 you can do. During that guided math time, in 00:09:18.299 --> 00:09:21.200 your back pocket, ready to go. So for example, 00:09:21.279 --> 00:09:23.659 if you've done your beginning of the year assessment, 00:09:23.899 --> 00:09:26.200 you know how high students can count, you know 00:09:26.200 --> 00:09:28.259 which numbers they know, which numbers they might 00:09:28.259 --> 00:09:31.139 need support in, things like that. You could 00:09:31.139 --> 00:09:34.720 have your ideas of what to do around those things. 00:09:34.860 --> 00:09:37.860 So maybe you might do a number counting game 00:09:37.860 --> 00:09:40.120 during guided math that you are listening to 00:09:40.120 --> 00:09:42.019 them count, you're reinforcing the way that they 00:09:42.019 --> 00:09:43.919 count, and that's something that doesn't require 00:09:43.919 --> 00:09:47.360 a lot of prep. on your end but you know you're 00:09:47.360 --> 00:09:49.019 pulling the right students because you've had 00:09:49.019 --> 00:09:52.490 an assessment done one -on -one or because you're 00:09:52.490 --> 00:09:54.970 looking at the results of your beginning of the 00:09:54.970 --> 00:09:57.289 year assessments to know what they need. If you're 00:09:57.289 --> 00:10:00.370 working on number writing, have some dry erase 00:10:00.370 --> 00:10:02.509 markers, dry erase boards, things like that that 00:10:02.509 --> 00:10:04.769 you can use to kind of have them practice writing 00:10:04.769 --> 00:10:06.950 their numbers. You can make it a game. You can 00:10:06.950 --> 00:10:09.389 say, I'm thinking of the number that comes after 00:10:09.389 --> 00:10:11.269 four and they have to write that number down 00:10:11.269 --> 00:10:13.970 or just say a number like, let's write the number 00:10:13.970 --> 00:10:15.809 five. This is how you write the number five. 00:10:15.870 --> 00:10:18.289 Let's practice together. Things like that or 00:10:18.289 --> 00:10:21.090 similar activity. So they're practicing the skills 00:10:21.090 --> 00:10:23.210 that you know that they need. And same thing 00:10:23.210 --> 00:10:24.889 with counting. You could have them count out 00:10:24.889 --> 00:10:27.149 numbers instead of writing numbers. So those 00:10:27.149 --> 00:10:29.789 are just some really simple basic ideas of what 00:10:29.789 --> 00:10:31.950 students might need extra support. And you can 00:10:31.950 --> 00:10:34.570 make sure they are counting correctly, forming 00:10:34.570 --> 00:10:37.029 numbers correctly. things like that. To recap, 00:10:37.149 --> 00:10:39.350 some components of a strong math block would 00:10:39.350 --> 00:10:41.490 be some kind of warm -up or number sense routine, 00:10:41.769 --> 00:10:45.009 a mini lesson or a main lesson with problem solving 00:10:45.009 --> 00:10:48.669 integrated, and stations or center times or time 00:10:48.669 --> 00:10:50.730 for you to be able to pull students that require 00:10:50.730 --> 00:10:53.350 extra support and intervention, reinforcement, 00:10:53.690 --> 00:10:56.190 or enrichment. I will have everything that I 00:10:56.190 --> 00:10:58.710 spoke about today written out in a blog post 00:10:58.710 --> 00:11:00.870 that will be down in the show notes that you 00:11:00.870 --> 00:11:03.710 can use for your reference, and feel free to 00:11:04.350 --> 00:11:07.769 Send me an email, send me a DM on Instagram if 00:11:07.769 --> 00:11:10.029 you have any other questions or something that 00:11:10.029 --> 00:11:12.210 you feel you would like to hear more about in 00:11:12.210 --> 00:11:15.370 its own podcast episode. Until then, I will see 00:11:15.370 --> 00:11:15.809 you next time.