Showing posts with label guided math workshop. Show all posts
Showing posts with label guided math workshop. Show all posts
Analyzing data is an important life skill... and learning how to do can and
should start early in the primary grades. I use the 5 C's of data
to help kids learn the process of analyzing data: Create, Collect, Count,
Compare, and Communicate. Let's take a closer look at each of these and
what it looks like in the K-2 classroom.
Data Anchor Chart
During our 2nd grade math block last year, we talked about analyzing data
using the 5 Cs: Create, Collect, Count, Compare, and Communicate. This
is just a helpful guide to help kids understand the process of analyzing
data. Sometimes we do all of those. Sometimes, we skip to
comparing data that's already been created, collected and counted for
us. But all of these are important steps that even adults go through to
analyze data.
When we talked about this in 2nd grade math, we made the connection to my husband's
job. He does data analysis all day every day for Walmart. And many
people depend on his analyses to be correct so that they right amount of the
right things get on the shelves! :) (no pressure, right??) So, data
analysis is a life-long skill that we use as adults.
Here's a look at what our anchor chart looks like. (You can find the
template for this
here.)
Collect the Data
Collecting data can be as simple as asking "Would you rather?" questions and
tallying answers as a class. For group or independent work, I love
having hands on tools to help them collect the data. With my 2nd grader
last year, we used legos because he's obsessed with lego building right now.
After the data has been collected, we are ready to count and compare the
data. When we first work on this, I give the kids the "collected data"
so that they can just focus on the counting and comparing. Here's a peek
at a
graph
I've used in kindergarten and first.
Once kids have been exposed to "filling in" a variety of data display types,
it's time to really focus on analyzing each display type. We talk
about how to recognize a pie chart versus a bar graph. We talk about
when it would be best to use tallies and when it would be better to use a
table or bar graph.
One of the first things we do when focusing on data displays is
sort
them together.
Then, the kids have a chance to match data displays independently during our
guided math hands-on time.
You can find these graphing activities in my
2nd grade Guided Math Plans
and additional, seasonally themed graphing printables
here.
Money is a HUGE part of the math curriculum for 2nd graders! It can be a
pretty abstract concept for many kids, but I love using hands on, real world money activities and games to bring counting money to life. Let's take a closer look at a few
of my favorite money activities and money games for second grade.
Alexander, Who Used to be Rich...
I love this book so much. But honestly, I just love Alexander no matter
what book he's in!
The story is perfect for walking through a real world example of using money
and counting coins. Because our goal for this lesson is identifying the
value of coins, that is what I really focus on for each slide of the story.
Then, we play Roll A Dollar and kids practicing adding pennies up to one
dollar!
Counting Collections of Coins
Making money realistic and relating it to the real world is so
important!
This digital game
does just that! We go through these slides together and count the coins
to write the price on the tag.
Once we practice this skill together, kids get in partners and grab 10 coins
from their prepared bag and count their collection!
Building a Collection of Coins
Who doesn't want to help Granny with her fruit stand? I love
this activity
because it can be digital or printable. Plus, depending on the group's
decision, there are so many ways to work through Granny's fruit stand!
Anytime I can find a game for kids to play to reinforce a math skill, it's a
win for me! These are some of my go-to games for 2nd graders that are
low prep, easy to learn, and simple to play over and over again!
Doubles Bingo
Doubles are huge in first and second grade because they help unlock so many
math facts and give kids a fluent way to add and subtract. I love using
Bingo because most kids already know the rules and so it doesn't take much to
model how to play!
I used one of the doubles bingo boards and spinners from my
Guided Math Workshop Plans
and we were good to go. We used a pencil and paperclip to make a
spinner. I played this with my 2nd grader when I homeschooled him during
the #covidyear and it was just as fun with one player as it is with a
classroom full of players.
I love Bingo games because they are great for whole group lessons if you need
something easy for a sub. They are great for volunteers or aids to do
with a small intervention group in the hallway. They work well for
parents to use at home too. And they are great to put in a station like
I do for Guided Math and let kids play in partners.
Roll and Solve
I used LOTS of Roll and _____ games in K-2. Once the kids know the
framework of the game, it's easy to change out the skill across all areas of
math, phonics, literacy and more! The math game shown below is for
practicing specific addition and subtraction strategies. It's to force
kids to move away from using the same strategy every single time and push them
to be more flexible mathematicians.
In Roll and Solve, kids have one die. They roll and solve one of the
math problems in the row of the number they roll. So, if they roll a 2,
they solve the first box in row 2. Once they fill a row, they win.
There are different ways to play this game. You can have a game sheet
for each partner. Let the partners take turns rolling and solving.
The first one to fill a row wins.
You can also do what we did in
this version
below. My 2nd grader and I each used a different color. He solved
odds and I solved evens. When he rolled, he rolled until he rolled an
odd number. I only rolled even numbers. Again, whoever fills in
the first row wins. This just saves a few more trees! :)
Add and Subtract Tic-Tac-Toe
Everybody loves tic-tac-toe! And I love using it for practicing
skills. It's another one that's grade for a wide range of skills in math
and literacy!
This printed version is from my
Guided Math Workshop Plans, but I have made hand written copies of tic-tac-toe countless times over the
years to help with Letter or number ID, spelling, decoding words, shapes and
more!
In
this math game, kids will choose which square they want. They must correctly solve
the 2-digit addition or subtraction equation before they may put the X or O in
the square. They must notate how they solved as well.
A few weeks ago, we did some math operating in our homeschool 2nd grade math class!
:)
And, ya'll, I wish we had worked on this much sooner! My kid is a strong
math thinker, who struggles with notation or showing/telling me how he figured
out his answer. His little brain works so fast that he has a hard time
using the right language to explain his thinking. That has been my main
goal this year for him.
I knew it was important for him to know and understand the 4 math operations,
but I had no idea just HOW helpful it would be in giving him more math
language to frame his thinking and ultimately write down his notation in a
mathematical way.
Sound familiar? Here's a look at our week of
math operations!
Introducing Math Operations
We kicked off the week introducing math operations. I wrote the numbers
6 and 2 on the board and asked, "6 and 2 come to our math hospital.
There are 4 math operations that we can do with these numbers. What's
one thing we can do to 6 and 2?"
As we listed out the operations, we
charted
them. We charted the symbol, the name of the operation, the sample
equation, and keywords or phrases we use when performing that operation.
Once we worked through all 4 operations and compared and contrasted them, we
read the digital book from my
Guided Math Workshop Plans
called, "Socks for Knox."
Each page has a different story problem type. We read the problem and
discussed which operation we should use and why. The answer is less
important...in fact, that's why I used very low numbers. I wanted him to
think about the operation and not get caught up in the numbers.
Let's just take a moment to add that I really, *really*, wanted my 2nd grader
to dress up in his old doctor outfits and pretend like we were performing
surgery, but he wasn't having it. #boys This would make a super
fun classroom transformation project though! :)
Math Operations Sort
In
Guided Math Workshop, Mondays are mostly whole group days where most of the content is
frontloaded and introduced. Then, the rest of the week, kids work independently on the goals and content we learned on Monday. They
solve a new problem independently each day, play a hands on game with a
partner, meet with a teacher in a small group to discuss their problem solving and work on a technology based game to practice the math skill
from Monday. You can read more about those routines here.
This week, our hands-on activity was an operations sort! We used the cards
to sort symbols, equations, and stories into the 4 operation categories.
All of this practice made a HUGE difference in his ability to show his
strategies during problem-solving. He was able to name the operation
he needed to use and write his equation more easily.
Guided Math Workshop
was a new structure that came about as I was leaving the classroom for my
mommy break. Why the change in my math block time? I loved the
focus we had on problem solving before, but it was hard for me to feel like I
could conference with all of my kids. I also struggled with the need to
do small group instruction, but not having a framework for managing that.
And lastly, I needed more balance between kid-guided problem solving and
direct instruction. So
Guided Math Workshop
was born. Here's a look at what a week of guided math workshop looks like now!
Monday
On Mondays, we introduce the goal for the week through a mini-lesson.
Sometimes, we read a book, sometimes we watch a video, and sometimes we work
through some digital slides with some discussion together. I spend about
15-30 minutes on this, depending on the activity. Here is one of our
mini-lessons
from when we practice drawing shapes with specific attributes with a personal
favorite, The Greedy Triangle!
Then, we do a brain break video that relates to our goal for the week.
After our blood is flowing again, we have some kind of math talk that ties to
the goal for the week. This is my chance to model math notation and how
to show our thinking during problem solving time. It also gives my kids
a chance to hear strategies from the whole class. Here's a math talk we
did on the dry erase board brainstorming ways to regroup.
And here's another math talk we did using the riddles from
The Grapes of Math.
After our math talk, I introduce the hands-on game that the kids will play
with partners during the week. We play the game as a whole group so that
I can teach them the game and model how to fill out the response sheet.
And then we are ready for the rest of the week!
Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday
Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays look exactly the same. This is
perfect because if we have a four day week, we can just have 2 days of this
rotation schedule instead of 3 and not much is taken away from the math
instruction except for more practice time! :) Here's the routine for
these three "rotation" days.
Launch Math Mysteries
For the first 5-10 minutes, we launch the story problem the kids will work on
independently for the day. I edit the launch slide in our
rotation slideshow
and pull it up during our launch. We review our goal for the week, read
the problem, and we talk about what we know about the story problem and what
we are trying to figure out. The launch is short and sweet, because I
want to give kids time to work on the problem and figure it out on their
own.
Then, we continue the
rotation board. This is a timed powerpoint presentation that shows kids exactly where
to go. Once I move to this slide, the chimes will sound and the rotations
begin. It will give kids 15 minutes to work on their first
rotation. At the end of 15 minutes, the chimes will sound again and go
to the next slide which shows the kids where to move to next. The names
and even the time is completely editable and found in my plans for 1st grade
or for 2nd grade.
**NOTE: Yes, I know this doesn't spell math. Long story short,
sometimes the rotations are out of order to make sure each group gets to
every station when they need to get to it. Want the long
story? The very detailed explanation and directions are included in
the
plans.**
Let's take a closer look at each of the rotations!
M: Meet With Me
During this
rotation, kids come back to my small group table. For *most* kids, this
rotation comes immediately after their at my seat time where they have been
working on solving the problem. We use this time to share our strategies
with kids who are in similar places in their problem solving skills. I
can use this time to extend or give extra support to these kids and model
notation that specifically applies to certain kids.
For my lower babies, they come meet with me first. Why? Because
most of them are unable to get started independently and need extra
support. So, during their meet with me time, we might act out the story
problem or even work through the first level of problems. By the end of
this 15 minutes, these struggling mathematicians are ready to finish solving
the rest of the problems independently and they will move straight to At My
Seat next.
A: At My Seat
During this
rotation, kids work on independently solving all 4 levels of the story problem.
This is a quiet and independent working time for these kids at their
seat. Remember, the low kids have just come from meeting with me for
extra support before they start. And the rest of the groups will be
coming to meet with me after this to share their strategies.
T: Technology
During this
rotation, kids work on our goal for the week on a device. I have used websites
like dreambox, I-Ready, starfall and abcya. With my 2nd grader at home
this year, I am using these fluency Google Slides assignments.
H: Hands-On
During this
rotation, kids play the game we modeled together on Monday. Some games I play
take longer and will take the whole week to finish playing. With other
games, I have the kids use a different version each day (like a new tic tac
toe board). Most games are designed to play with partners, but some can
be independent. This is the only station where kids might be
talking/whispering. So, in general, rotation time is pretty quiet except
for your hands-on kids and the kids at your table! :)
Reflection
After the last
rotation, we get back together and reflect. This is my time to talk about what
worked (with the math and with behavior, etc) and what didn't. It's also
a chance for me to address any common problems I saw with the problem solving
that day or strategies that I want everyone to see. But, mostly, this
time is more like a class meeting about our math time!
Friday
Fridays are non-rotation days! We start off working through our spiral review
of grade level math skills with our digital math wall time.
Then, we work on counting collections. You can read about those routines
here, but it's one of my favorites!
Sometimes, later in the year, I start doing counting collections every other
week and fact fluency practice on the off weeks where we practice our math
facts. (Read those routines here!)
If we have time, we do another share time at the end of the day where we share
counting or fact fluency strategies, or any other things we need to discuss
with our goal for the week!
You can find these detailed plans and materials for
1st
and
2nd grade guided math workshop below.
For 10 years, I taught first grade and was used to my kids having a
year of solving math word problems
under their belt. We obviously took it slow at the beginning of the year
and gradually moved into our "full-blown" routines that you can read more about
here.
But when I was asked to fill in for a 12 week long term sub placement in
kinder, I knew the routine would be a little bit different for those
babies. I came in January and followed the routines the kinder teacher
had started and added to those to get our kinder kids doing "full-blown" math
mystery routines in less than 12 weeks.
Program note: When you write this blog post during an international
pandemic, you write about the routines as phases! :)
Kinder Word Problems: Phase 1
In the beginning, when kinders are clueless about how to do school in general,
there is lots of hand-holding with math word problems. While the end
goal is for kids to independently solve math word problems and show their
thinking all on their own, it takes some work to get there.
In "phase 1" of kinder
word problems, we introduce or launch the story problem just as we normally would. I
have the kids get their math brains ready (close their eyes...some put their
heads between their knees, ya know...whatever works!) and I read the story
problem aloud to them twice. After I've read it twice, I say, "Ready?"
and they lift up their heads and open their eyes and we are ready to chat
about it.
I ask, "WHO is the story problem about?" and they all (eventually...sometimes
I have to call on a kids at first) answer the name of the person the problem
is about.
Then, I ask, "WHAT is the story problem about?" and they all (eventually)
answer with the set, like cookies, crayons, t-shirts, whatever.
Next, I raise my hand so they know to raise their hand to answer and I ask,
"What do I know about ____ and her/his _____?"
Then I call one kid at a time to tell me one of the two things I know.
In the problem above, I know that Cooper bought 4 pencils. I also know
that he bought 1 more.
Finally, I raise my had again so they know to raise their hand to be called on
and I ask, "What is it I DON'T know?" Then, I call on one kids to tell me that. In the problem above,
I don't know how many cookies Cooper has now. I remind them NOT to shout
out any answers.
After we've launched the problem, I turn down the lights and dismiss the kids
a few at a time to quietly go back to their seats and get started. This
is a very quiet time, with
quiet thinking music on. There are only a few times in my day that I ask kids not to talk at
all, and this is one of them. It's important that they can concentrate
and get their thoughts together. They are instructed to solve the
problem, show their thinking and return to the carpet when the finish.
They sit on the carpet quietly while they wait. I usually have the
whiteboard switched over to the
instrumental music video
we are playing so they can watch the screens and keep them quiet and
calm. This is my favorite instrumental video that I like to use!
As I see kids on the carpet, I go check their work at their table and make
notes of what strategy they used using this
record keeping tool. If I need them to come back, I call them back from the carpet to
conference with them about their mistake or how to show their thinking more
clearly.
The total work time is usually only 5 minutes--maybe 7 minutes max. It
doesn't take long at all, but the important thing is to establish the routine
of working quietly and returning to the carpet when they are done.
After about 5 minutes or when all kids have returned to the carpet, we
share. Share time is short and sweet, but I walk around to the desks and
collect usually two math mysteries to show on the board. Those kids come
up, tell us exactly what they did to solve the problem, and then we use
star-star-wish to give them feedback. The star is, "I like how you..."
And the wish is "I wish you would have..." 2 stars. 1 wish. In the
beginning, this is more teacher led. For example, I had kinders that
said, "I like your flowers you drew." And I would add, "Oh, you like how
she drew a picture to show how she counted! Yes! I love that too!"
When we are finished sharing, I read them the story problem with the 2nd set
of numbers (I erase the first set inside of the problem and write the new set
in with pencil. With my first graders I don't have to fill in the blanks with
numbers, they can look at the sets and usually do that mentally. But my
kinders need extra support.)
Then, we go through the exact same routines again. Launch the
problem. Send kids back quietly with music. Return to the carpet
when the finish solving. Share time. We only do two sets of
numbers in this phase. I just X through the bottom boxes before I copy
it.
Kinder Word Problems: Phase 2
Whoah.
That was a lot of info for phase 1!
But it's all so necessary to set up important routines for
math problem solving. With our littles, there is no such thing as practicing routines too
much, right?
When my kinders have the hang of the phase 1 routine, we go on to phase 2.
The routine is the same for phase 2 in that we...
Launch the problem
Unpack the problem (who is it about, what is it about, what do I
know/don't know?)
Work independently
Share time
But this time, when the kids finish, they raise their hand. I quickly
glance at their strategy and if they have the correct answer, and I can see
how they got it, I just tap their hand and say, "You can do level 2."
Sometimes I reread the problem quickly with the 2nd set of numbers since we
only launch the problem with the first set. ("Okay, for level 2, Cooper
bought 6 pencils and then bought 4 more...)
Then, that kid moves on to level 2. If they miscounted or I don't see
how they got their answer, I conference with them about that and have them
redo/add to their level 1 work. Then, they can raise their hand again
for me to recheck.
When they finish, level 2, they go to the carpet and sit quietly while
watching the instrumental music video--just like in phase 1. Again, once
most kids are to the carpet, we share. We hang out in phase 2 just long
enough for kids to get fluent with the routine.
Kinder Word Problems: Phase 3
Phase 3 is very much like phase 2. The only difference is that I read
both sets of numbers in the
story problem
when we launch and they can move on to level 2 on their own without raising
their hand. This just adds more independence.
Once they finish both levels, they go to the carpet and wait...just as
before. As I see kids on the carpet, I look over both of their number
set levels and call them back if I need to conference with them. If not,
they can stay on the carpet until it's share time.
So, if that's the only difference, why can we just add that in with phase
2? Because, the key to establishing a successful routine with word
problems in kindergarten is taking baby steps. Phase 2 is training them
do 2 levels without needing a share time in between.
The purpose of phase 3 is to encourage them to self-check their work and
decide independently when they are ready to move on to the 2nd set of
numbers. It also helps them handle talking about two different sets of
numbers.
Kinder Word Problems: Phase 4
Phase 4 is where we land and it's where my kinders really start LOVING
math mystery time!
The difference in this step is adding more challenging number sets so they are
solving 4 number sets each time.
I set up our challenge numbers as something super exciting, and make it where
they WANT the hard numbers. When we launch the problem and I read
through the first two number sets, I then write on the board what the two
challenge numbers will be. They LOVE watching me write the challenge
sets and setting goals for which color sets they want to get! :)
I color code the challenge sets with two different colors. One color set
(like pink in the photo below) is harder than the other color.
How do I choose the 2 challenge number sets?
The first regular set of numbers are within 10 (the kinder standard).
The second set of numbers are within 20 or within 10 still depending on my
kids. So for the challenge sets I think about two "groups" of my kinders
who might typically be my early finishers. Usually I have on grade level
or just above grade level kids that are early finishers and then a group of
kids well above grade level.
So based on that, I would make a blue set of numbers (like in the example
below) for those on or just above kids and a red set for my well above
kids. When they are on the carpet, and I know to check their work, I
also use their work as information to know which number sets they should do.
As time goes on, you may find you need to add a third set of numbers that are
just more on-grade level number sets for kids that commonly miscount.
Word Problem Templates
These are the templates
I use for the word problems. I used the same ones in 1st grade as
well. All I do is add names into the story and write in number sets in
the top two boxes.
In kinder, I leave the bottom two boxes blank. Those are for the
challenge sets we use in phase 4! :) Once they are ready for a challenge
set, I have them "Do the blue sets in the bottom boxes."
You can find the free sample plus a year long bundle
here.