In my first grade classroom, I use a Guided Math Structure to teach math! It is the BEST! It allows me to meet with my students in small group instruction each day and really differentiate to meet their individual needs. Plus my students are so engaged in math centers and hands-on learning. In this post, I’m sharing all of my favorite tips for launching Guided Math centers at the beginning of the year in the elementary classroom! Plus I have some FREE Beginning of the year math center games for you!
One of my favorite things about the Guided Math structure is how smoothly our math block runs! We develop routines and expectations that help math to be such a peaceful time in our day.
You can read more about our Guided Math Block in 1st Grade in this Blog series!
- Part 1: Getting Started with Guided Math
- 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
- BONUS: 4 Tips for Managing Math Centers
But at the beginning of the year, it can take awhile to really get our routine down. I’ve learned that when launching guided math centers, the best way is to go SLOW! I take the first few weeks of the year to go over procedures, teach expectations for every part of guided math, and teach easy math games that can be played over and over throughout the year!
Want more help Launching guided math centers at the beginning of the year? Grab this free Guided Math Launch Guide!
In this guide, I’ll walk you through step by step how to start Guided Math and math centers at the beginning of the year in your classroom!
It includes:
- ⭐️ A Guided Math Resource Library
- ⭐️ A Breakdown of the Guided Math components
- ⭐️ Tips to create the perfect schedule
- ⭐️ Tips for grouping students and gathering supplies
- ⭐️ Weekly and Daily plans for the first 3 weeks of Guided Math
- ⭐ ️ Everything needed to establish strong routines that will last all year long!
Launching Guided Math Centers WEEK 1
- Calendar and Number Sense Activities
- Introduce Math Manipulatives
During the first week of guided math, we don’t do any rotations or small groups. Instead my goals are to teach whole group expectations during math time, and to introduce some of the math tools and manipulatives we’ll be using all year long!
Students learn how to sit on the rug, turn and talk with a partner, participate by raising a hand etc. (All of the important Back to School procedures that students always seem to forget over the summer!)
We also do some calendar activities like talking about days of the week and months of the year. We start counting the days of school on a place value chart and do a little counting on a 120 chart! I keep this super quick and do a movement brain break right after!
Introducing Math Manipulatives
After our brain break, we start learning about some of the common math manipulatives we use in first grade.
We talk about how they are tools for helping us to grow our math brains and become stronger mathematicians!
Next we go over the expectations for using the manipulatives. Check out our math tools anchor chart below!
I have the kids help me sort the post-its onto the anchor chart!
Then we explore! I put one tub of math manipulatives on each table for the kids to play with.
When time is up, we practice getting everything cleaned up and depending on our schedule, we sometimes move to a new table to explore another tub of manipulatives.
Each day we review our Math Tools expectation chart and I highlight one of the math manipulatives. We talk about what they are called and what they can be used for to help us in math! Then we explore 1-2 tubs at our tables.
Some of the manipulatives I usually focus on:
- Linking Cubes or Unifix Cubes
- Pattern Blocks
- Base 10 Blocks
- Counting Bears
- 2 Sided Counters
Doing these activities is super beneficial because students are learning procedures for using the math manipulatives as well as working collaboratively!
Launching Guided Math Centers: WEEK 2
- Calendar and Number Sense Activities
- Introduce Math Partner Expectations
- Practice Math Games
During Week 2 of Launching Guided Math Centers, I continue to incorporate calendar activities as well as review number sense skills during our whole group time! We learn about number lines and ten frames!
My other goal during week 2 is teaching students how to play math games with a math partner! This is super important because once we start our guided rotations, students work with a math partner each day!
I introduce math partner expectations with this anchor chart:
Then I partner students up and we practice a math game! I usually do Roll and Race to 120 as our first game! I love it because it is simple, it’s engaging, and students are getting number sense practice and all students need to play are dice and game pieces.
Another game that I teach this week is 10 Frame Fill. This is another super simple game that students enjoy playing with their partner!
You can grab them for free here!
I also do a Solve the Room task card activity with the kids. This is a math center that we play all year long!
Each week I tape a new set of math task cards around the classroom. When students visit this center, they grab a clipboard and a recording sheet and walk around the classroom solving the math problems. After they finish, they visit the Grading Station and check their work!
I developed 40 sets of Solve the Room task cards to cover a whole year of first grade math skills! Then I created year-long sets for Kindergarten and Second Grade too. Each with 40 math skills included! Find the Year-long Bundle here!
You can also try Solve the Room in your classroom for free by clicking here!
Launching Guided Math Centers: WEEK 3
- Calendar and Number Sense Activities
- Introduce Rotation Board
- Practice Rotating
Week 3 is a big week for launching Guided Math Centers! This is when I introduce my Guided Math Rotation board! After we do our calendar routine and number sense activities, I pull up the rotation board on the screen.
We talk about the 3 different stations students will visit each day when we do math rotations:
- Teacher Table
- Math Tub
- Technology
Important note: at this point my students have already learned procedures for using chromebooks because we use them during other parts of the day. It’s important to take some time to go over these procedures before trying to do the rotations!
If you do not have devices for your students to use, I recommend having an easy independent work activity! You can find some beginning of the year no prep math here!
I show students how to find which group they are in and how they know which station to go to. We also talk about how our math partner is the friend whose name is next to ours on the screen. I make sure all of my students can find their names and know who their partner is.
After that we talk about expectations for walking to our station and getting right to work.
I also remind students that when they hear the bell (my stop signal) they should stop what they are doing, clean up quietly, and return to the rug.
Practicing our Math Centers
Students go to their first station.
- My teacher table friends are exploring a few tubs of math manipulatives at the small group table
- My Math Tub friends are all playing Race to 120
- My Math technology friends are playing an easy math game!
Important Tip! Wait to Pull a Small Group – When practicing rotations during week 3, I always put an independent activity at the teacher table. That allows me to walk through the room and help students.
After about 10 minutes I ring the bell, we clean up and go back to the rug. We discuss what went well and if there’s anything that we could do better!
Usually during the first week of rotations, we only do one round each day. Towards the end of the week, we might add a second. I want students to build up stamina so that by the next week we can try all 3 rounds of rotations each day!
While this launching process might seem long, it is SO worth it once we have our guided math routines down! When I finally sit down with my group and all of my first graders are engaged and working in their stations, it is the best feeling!
Want more help Launching Guided Math Centers?
What questions do you have about launching guided math centers? Comment below or send me a message on Instagram and I am happy to help!
Thank you! This was just what I needed!
What do you do with unfinished work, like the solve the room recording sheet?
Students have a folder for unfinished work! On Fridays we always take some time to finish up any work from the week!
How do you let students know which math tub to grab each day to ensure they have visited all 4 that week?
My first thought was to have them all do the same center every day, but then I would need 3 tubs a day, 12 tubs total for the week…not ideal. My next thought was to put numbers next to names on the rotation chart, but didn’t love the idea of keeping track of who has been where when I need to change the numbers daily. You e thought of all the tricks! I’m sure you have a system for this part that is solid! I’d love to hear what you do??? 😃
Hi! I actually do put numbers next to their names on my Digital Rotation Slides! So the number does change each day. I have it set up so I have a Monday slide, Tuesday slide, etc. So on Monday Partner A and Partner B always grab Tub 1. On Tuesday, they always grab Tub 2. I get the slides set up and I don’t have to change them from week to week. Definitely take a look at my Math Rotations blog post. I explain this better there and you see a visual! Here’s the link! Let me know if you have any other questions! ❤️ https://happyheartsin1st.com/guided-math-rotations-in-first-grade/
How do you differentiate the Math Tubs that they use each day?