Sigh.
Anyways! Math Workshop is one of my favorite parts of the day.
I love teaching my mini lessons, I love my guided groups, and I love watching my kids have tons of fun in their stations.
Three years ago we transitioned to a math curriculum based off common core standards.
The first year was rough. Kids were missing a lot of the building blocks they needed to be successful and we spent a lot of time working hard to fill in the missing pieces before we sent them off to fourth grade.
Last year it was significantly better. I could see right away what a huge difference it made that students were exposed to the common core curriculum in second grade. I was hoping to see the improvement continue this year, considering students had been immersed in this curriculum since first grade.
However this year, with trying to work in a brand new ELA curriculum, I personally felt my math workshop instruction had not been as strong as the two previous years. I post-tested my students on Friday fully expecting to have so-so results and several friends who would need to revisit the concepts in small group.
I was so relieved and ecstatic to find that 90% of my students exceeded the goal of 80% (most pretested with scores in the 20-30% range) with most scoring 90% or better. My students that did not hit the 80% still increased from their pretest scores by over 40% and are already receiving extra help in both math and reading. With the long week I had, the results almost brought tears to my eyes.
I attribute my results to my solid math workshop routine (see a previous post for more info here) and my math workshop stations for this unit I have worked on and used for the last three years.
It is important to me that all of my stations have tracking and accountability for my students.
This year I started using TenMarks and FrontRowEd as part of my "Terrific Technology" station but I also like to mix gaming and tracking sheets.
I love www.abcya.com they have some great quick mini games that my students can play on their laptops. Prior to our shift to one-to-one devices I only had one student computer and access to a handful of iPads. That was when I created three (free!) tracking sheets to go with ABCYa's Base ten Bingo.
Check them out in my TPT Store!
At "Games Galore" I expect students to be reviewing skills and concepts in pairs of small groups while having some competitive fun. It is important to me that they have "never ending" activities so I can work with my guided groups.
Two math stations in one! Great for differentiating. My students absolutely love this game. I included digit cards to print and laminate but for a fun twist it is easy to play with cards as well. Students can play "two digit flip" to review ordering of numbers and expanded notation. For a challenge, or when students are ready to move on, they can advance to "three digit flip" Teachers can also up the ante by allowing students to play with multiple decks of "digit cards" at once.
Another bonus buy with two math stations in one! Great for differentiating. A great game for students to play independently while they learn how to round! I use the same digit cards for Rounding Rampage as I do for Digit Flip (and many other stations), Less Prep Work!
This station is a complete fan favorite. I introduce it during our first unit of the year with both 2 and 3 digit addition and subtraction equations. Kids must solve the problem (and their partner must agree!) in order to be able to stay on the square. As we move on into multiplication and division I have gameboards made for multiplication and division facts as well. I send home copies for kids to play and review at home. Families love the fun twist on addition and subtraction. Packet Includes:
4 game boards to practice three digit subtraction or addition
4 answer keys for game boards
4 printable game pieces
Directions
Tracking sheet
So excited to see the great results I got from these resources.
During "Practice Makes Perfect" I expect students to review and explore concepts independently. I try to give them stations where they can modify the level of challenge (or I can assign) based on their own needs.
Check out the links below for more Place Value & 3-Digit Addition/Subtraction Practice
In order for my students to be able to work on their own, we build 'tool-kits' with all of our songs and strategies. I had out hard copies of these strategies and keep a set in our "LiveBinder" (check back soon for a LiveBinder post!).
While working in guided groups during our normal math workshop block I focus on problem solving skills with my students.
Last (but not least) I love my "Superhero Power of One" lesson I have taught for the last three years. I wish someone taught ME this strategy when I was 8 instead of 25! It makes subtracting across zeros incredibly easy. Plus the kids love that it is a SUPER POWER!
Now that we have a super successful first unit under our belts I cannot WAIT to dive headfirst into multiplication and division after this 3-day weekend.
Don't forget to leave your own Place Value and Regrouping Tips in the Comments!
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