Friday, June 15, 2012

Math Workshop: Organization

I've tried quite a few different ways to set up math workshop, and so far, this year's set up has been my favorite. I mean when I hear "Ms. Wilkie, we're NOT going to do math stations today?!? *groan*" I KNEW that this was something good! Here's a snapshot of what a typical math day might look like for me.

For my math workshop, I see every student, everyday. Sure there are some exceptions, but for me, this is what worked.

TimeActivityExamples
10-15 minutesMini Lesson on math objective for the day/weekread aloud, foldable, math notebook, vocabulary, new game
20 minutesRotation 1developing: team meeting
bubble: math stations
advanced: current event
5-10 minutesMini LessonCan be a mad minute fact practice, problem of the week, address problems you saw going on
20 minutesRotation 2developing: current event
bubble: team meeting
advanced: math stations
5-10 minutesMini Lesson: CalendarSomething new. Maybe something like HERE or HERE I'd LOVE more suggestions!
20 minutesRotation 3developing: math stations
bubble: current event
advanced: team meeting
5-10 minutesClosingShare things that were easy/hard, math write, share what they learned today


My schedule follows something similar to Daily 5. I also use I-charts during the math workshop launch to describe behaviors. That makes it a great connector of classroom expectations throughout the whole day. This is just a rough idea, my students and I always make new ones each year. I make I charts for Math Workstations and Current Event.


 When it is time for a rotation I use a chart like the one below. Each of my three math groups has an animal name, and are flexible (Ooooh buzz word!!)! Students do not stay in the same group all year. I've found my students have different math strengths and slide in and out of groups. During the day, I will move their animal cards so students have a visual on which station they will be going to next. All students will go to all three rotations in one day.

You will notice orange numbers. Those are my different math stations. I'll go more into what I do for math stations later in the week. Every day I move the math numbers down so students will be going to a new station each day. The white cards are my students who will be going to that station. I pair my students up with a partner so that they always have someone to work with. The chart on bottom shows how I might move the orange station numbers the next day. It takes students over a week to cycle through all the stations. I try not to double up students in math stations unless I HAVE to. So in other words, two students per math station. If there was an odd number in my classroom, some students could have a group of 3.

Here is what I store my math stations in. I LOVE this effing thing!!! I  bought mine on craigslist for 20 dollars- which makes me love it even more!!! Each bin is a different numbered station with all the supplies kept inside. I of course put them in all nice and neat, and if you can believe it, my second graders sometimes have trouble putting their station back as neatly as they found it. Okay. Let's be honest. This happens MOST OF THE TIME. To help with this problem, I invented a stations inspector as one of my classroom jobs to help keep it tidy. They make sure everything was put back at the end of the day and will give tickets to those who left their station messy.
 
Next time I'll talk a little more about what I do in each rotation and how each of them might look. If you have any questions please feel free to ask! Or any suggestions that might fit, I'd love to hear them! As I'm rereading Guided Math, there is more I'm ready to tackle and try to put into my workshop. But it's a slow (and slightly overwhelming) process.

On a personal note I'm home visiting my parents for a few weeks. It's so nice to be home and pretend I'm a child again with no worries or responsibilities in the world! Well... a child who gets to drink lots and lots of wine with their mama! And who doesn't love to do that?

19 comments:

The Meek Moose said...

Oh, what a great post. I am wanting to do small group math next year and spending the summer planning. This was a great source of inspiration. How many kids are you meeting with at a time?

http://themeekmoose.blogspot.com

Amanda said...

Oh yea! I'm so glad to hear how pumped you are for it! :) This year I had about 20-24 kids. In my developing groups, I try to keep them small. So my developing mathematicians there were 5, my bubbles there were 7, and my advanced there were 10. My advanced obviously were able to have a bigger group and be more attentive. My developers needed to stay small. Hope that helps! :)

Amanda Madden said...

I also teach 2nd grade and use small groups for some of my math units. I just discovered your blog and am your newest follower. I am a new blogger and would love for you to visit my blog when you have a chance.

Amanda
Teaching Maddeness

Unknown said...

This sounds similar to something I tried this year too! I'm a new follower and look forward to following you! I'm having a giveaway so stop on by!
Tori
Tori's Teacher Tips

Amanda said...

Awesome! I'd love to hear more of what you do too! The more ideas the better! :)

Amanda said...

Oh yea another second grade teacher! So excited all the blogs I am finding. It's going to be a great year knowing all of you! :) Welcome to blogging!

Michelle Hudgeons said...

Thank you for stopping by!! I am your newest follower!!
Michelle @ Smitten With First

Amanda said...

Yea thanks! Love your site too! :)

Lisa at Fourth and Ten said...

Thanks for stopping by my blog, so I could find this post! :) I've been wanting to start math work shop, so I LOVED everything about this post!
Lisa
Fourth and Ten
Like Fourth and Ten on Facebook!
Formerly Stories From Second

Jayne said...

Wow! Excellent ideas and a fellow Texan too! I am following you and can't wait to see what other ideas you have to share. I was reassigned to 2nd last year from Kinder so I am still learning. Thanks for all that you share!

Jayne
mrsrhodesscholars.blogspot.com
kindergartenrhodes.blogspot.com

Rachel Lamb said...

Love this post. I started guided math lady year but only did twice per week. I love how you set up. What do they do for current events??

Amanda said...

Yea! I love math workshop! I hope you'll find some ideas to try out next year! :)

Amanda said...

Oh I love second grade! I think you'll love the independence that they have! This will be my second year in second grade, so I'm still learning too!

Amanda said...

Current Events is where students work on whatever skill I addressed in the mini lesson. Sometimes it's a game or a math project. For example when we were learning measurement, I gave students random pieces of paper with different lengths. They would then measure all the pieces and write down in inches how long they were. Then they used the papers to create a picture and would add up the total length of all the pieces. Rarely did I ever just give them a worksheet. I always tried to make it a project or game. Or if they did do a worksheet, then when they finished they could do a game. I'll go more in detail later this week, but I hope that helps a bit? I'm excited that you are excited! :)

Jasmine said...

Umm...ok so I totally just copied and pasted this whole blog post (if you don't mind! ha!) This year I started incorporating differentiated instruction in my math lessons and started with math centers and it was totally exhausting! This will help me this summer as I think about how I'm going to do them for the upcoming year. Thanks so much!

Amanda said...

I'm glad it was helpful! If you have any other questions I'd be happy to try to answer them! The great thing about math workshop is you can differentiate EVERYTHING! Even in my math stations, I was able to differentiate the games.

nikki8 said...

So when you met with your groups, did you meet at a table? 10 would be tough to fit at a table. But I could meet with them on the carpet. Thanks! Love this post.

Amanda said...

I met with my students all on the carpet. We formed a circle so that everyone could see me easily and so I had easy access to interact with everyone quickly.

The Meek Moose said...

That is very helpful, thank you- and the where you did your meeting answer as well. Been reading the book Guided Math by Sammons, she has her schedule meeting with only one group per day. I'm not sure if I'll feel comfortable with that. But I don't believe I'll have quite as much math time as your schedule to meet with three groups a day. Might have to do finessing there...