Note to self: I can use Math Workshop next school year since math will be 1 hour and 30 minutes long. I can also let advanced students go on to XtraMath.org for more practices. Math on the Water will most likely be replaced by Mountain Math which I intend to purchase for my class use. And don't forget to get a parent volunteer to help with Math Workshop!
Below is a condensed version that I copy and pasted from the web site.
How Does Math Workshop Work in Our Classroom?
Developmental Grouping: Before each unit, we pre-test the students to determine their prior knowledge about the concepts in the unit we are about to teach. Using that information, we create three groups (high, medium, low). The students obviously are not told what group they are in, and the groups do change throughout the year as we move through each new unit. Students are assigned to a group with a name that goes along with our theme. (See "Math Rotation Stations" picture below.) We are careful to make sure that the group names change after each unit so that, for example, the high group is not always "The Titanic."
Daily Lessons: We use Everyday Mathematics in our school district. It is a great program because it includes lots of math games for the reinforcement of new concepts, and it provides teachers with materials to meet the needs of both gifted and remedial students. We teach the lessons in the order that they are introduced in the book. However, we alter the lessons when necessary to meet the needs of our highest math students and our lowest math students by using the "enrichment" and the "readiness" resources provided in the program.
Math Rotation Stations:
Once the students are divided into three groups, they rotate through
three different stations during our daily math period. Students are
typically at each station for 20 minutes. Below are the descriptions of
the three stations.
- Work With Teacher: At this station, students sit close to me and engage in an interactive lesson that is geared to their needs. I use a small dry erase board, and the students sit on the carpet in front of me so that I can see exactly what they are doing. Students often use portable dry erase boards to practice the concepts we are learning, or we may work together on pages in the math journal. (I am excited to have a new SMART Board to use during this rotation to make my instruction more interactive and effective!)
- Independent Practice: Students are at their desks during this rotation, working on pages in their math journal (Everyday Mathematics' term for a math workbook). They may also be working on teacher-created worksheets or math packets.
- Math Games: At this rotation, students play Everyday Mathematics games or other math games that help them practice the concepts they are learning in each unit. Students usually play the games with a partner in their group. However, there are times when the games can be played as a whole group or in larger groups of three to four students. This rotation can also be a time for students to work on math projects and/or investigations that span multiple days. (Everyday Mathematics even has online games that students can play on the laptops.)
In What Order Do the Groups Rotate to Each Station?
Rotation #1:
The low
group starts with me at the Work With Teacher Station. I work with this
group first so that they are taught the lesson before being asked to
work independently or play a game related to the concept I am teaching.
I use a small dry erase board or the interactive whiteboard for my
instruction, and the students sit in front of me on the carpet. They
bring their math journal with them because I often have them work on the
math journal pages with me during the lesson. If I notice right away
that they are struggling with the concept, I will use the "readiness"
materials provided in the Everyday Mathematics lesson or create
my own "remedial" resources. I often copy the "readiness" materials to
use just in case I need them if I think they are worthwhile.
The medium group starts at the Math Games Station. They are often playing the game that is part of that day's Everyday Mathematics lesson, but they may also be playing a game that they have played in the past that corresponds to the concepts in the unit. Sometimes students are also doing projects at this center, especially during the fraction and geometry units.
The high group starts at the Independent Practice Station. I have them start at this station because they are often able to do the math journal pages without much instruction. Each day, they are asked to complete the journal pages that correspond to the lesson I will be teaching. When they finish those pages, they can also do the math boxes that correspond to the day's lesson. (Math boxes are practice pages in the math journal that provide students with extra practice on previously learned concepts.) The high group is also given a math packet created by our "Gifted and Talented" teacher because they often finish the math journal pages before it is time to rotate to the next station.
Rotation #2:
The low group
moves right from the Work With Teacher Station to their own desks at the
Independent Practice Station to finish the journal pages we started
together. When they finish those, they can then complete the math boxes
for the day. I have them move to the Independent Practice Station
right after working with me so that the new concepts are fresh in their
minds.
The medium group now comes to me at the Work With Teacher Station. I always plan to teach the lesson from the book to the medium group. However, they will sometimes catch on quickly and need to be challenged. If this happens, I can either do some enrichment with them or just challenge them by giving them some problems similar to the ones in the lesson but making them a little more difficult. I have a set of portable dry erase boards at my station, so students can work right on their laps. I like this because they are working right in front of me, and I can immediately see how they are doing. This group will usually start the journal pages with me, but they will complete most of the work independently at their desks if I feel they are understanding the concept.
The high group goes to the Games Station to continue practicing the concepts that were introduced in their journal pages.
Rotation #3
The low group moves to the Games Station now that they hopefully understand the concept that was introduced for the day. Playing the game gives them an additional way to practice what they have learned.
The medium group moves to the Independent Practice Station at their desks to complete the assigned journal pages that correspond to the daily lesson and then the math boxes when they are done with the assigned journal pages.
The high group is the last group I see at the Work With Teacher Station. Since they have already completed the journal pages for the day's lesson, I take a quick look at those first. If it looks as though most students in the group already understand the concept, I will use the enrichment materials from the Everyday Mathematics curriculum, or I will do some sort of enrichment that I create on my own. If the students in this group did not do well on the journal pages, I will teach the regular lesson and make sure that they understand the new concept.
Daily Schedule for Math Block
We have one hour and 20 minutes scheduled
for math each day (80 minutes). Below is exactly what we do during that
precious time.
Math on the Water: (8–10 minutes) This is a student-led activity that is explained in greater detail in a later section of this post.
Rotation #1: (20 minutes)
Rotation #2: (20 minutes)
Rotation #3: (20 minutes)
Closing:
(5 minutes) At the end of math, I call the class back together quickly
to reinforce the day's concept. If there is time, we will correct the
daily math journal page as a class.
Make Your Math Games Reusable
We copy, cut, and laminate all of the Everyday Mathematics game
boards (and any game boards that we use from the Scholastic
professional books) so that they are sturdy enough to be used by
multiple groups during the year and in years to come. We also mount and
laminate the directions so that students do not need to interrupt us
while we are working with another group.
Use Parents as Math Helpers!
Many teachers ask how I manage all three
groups when I am only teaching one group. It does take a few weeks at
the beginning of the school year for students to learn to work
independently at the Independent Practice Station and work cooperatively
and quietly at the Games Station. One helpful solution is to ask
parents to volunteer to be your math helper during math time each day.
The math helper in our classroom works at the Games Station. He or she
can help students understand the directions, manage the groups as they
play the game, and hold students accountable for their learning. There
are times when students will not put forth as much effort as they should
when the teacher is not looking over their shoulder. Having a parent
watching them as they play the math game helps ensure that students are
getting the most out of the activity. Also, if students have questions
about the game they are playing, they do not need to interrupt my
teaching. These parents also help out with projects at this station when
students are doing collaborative projects as opposed to math games.
To round up parent volunteers for math
helpers, we send home a sign-up calendar each month. We almost always
have a parent helper at the Games Station to make sure students are
getting the most out of the games they play or the projects they are
doing.
Assessment in Math Workshop
While we do give unit tests at the end of
each unit to check the students' understanding of the concepts we taught
in the unit, our overall assessment is ongoing (just as it is in
Reading and Writing Workshops). As my teaching partner and I meet daily
with each group at the Work With Teacher Station, we keep a clipboard
that has a checklist of skills for the unit. We have each child's name
listed on the checklist so that we can keep track of students who are
struggling with any of the concepts we are teaching. We try to find
time to meet individually with struggling students to reteach the
difficult concepts or at least check in on their progress. If an entire
group is struggling with a concept in a particular lesson, we will
reteach the skill to all students in the group during Math Workshop on
another day.
On the sample checklist to the right, you
can see that we use "S," "P," and "N." "S" indicates that a child is
"secure" with the concept, "P" means the child is "progressing," and "N"
means the child "needs additional support." (Please know that this is a
sample checklist I made that does not feature real students.)
Math on the Water (Daily Math Review)
We begin Math Workshop every day with what
we call "Math on the Water" to go along with our Pier 13 theme. (Last
year we called it "Martian Math" to go along with our space theme.)
During this time, a student teaches the class a short math review lesson
that includes three to five skills that have been taught during the
current unit or previous units. See the photos and information below to
understand what this time of our day looks like.
Each day a new student has the job of "Captain Math." It is this
student's responsibility to complete parts of the math activities on the
Math on the Water board during morning work time. Since students have
about eight minutes to teach their lesson, we suggest they pick three to
five math problems to do on the board each day. The student will then
complete the problems with the help of the class at the beginning of
Math Workshop. For example, if a child chooses to do a "frames and
arrows" activity, he or she might not fill in the rule and just add
enough numbers for students to determine the rule and add the missing
numbers.
We do math first thing in the afternoon. Captain Math wears a captain's
hat and leads the lesson while the rest of the class sits on the
carpet. Students raise their hands to help Captain Math solve the
problems, and the class agrees or disagrees with the final answers.
(Captain Math is also expected to have solved all problems prior to the
lesson so that he or she knows the correct answers.)
The Math on the Water board is a magnetic dry erase board that changes
on a regular basis to reflect the new skills we learn in each unit. At
the beginning of the year, we have things on the board that the students
are expected to have learned in 2nd grade. However, by the end of the
year, the board has everything from fractions and decimals to geometry
and double-digit multiplication to reflect all that students have
learned. The board is constantly changing.
Many teachers want copies of all of the things we have on our Math on
the Water board. This would be nearly impossible, as we have hundreds
of different concepts we put on the board throughout the year. Many of
the items we use come straight from the Everyday Mathematics curriculum.
These include things like frames and arrows, number grids, "What's My
Rule?" charts, number story diagrams, place value charts, name
collection boxes, etc. (We enlarge things from the Math Masters book.) We also use clocks, magnetic money, magnetic geometric shapes, fraction pieces, etc.
All of the activities on the board are printed on colored card stock and
then laminated so that students can write on them with Vis-à-Vis markers and clean them off at the end of the day to be used again.
