It’s not difficult to implement a high-quality math program.
You may fall into one of three teacher categories as far as your math program and when you begin planning.
1.“I refuse to look at the curriculum until August….late August – just tell me – what’s the damage?”
2.“I took a peek at the curriculum. It made me want to barf. Then I decided to wait to plan anything.”
3.“I’m frantic and I’m already trying to plan all of next year – how am I going to manage this!”
Whatever teacher you are right now it’s good. Really it’s ok. Our job is always to teach kids where they are and we will manage so wherever you are in this journey, let’s start by looking at how to set up a great math program, what it looks like, and how you can manage all the levels in your room.
To start you will need to outline what your math program timeline is going to be. My timeline is above when I don’t run a flipped math program. This gives me time to touch every strand every week. I use my own spiral math program that has been carefully cultivated and organized for the Ontario curriculum. This covers my 60 minutes of math with all these components included. Keep in mind that I don’t do a 20-minute lesson every day, only on days where I’m starting a new concept.
Then I begin to organize my long-range plans (the grade 6 are linked here) so I know what I will teach and when. I love estimation 180 ‘s fun back-to-school math concepts and it gets kids talking and thinking about math in the real world. I almost always start with that. My long-range plans for 5 are on tpt right now and are absolutely free for you. My recommendation on start-up regardless of your grade is always to start with numbers. In all the grades I’ve taught starting with the number basics from the previous year and working up to this year’s concepts is a great place to begin. This gives kids a comfort level they might not have had. In grade 6/7 which I have this year, I’ll be starting with decimals and with integers. I love using online tools so I will likely make use of my interactive decimal activities (available in multiple grades) for those kiddos that might be remote learning. However, I also do these same activities in class and simply use the prompts and have students build the numbers on their place value mats when we are in class. Decimals and Integers will take us into October. When I have had a younger grade I start with place value and depending on the grade we would likely start building numbers from the previous grade expectations to build up their comfort level and familiarity with the concepts. In fact, that would be my tip on the first month of math. Keep it fun, keep it light and build in concepts as much as you build up comfort levels with students.
After that, we begin to establish routines. My students know that they come in, complete their daily bellringer, and then we use it to do a brief number talk. If they are working on a math project or task they know to go to that afterward. Otherwise, we briefly review the concept we are working on and they complete whatever task goes with it. For me, this routine is also crucial as it serves to make them more independent. Mind you this doesn’t happen overnight but over several months of repeated practice of routines. At the end of the class, we always come back together to consolidate any new information. If this all seems overwhelming feel free to take a look at my full year of math plans with integrated bell-ringers, hands-on activities, daily lessons, and fun projects.