I am so excited to share this post because I’ve been collaborating with an amazing teacher, Sam Ripley. Sam and I met on Instagram through a comment pod and realized we share the same enthusiasm for using guided math in our classrooms. She’s a fourth grade teacher in North Carolina who teaches full-time, creates for TpT and runs a blog. Visit her blog Fantastically Fourth Grade for other teacher inspiration.
Once we found out how much each other values guided math, we decided we wanted to get together and answer any questions about this teaching strategy. We’re a good duo because she has an upper elementary view-point, where I have the lower elementary. Although we teach very different ages, it’s interesting to see that much of the way we implement guided math is very similar! I hope this Q&A answers all the questions you have and helps you feel confident starting guided math in your own classroom!
Q&A
What does your rotation schedule look like?
Danielle (lower elementary): During our guided math time, I start with a 5 – 10 minute introduction of what we’ll be doing in math that day. I only briefly state what the objective is as they’ll get direct instruction when they meet with me. I also explain the workbook page for the “At Your Seat” station and tell them the game for “Hands On”. If it’s a new game, I introduce that here. Then, I dismiss students to go to their center. For 15 minutes I meet with a group while the other groups are independently working. After 15 minutes is up, I’ll meet with another group for 15 minutes and the other groups switch centers as well. My centers spell out M.A.T.H. M – Meet with Teacher, A – At Your Seat, T – Technology and H – Hands On. I meet with two groups a day, so I each lesson takes two days.
Sammie (upper elementary): I start with a 15-20 minute whole group mini-lesson that introduces the topic for the day or reviews the topic that we have been learning about. Then, we have 4 different rotations that are 12-18 minutes each depending on the group and depending on how long the mini-lesson was. I use the M.A.T.H. acronym for my rotations. M is for Math Facts and I often use this rotation as a review rotation. A is for At Your Seat and this rotation I use for students to practice the skill being taught that day. T is for Teacher and this is when they meet with me to learn the skill. H is for Hands On and I normally use this rotation for technology but sometimes will throw in a hands on game instead. The order of the rotations doesn’t matter as much. The only one I think matters is having the students go to the “At Their Seat” Rotation after the “Teacher” rotation. This way students can practice the skill they learned in the group with me. One additional thing about my schedule is that I meet with groups in the first 3 rotations and use the 4th rotation to pull a group for remediation or check the “At Your Seat” activity. This has been so helpful but it would depend on the amount of students in your class. You may need all 4 rotations to meet with groups if you have more students.
Do you have a schedule for the students to see the rotations?
Danielle (lower elementary): I do have a schedule that students can look at to see where they’re going, however, I tell them where their group goes each time we start and when we switch. This schedule is displayed on the whiteboard at the front of the room.
Sammie (upper elementary): Yes, I hang up a schedule on the wall, but have also put a schedule up on the Smartboard before too. I use the M.A.T.H. Acronym for my rotation schedule and shapes for my groups. The less sides on the shape, the less help they need. This makes it harder for students to figure out group! Each of my students have numbers and I put their numbers under the group that they are in that day. This makes it easy to move students when they need to be moved to another group. These are displayed on cabinets in my classroom that are easy for students to see.
How do you manage math rotations with a large group of students?
Danielle (lower elementary): I only have 15 students in my current class, so it’s hard for me to answer this question however, if you set high expectations and hold your class to them, centers can work with any number of kids. You may want to add a few more centers instead of just using the M.A.T.H. acronym and having four centers. That way, groups don’t get too large.
Sammie (upper elementary): I believe that Guided Math groups are possible with any number of students. The most important part is teaching your students the rules and routines immediately and sticking to them. At the beginning of the year, I am not in a rotation right away as I want to float and help students learn the routine of Guided Math. This definitely helps with the management of groups and especially large groups. Also, it is important that you do not leave your students down time. This tends to be when they goof around and they get out of the routine. One more thing that has helped me with bigger groups, is having different spots in the room for each rotation. This helps spread students out a little more and giving more movement in the rotations.
What does your first group do for their At Their Seat rotation when they have not had instruction from the teacher yet?
Danielle (lower elementary): When I begin guided math, I introduce what we’ll be learning in math that day and then I explain the workbook page or pages that students will do at their seat. A lot of our math concepts are reviewed over and over in our math program, so often the pages don’t need a lot of explaining. If I think that a page from our workbook would be too hard for students to just go do on their own, I have them bring their workbook when they meet with me and after I teach the skill, they work on it at my table so I can help when they need it. When this happens, I give students something else to do “At Their Seat”.
Sammie (upper elementary): I always meet last with my highest group. So, they are the first group to have the At Their Seat Rotation. This group normally doesn’t need as much help with the skill. I always tell them to try it and when they meet with me in the last rotation, we go over at least some of their At Their Seat practice/ activity. Also, I differentiate the At Their Seat rotation. If it is a completely new skill, then I can give this group something review or something that we have already learned that may link to our new skill to do at this rotation.
Do you do math rotations every day?
Danielle (lower elementary): I do guided math Monday through Thursday. I split each lesson into two days because I meet with 2 groups a day and I have 3 groups total. On Fridays, we do math games that reinforce the concept we’ve learned that week or a previous concept we’ve learned. I also don’t do them on weird weeks like a holiday week or a short week where our schedules get all mixed up because of extra school events that are going on.
Sammie (upper elementary): Most days, but there are exceptions like testing days, review days and sometimes introduction days. I love to review with whole class math games. So, sometimes at the end of a unit, I will not do math rotations the last day or two before the test to play a whole group math game. Also, occasionally, I will start a new skill with a whole group lesson instead of math rotations if I feel like there is an activity or lesson that is best taught as a whole group. Overall, I stick to the math rotations daily to keep the routine and my students really do enjoy math lessons more when we do math rotations!
Now it’s my turn to ask… Do you feel confident to start using guided math in your classroom?
I hope this post answered all your questions about guided math so you can begin using this amazing teaching strategy in your classroom. If you still have questions, please leave them in the comments so we can answer them. If you’re interested in other guided math blog posts, you can find lower elementary and upper elementary links below. Enjoy!
Lower Elementary Guided Math Resources:
Everything You Need to Know to Launch Guided Math in Your Classroom
How to Write Differentiated Lesson Plans to Use During Guided Math
Guided Math Centers: What are students doing when they’re not meeting with me?
How to Assess Student Learning During Guided Math (Standards Based Grading)
Upper Elementary Guided Math Resources:
3 Easy and Quick Differentiation Ideas for Math Rotations
Keeping Track and Using Data in Math Rotations
5 Math Rotation TPT Stores you Must Check Out
