Diggin' Into the Math Workshop

 I'm linking up again this week with Laura from Where the Magic Happens. I was blown away by the number of people who visited my blog last week. Thank you so much. 

Today I'm diggin' into the way I organize my math block. My last post was about how I organize my classroom, and I admitted that I wasn't very organized, especially my desk.  I have to say though my math block is very organized.

Whole Class Instruction

Everyday we start our math block with a whole class lesson. Usually 5 to 10 minutes. I try to make this quick so the students aren't sitting on the carpet too long. 

Depending on the task for the day this lesson maybe a variety of different things:

• a mini lesson
• a game (my students love playing games with flash cards)
• an introduction to the math centres
• an introduction to a problem

Centres

Throughout the week I will have a variety of centres. My school board is moving towards recursive instruction. Instead of teaching full units, like patterning and then  not touching it for the rest of the year, we continue to give the students opportunities to practice the skills throughout the year.

Therefore, I will have one or two centres were students will practice a new topic, i.e. time. In the remaining centres students will revisit different topics, i.e. geometry, sorting and graphing, and money.

Problem Solving

Twice a week, I do a three part lesson:

Part 1: A mini lesson to set up the problem (5 min)

Part 2: Time to solve the problem (20-30 min)

Part 3: Reflect and Connect - students share the strategies they used to solve the problem and the other students give feedback.

I was involved with a program within my school board called CIL-M (Collaborative Inquiry in Learning in Mathematics). We worked with a variety of teachers from around our board, consultants, and principals to create open ended problems to try in our classroom. 

This was an eye opening experience for me. The right problem can reach all students. The wrong problem can be a disaster. :)

I plan to make two changes next year. 

1. I want to integrate technology into my centre time. I have created a time QR code game that my students absolutely loved. So I plan to make more. It allows them instant feedback to see if they are right or not.
   
   
   
2. GUIDED MATH, I am part of a book study this summer called "Guided Math" by Laney Sammons. It is an amazingly easy read. 

I'm excited because I'm already doing most of the things that Laney suggests but I can't wait to add the guided component to the math workshop as well.

Here are some products that are multi-strand math centres. Click on the pictures to see the item in my store.

These activities are great for centres.

I absolutely love these problem solving posters.

Thank you so much for stopping by! Don't forget to hop back over to Laura's Blog to continue through all of the posts.

Diggin' Into Next Year ~ Organization

I am so excited to be linking up with over 50 bloggers and Laura from Where the Magic Happens to bring you the Diggin' Into Next Year Blog Hop all summer long! Each week we will bring you a post about a different topic. Check out what topics are coming up in June!

So here we go! This week's blog post is all about ORGANIZATION! GAH! I probably won't win any awards for my organization skills. I'm more a "piler than a filer". I am not one of those teachers that has a clean desk. I am way to embarrassed to show you what my desk looks like at this point in the year. However, there are some things that I am great at organizing!

Filing

I know I just said that I wasn't much of a filer, but I actually do have a system for filing when I end up doing it. One of my brilliant teaching partners showed me her strategy. Instead of organizing by subject. I put all of my files in alphabetical order. I then have cardboard dividers that stick up that tell me which letters are in each area.    

Not overly pretty, but actually very effective.

Toys

Last summer I decided that I needed to do something to organize my toys, so I took pictures of them and  created labels. I put the labels on the bins as well as on the shelf where they belong.

I also love these shelves. They take up a lot of room. But I love how I can push them together so all of the toys are out of sight.

Books

Last year, I decided that I need to do something about the organization of my class library. I can't even remember how it used to be organized, all I know is that my students never put the books back in the correct place.

So I spent a week putting stickers on all of my books, and more clearly labelled all of the bins. It makes it so much easier for the students and me to keep our classroom library organized.

Desk Bins

This is by far my favourite organizational tool, and it's not even for me! Each students as a long white bin in their desk. These bins make it super easy for students to find what they are looking for. We also almost never lose pencils, or glue sticks.

 Then the bins slide easily into the students' desks.

So, my biggest change for next year is to organize my desk! Enough of the piling, I need to be a filer! Wishful thinking? We'll see! Or maybe it's time to say goodbye to the desk since I never actually sit at my desk. However if I get rid of my desk, where will I pile my stuff? hmmm.... Something to think about. 

Don't forget to stop by my friends' pages. You can access the link up through Where the Magic Happens.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you have found some great ideas while making your way through the hop!