MATH GROUPING OPTION 2: TWO GROUPS

Two Groups: Multigrade or Single Grade

Part A: Multigrade/Teaching one of the Two Grades/Thirty Minutes  1

 This second option can be used when you have two grade levels to teach.  You will follow the your math textbook in order beginning at the first lesson-through the end of the book. Each grade level will receive instruction AT THEIR GRADE LEVEL.

Gather the first grade level near you and a whiteboard or chalkboard, so they can hear your instruction and you can use any visual aids or manipulatives with them easily. At this teaching station, you must have all of your teaching materials-teacher manual, manipulatives, calculators, worksheets, work to return, and individual whiteboard slates for BOTH GRADE LEVELS. I like to use a 4 drawer plastic storage unit. In the top 2 smaller drawers I place my grade level manual, worksheets for that grade, and work to be returned for that grade level for that week of instruction. In the lower two larger drawers I place all the manipulative that I will need for that week of instruction. I label the grade levels on the outside of the drawers. On top of the unit I place whiteboard slates, dry erase markers and socks to erase them, calculators, and some extra pencils for student use.

What is the other grade level doing while you are teaching the first grade level?

The other grade level is rotating independently between two different activities which are 15 minutes in length.

Activity One:

 Half of the students are working on finishing the assignment that you gave them yesterday, or a worksheet that you gave them today to do before you meet with them. Perhaps they are working with a manipulative to complete this assignment that you have used with the group in the past during previous math lessons.  Another idea is to use certain days to write about math learning. This time is to REVIEW, PRACTICE, RESPOND and EXPLORE. It is not a time to introduce new concepts.

Activity Two:

The other half of the students are at their math stations that you assigned to them.  You don’t have to give each child a particular math station, but you can direct them to work on stations 3, 5, 8, and 9 this week. With a partner or individually they obtain a station box and go to the area of the room that is labeled with that station number to work on the activity. If you are using the Everyday Math program, Everyday Math games are contained in some of the math station boxes.

Part A: Single Grade Level/ Teaching One Half of the Students

The process is the same as described above, with the two groups receiving the same lesson in a smaller group setting.

Part B: Students move to either the teacher lead small group, or to independent work.

An auditory signal is used the last minute of instruction to signal the students to clean up their materials and get ready to move. Then a minute later the signal is rung twice and students move quietly to their next area. This must be modeled and taught to the students at the beginning of the year.  You must be FIRM about the behavior that you expect. State your expectation all year long…”I love how the students at the math stations worked with quiet voices today.” “I noticed how quickly everyone has their materials out and is ready to work.”  “I’m posting this quality assignment of Evan’s, since this is the quality I expect from all of you. Great job Evan.”

Part C: Small Group Lesson to the Other Grade Level/ Thirty Minutes

 The same process as described above begins for the second grade level.

 What's the benefit of this grouping?

Each student receives instruction with grade appropriate materials but the size of the group is smaller than typical whole group instruction.  It’s easier to interact with them individually and see what they are doing as they work on their math. When you use manipulatives, you only need a smaller amount of the manipulatives, since you are working with half or one half of one grade level in multigrade classes.  Tests or short quizzes are given during this time too. Some quizzes can be given orally with students responding orally or on their whiteboard slates.

All students have time to practice and investigate concepts with math stations.

What type of classes would this work with?

Multigrade classes.

Single grade classes dividing the number of students in half.  (Guided Math) You teach the same lesson twice. I would not suggest placing students into high and low groups. Mix up the ability levels. There is better interaction in each group.

It is possible to have a lower/medium and a medium/high group, but you will not stay on the same lesson each day.  One group will work at a faster pace and you will need to plan two lessons. This type of grouping can promote more use of manipulatives with the low/medium group to assist in their learning.

MATH GROUPINGS OPTIONS: Dividing to Scaffold… with Math Stations

I've had several emails asking me to post about different ways to divide a class into groups during math instruction so you can teach two different grades of math (split or multigrade class) or teach guided math groups (single grade class). So I thought in the next few posts I would describe some different options.

Dividing to Scaffold… with Math Stations

Part A: Small Group of up to 6SIX students/Preloading Before Whole Group/ Eight minutes 1

 This first option can be used when you have a small group of students, no more than 6 please, that need extra help in math. These are the students that get that glazed look while you are teaching the lesson, and have a million questions when you are finished teaching or say, “I don’t get it.”You will teach a small guided math lesson to “preload” background information for the lesson that you will be presenting to the whole group. This should be no longer than 8 minutes in length.

What do you “preload?” To obtain the most information from the upcoming lesson, they must understand the vocabulary. For example, maybe you are talking about area and you would spend 8 minutes using a manipulative to get across that area is the space inside of a shape, and it can be measured with units that are all the same size. By providing 1 inch color tiles and having them cover the inside space of pre-drawn rectangles with the color tiles they experience what area is…not just listen to you explain it to the whole group. You also discuss what is the length and width of a shape and have them show you on a shape that they draw on an individual whiteboard slate.

Think of active, visual lessons with perhaps an individual whiteboard for each child or a smartboard…not worksheets. You might also be giving them a printed piece of information that they will look at during the lesson or take notes on that was created JUST FOR THEM.

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AREA = the space _______ a shape.

Draw a rectangle and color the space inside this shape.

Label the width and length on your shape.

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That’s it. Just keep it simple. Remember this lesson should take no longer than 8 minutes. You need to ask yourself what is essential that they know so they will understand some of the whole group lesson, and ONLY teach that! Put yourself on a timer.

          What is the rest of the class doing while you preload those specific students?

Independent Reading

Fact Practice

Everyday Math Games

Part Two: Whole Group Lesson/ Forty Minutes

Teacher Lead

You teach your lesson to the whole group as normal and give an assignment if needed.

Part Three: Math stations For All/ Fifteen minutes

Student independent work with Teacher Observation

What's the benefit of this grouping?

Scaffold learning for struggling students and stations for all.

What type of classes would this work with?

Multi-grade classes that are quite unequal in grade level groupings like 6 second graders and 22 third graders. Seek help from the grade level teachers in which the number is quite low and see if they would take those particular students for math instruction in their classes.

Single grade classes regardless of the number of students.

Measuring Area with Color Tiles: A First Experience

I'm offering a free download of my TeachersPayTeachers activity that involves a first experience with calculating area. 

The big IDEA behind this activity is that area is the space inside a shape.  You use one inch color tiles to measure that area.  If you don't have color tiles yourself, borrow them from the 3rd or 4th Grade teachers in your building. They will be very happy with you for giving students the experience that area IS THE SPACE INSIDE A SHAPE.  Students mix up area and perimeter all the time, and they need to know the difference.

I'll leave the activity at "Free" for the next two weeks to give you time to download it. Please take the time to rate this activity. I'll appreciate it :) I haven't had the TPT account for long, so I will be adding to my collection.

Deborah

"Math Stations", by Debbie Diller, Chapter 7 on Geometry

I have already posted below on two different days about geometry because I get so excited about teaching geometry to students. 1) Monster Munch Polygons (book provided for download) and (2) Parallel or Not Parallel Line Sort (Activity sheet provided for download). I will be posting more this week but I am working on the download sheets that accompany the activities, so check back.  Deborah would love to hear your reactions to her activities since YOU are in her thoughts when she created them :)


Deborah

Parallel or Not Parallel Line Sort

 Debbie Diller reminded us that activities in math stations are not to learn new material, but to practice concepts already taught. This math station activity is meant to go along with a 2nd Grade, Everyday Math, Unit 5 lesson.Therefore, I would teach lesson 5.3 to introduce the concept of parallel and this sort would be placed in a math station the following week.

Students would have previous experience with sorts. It could be placed in a math station called geometry or vocabulary.

Click here to download the sort.

Math Mats That Visit Your Community

Teachers use Math Mats to stimulate thinking and to give context to the math problem solving stories that children create.  This Fourth of July holiday I was down by the Fox River in our area and I started thinking about creating an unique set of Math Mats for our community. 

This math mat image stirs up images of a warm summer day when you get to go fishing down at the Fox River.

To differentiate, you could provide a word bank at the bottom of the page:

Word Bank: Fox River, summer, man, fishing, water, river bank, fish

Children could use the names of their classmates in their math stories.



Other images could be your fire station, your local mall, the principal’s office at your school, your lunchroom, and a picture of a car with the door open waiting for someone to enter.  Since the images are about your own community, it could compliment your Social Studies unit on “Our Community” or “Community Helpers.”

It could also go along with the writing worksheet that was shared at froggyfriendsfun.blogspot.com by Karen LeBlanc. Here is what a completed writing worksheet might look like.

Though this example does not show a response to work completed on a community math mat, just picture the drawing area filled with math equations and a picture too. The writing area would further explain the mathematical thinking.  I like that they have to edit their work, even for a math assignment. When the same form is used in both math and language arts, I think it helps the student to see the connection and that it's all about thinking...whether it is in the area of math or language arts.Thanks......Thanks Karen for the great writing sheet too.
Deborah

Monsters Munch Polygons

Okay, so I’m excited about the chapter on Geometry and I just can’t wait. What’s that song?   ”I’m so excited. And I just can’t hide it!”

I love Geometry.  Some mathematicians love algebra and some love geometry. I’m a geometry gal.  I created this little book about some Monsters that just love eating shapes. I made the shapes using dotted lines so your students could draw each shape themselves. Click  HERE for a copy of the book. (Leave a response to my book and tell me what you think.)

This is the first book that I’ve made using graphics from Digiweb  Designs. 

  I wanted a set of friendly monsters and these monsters make me smile.  I hope you and your students enjoy the book. Hasn’t this blog linky party about Debbie Diller’s book “Math Stations” been wonderful?

Deborah