Earlier this summer I wrote about my plan to move into a Guided Math structure for my math block. I'm proud to say that, with a lot of help from other teachers' blog posts, Teachers Pay Teachers products, and existing math curricula, and a refresher on the Understanding by Design Process, I have crafted my first math unit of the year! Here's the link to the full unit! The first unit is particularly difficult because not only are you teaching foundational content (or, hopefully, reviewing it), you are also introducing students to the structures that facilitate learning. Ultimately, I want to be able to spend 40-45 minutes of every math block with most of the class working independently while I meet with rotating small groups. But I can't expect students, especially ones who are just embarking on literacy, to independently figure out what they are supposed to do during centers or math by myself time. So, I relied heavily on a free resource from Reagan Tunstall, "How To Launch Guided Math: A Step-By-Step Guide" to figure out the order in which to introduce different activities and how to pace that introduction. Click through to read about how I chose and organized what to teach in the first four weeks. The actual math content from this unit comes from several different sources:
Plus, my district uses a CCSS-based benchmark test, given three times a year, to track students' progress toward mastery of the standards; noting the CCSS standards addressed in each unit helps me make sure that even as I experiment with components drawn from outside our official district curriculum, I still hit the content and skills that are most important. Finally, this is the first unit that I have planned using the Connecticut English Language Proficiency (CELP) Standards. I'm not proud to admit that I wasn't drawing on them before, but I do think it's important, as teachers, to be open about our growth! My entire class are English Language Learners, and it's vital that I consciously plan how to expand their English proficiency when teaching in English (as I do in math). I especially think that using number talks, opening up space in our math block for partner work, and putting guided practice in a small group context will give my students more opportunities to practice the language skills we are targeting!
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AuthorI'm Ms. Howland. I teach first grade in Spanish and English in a transitional bilingual model. Click any photo to learn more!
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