Check In With My Guided Math Program

I have been back in school for 8 weeks now. So, I wanted to take time to evaluate how my Guided Math is going this year.

I moved up to 2nd grade and decided to try a more structured approach to my Guided Math time this year.

The first couple of weeks of school, I was just trying to get my classroom running smoothly- establishing routines, introducing Centers, and getting to know the children.

I introduced Centers one at a time and we practiced them as a whole group at first. Now, I introduce the new Center games on Mondays and they run pretty smoothly. The children have learned what they are expected to do at each Center, where to put any completed papers and what to do when they are finished.

I use these black bins I got from IKEA. I numbered them (1-4).

When the children are working at the Centers and/or Independent work, I am able to work with my Guided Math groups. I have 5 groups that I work with every week. Luckily, I have interns in my room 4 days a week so I sometimes have them working with groups also.

Here are some activities they are working on during Center time.

I have a Low group, 2 Middle groups (They are pretty much on the same level but there are so many of them I put them in 2 groups.), a High group and an Enrichment group. My Enrichment group consists of the 5 students I have who have been identified as Gifted. The group labels are just for me. I don't tell the children which group they are in and I try to act like I randomly call them to work with me. My groups are not a part of the Center rotations. I just call the students as I need to work with them.

I call one of the groups each day. I usually start with the Low group on Monday to review what we did last week and give them a head start on this week. It depends on which students are absent that day. I have had many absences and try to call a group that has everyone there that day and hope the other children come the next day,

I have grouped my students in 2 ways.We are using the iReady Math program on the computers. So, after their first Diagnostic test, I grouped the children according to the skills they need. I also look to see how the students are doing in our Math Curriculum work. Since I have so many interns, I am able to have them also work with groups. The iReady lessons are very scripted and easy to follow so it is easy to have them work on those lessons with groups. I also have the children who need to be challenged more working on projects with my interns. Right now, they are doing a Math project using the Scholastic Book order form.

Right now, I feel like the smallgroups are running smoothly and all the groups are being worked with on skills they need. It will be more challengng when I don't have interns 4 days a week, which will be in a couple of months.

Next, I want to work on my record keeping. I have the groups listed on my Weekly Lesson Plans, but I want to include the lessons and my observations for each group in my Guided Math binder.