Have you been looking for ideas for getting started with guided math in your classroom? If you want some new ideas for creating a Guided Math Workshop structure and to learn about the components of guided math, you are in the right place! Today, I’m sharing all of my favorite tips for setting up a guided math schedule, organizing your guided math groups, and setting up your math rotations and centers!
During my first year of teaching, teaching math was a struggle! I only taught whole group and could never seem to keep all of my students engaged during math lessons. I taught the first grade standards but I had students with such a wide range of abilities. It felt like I could never reach everyone!
Enter: Guided Math!
It was March, and I thought about waiting until the next school year to try it – but then I thought, why not shake things up and try it out now?
The next day, I told my students we were going to do something new during math time. I started teaching new routines and my expectations for Guided Math Workshop and hoped for the best. And wow, they BLEW me away!
They were so engaged, followed the procedures, and were having so much fun! It didn’t even seem like the same math class. We dove right in, and I never looked back! When it came time for our end of year testing, I was ecstatic with their math growth. Most importantly, my students developed a love of math! So many of my students say that Guided Math Workshop is their favorite time of day!
Why use Guided Math Workshop?
I believe the number 1 thing that contributed to the amazing math growth that I saw is SMALL GROUP instruction!
With our new routine, I was meeting with all of my first graders in a small group setting every single day. This is so powerful!
Finally I am able to:
- Get to know my students’ needs
- Meet them exactly where they are
- Make learning hands-on and engaging
- Include spiral review through daily math center activities
Today I am filling you in on exactly how to set up a Guided Math Workshop Routine in your classroom:
I’ll cover:
- Structure of a Guided Math Workshop and daily routines
- Whole Group Mini lesson
- Guided Math Rotations and Grouping Your Students
- Guided Math small group lessons
- Math center activities and organization
- Assessment
- Planning for Guided Math Workshop and Math Centers
Want to read more about how I run my Guided Math Block? Check out the other posts in this blog series!
- Part 2: Launching Guided Math at the Beginning of the Year
- Part 3: The Math Mini Lesson
- Part 4: Small Group Instruction: Everything You Need to Know
- Part 5: Guided Math Rotations
Want a free resource to help get Guided Math started in your classroom?
You can find my FREE Math Workshop Planning Binder here!
What is Guided Math Workshop?
Math Workshop is not a program or curriculum but instead, a structure of HOW you teach math and the daily routines. You can use this approach with any curriculum you’re required to use!
The structure is broken up like this:
- ⭐️ Warm up – 5 minutes
- ⭐️ Mini lesson – 10-15 Minutes
- ⭐️ Rotations and Guided Math Small Groups – 45-60 Minutes
- ⭐️ Share (Lesson Closure) 5 Minutes
You can adjust these times to fit your classroom schedule!
Guided Math Warm Up:
Each day, we start off our Guided Math Block with a quick 5 minute warm up. During this time I focus on 2 things:
- Reviewing previously taught skills OR
- Problem Solving
We know that our students need so much repetition and practice when it comes to math skills. I like to include daily review activities such as counting on a 120 chart and finding 10 more and 10 less than a number. I also use Numberless Word Problems to practice problem solving skills daily!
Guided Math Mini Lesson
After our Warm Up, we begin our Math Mini Lesson. This is when I teach our grade level standards. We start by going over our Math Goal of the Week and vocabulary words. I try to add motions and movement to vocabulary instruction whenever I can! Here is an example of a slide I would display on my smart board at the beginning of a lesson! Students have a math pouch with some different math tools inside. They can grab what they need and have it ready before the lesson.
NOTE: We don’t use a lot of manipulatives during the whole group portion of math workshop – It’s easier to save for small group time. But occasionally we’ll use cubes or counters during a mini lesson.
The most important thing to remember for a mini lesson is that short and sweet is best– I find students have the best attention and engagement when I keep the lesson under 15 minutes! I explicitly model skills and strategies for students and give them opportunities to try them. I love using this time to act out math concepts for concrete understanding.
Some things I like to incorporate into Math Mini Lessons:
⭐️ Interactive Slides! I love making slides for my lesson that incorporate vocabulary, teaching, modeling, guided practice, and critical thinking. I also love that I can save my slides and re-use them each year! You can find math lessons for the whole year here!
- ⭐️ Songs (or little videos on math concepts-Number Rock on YouTube is AMAZING!)
- ⭐️ Creating Anchor Charts together
- ⭐️ Turn and Talks
- ⭐️ Quiz, Quiz Trade and other cooperative learning activities
Whole group mini lessons create a community of mathematicians and are so important to the workshop! After completing our daily mini lesson, we quickly review our procedures and expectations for our Math center rotations and get started!
You can read more about my math mini lessons and my easy system for planning here!
If you would like to grab my lesson planning templates for free, you can find them here!
Small Group Rotations
In my classroom, I have 3 groups for our Guided Math Rotations. This allows me to meet with each group every single day. I group my students by ability based on the iReady assessment and online instruction program my district uses. My groups are flexible and change often as students learn and grow and as we start new math units! You can also use a pre assessment at the beginning of a math unit and use the data to group your students.
Each day, my students complete 3 rounds of math rotations (each about 15 Minutes)
I use a digital rotation slide as a visual for students so they know exactly what they should be doing. I love having all 3 rounds on one slide so I don’t have to change the slide between each round.
The 3 Rotations my students complete each day are:
- Teacher Table (Small group math lesson)
- Hands on Math Tubs
- Independent Work/ Technology
You can grab my Editable Center Rotation Slides here!
Guided Math Small Group Lessons (Teacher Time)
This is my absolute FAVORITE PART of Guided Math Workshop. I meet with my small groups at my U-shaped teacher table, however, this small group learning could also take place on the rug!
During this time, I am really able to differentiate my teaching to meet the needs of my learners. We are still working on the same math goal of the week, but I am providing different supports and scaffolds to meet each groups’ needs.
I like to make my small group time hands-on with manipulatives, dry erase boards, and engaging activities. In math, we move from concrete understanding towards abstract understanding. My lower group usually needs more concrete practice. We do tons of examples together and I work with them step by step. With my above level kiddos, we go a little deeper into the concepts and really use problem solving and abstract thinking!
Math Center Tubs
While I am meeting with my small group at the teacher table, the rest of my students are either working on math center tubes or the technology station.
For our hands-on Math Center rotation, I have 4 different tubs that each have a different math game or activity. All math tub activities are review skills that students have already learned.For our math tubs, students work with one math partner and complete one math center activity each day. By the end of the week they will have completed all math center tubs. My number one tip for math centers is to keep them consistent!! I use a lot of the same activities week after week so students know how to play the games and I have less interruptions at my small group table.
For example, one math center my students go to every single week is Solve the Room. This is a math task card center (like Write the Room, but for math!) When students visit this math center, they grab clipboards and recording sheets from the math tub and walk around the classroom searching for task cards. They solve the problem on the card and write the answer on their recording sheet. Because we do it every single week, students know the procedures and are so much more independent!
You can find Solve the Room Sets to use all year long here!
Other Math tub activities I use week after week:
I also love to use the math center activities that I have already used in my small lessons! Introducing the activities and playing games at teacher table first helps students to be so successful!
Finally the last rotation students visit each day is:
Independent Work/Technology
In my classroom, Students work on our iReady math program on their chromebooks. A few other math programs we like
- IXL
- Reflex
- Prodigy (FREE)
In the past, there have been years when I didn’t have enough devices for a technology station. Instead, my students worked on independent work folders. I used no-prep math pages with review skills for students to work on at their seats.
Find Seasonal No Prep Math Pages Here
Share/Closing
This is the last 5 minutes of our Guided Math Workshop time and a quick way to wrap up the lesson. We usually repeat our math goal of the week and share with a partner some of our math learning that day. If there’s a song on our math concept for that week, I sometimes play that as well!
Weekly Routines and Assessment
The schedule above for Guided Math Workshop is what we follow in my first grade classroom on Monday-Thursday. Fridays look a little different. Friday is our review and assessment day! We do some whole group review of whatever our math goal of the week is. This might be Quiz Quiz Trade, Beat the Teacher on dry erase boards, or a scoot game. After reviewing, students take a quick assessment that targets the math goal of the week. This gives me data that I can use to plan my instruction for the next week!
Are you looking to get started with Guided Math Workshop in your K-2 classroom? Grab the Ultimate Planning Binder for Free! It’s filled with:
- Lesson Planning Templates
- Binder Covers
- Math Center Planner
- Small Group Organizers
- Data Trackers
- And MORE!
Want your Guided Math Plans done for you? Check out: HAPPY MATH!
An engaging math curriculum that includes no prep mini lesson slides, small group activities, centers, worksheets, anchor charts, assessment, and more! FIND IT HERE!
I hope this post was helpful for getting started or getting some fresh ideas for planning your math time! What’s most important is getting to know our students and moving them forward as mathematicians. If you have questions about the guided math workshop approach please leave them in the comments or send me a message here! I LOVE discussing all things math and organization!
Kelsey
This looks great! Thank you!
Wow this blog was super helpful!! I am going into my first year teaching first grade. I will definitely be following you for more tips! Thanks for helping out us newbies!!
So detailed and helpful. Thank you! Implementing in my EIP classrooms.