Math Plan

I have been reading more about Guided Math and been thinking about how to plan for my Math classes this year. I will have two Math classes again this year.

I set up a Calendar area in my classroom. Here is a picture of what I am starting with:

The first week of school, I will introduce the elements of our Calendar Area. On the first day of school, we will look at the Calendar to determine the date and what day of the week it is. I will have the students determine what day was yesterday and what tomorrow will be. We will begin counting the Days of School on the chart. One popsicle stick goes in the pocket for the Ones each day until we trade them in for a Ten. We will review Fact Families with the Fact Family chart. That will be all we do with it the first day.

On the second day of school, we will do the elements from yesterday and we will write the time on the clock (I will start with the hour and half hour since it will be a review from 1st grade.), I will introduce the "Show Me the Money" chart and have the children show the money with coins.

On the third day, we will do the elements learned so far and add the large numbers next to the Calendar. I am going to put up a 3 digit number (I have the numbers 0-9 on each ring so I can just flip the numbers). In the blue pocket chart we will  show the number by adding the Hundreds, Tens and Ones. For example, 124 will be shown 100 + 20 + 4.

On the fourth day, we will do all the elements and add in a Word Problem. I have a Word Problem box of cards someone gave me from Lakeshore. I am going to clip a card on the small white and chevron paper above the Calendar. We will discuss the Word Problem and I will record their different ways of solving the problem.

On Fridays, I don't plan to do Calendar skills. I want to spend more time on Fridays with challenging Word Problems they solve in pairs or groups. We will then discuss the different ways they solved the problem.

For the first few weeks, we will do the Calendar Mondays through Thursdays with both of my Math classes. Then, I plan to alternate Calendar days with my classes. So, one class will do it on Mondays and Wednesdays and the other group will do it on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I plan to add more measurement-type skills in another area and the students will do those skills on the days they don't do Calendar skills.

I plan to give a whole group lesson and instruction on new Math Centers and games on Mondays. So, I may not pull groups on Mondays. On Tuesdays through Thursdays, I plan to give a short whole group lesson and the call my Guided Math groups during Independent work time and Centers. On Fridays, we will focus on cooperative group work. When I get my Centers going the second week of school, I will post about how I manage the Centers and keep track of all the supplies.

I use Math Journals regularly, so we will be involved with those almost everyday. I plan to introduce those the second day of school.