Ep 53: The First Week of Math in Early Elementary: Setting Up Your Math Workshop for Success

Let's talk about how you're going to set your
classroom up for success starting from the very
first week of math class Hello and welcome to
making number sense make sense a podcast for
elementary teachers specifically early elementary
teachers Looking to really make an impact in
the number sense of their students the first
week of school is just All the new things, new
students, new routines, a new community, and
it's the beginning of your journey for the next
180 days. So setting up expectations and routines
helps your students know exactly what to expect,
which is crucial to a successful school year.
So the reality is when students walk into your
classroom, you never really know what you're
going to get. You're never going to know what
the vibe is. You're never going to know right
away. what's going to work with them. So setting
up a baseline of expectations is so important
and it allows your students and if most of your
students understand the routines, understand
the expectations and are able to follow it, it
allows you to have a little bit more time if
there are students who need a little extra attention
or support so that all of your students will
be able to access all of the things that you're
doing throughout the year. First, I'm going to
talk about kind of the components of starting
the first week of school. And then I'm going
to give kind of an overview, a little sample
of what the first week of school could look like
for you. A great way to start any math lesson
is with a number talk or a number sense routine.
And the one I like to start with personally is
which one doesn't belong because there are no
wrong answers and it gets kids talking. Oftentimes,
students can feel really shy at the beginning
of the year. They might not want to share. But
if they're just talking about pictures that they're
seeing, it's an opportunity to invite them into
conversation without having to feel the pressure
of being correct or incorrect. So in which one
doesn't belong, you might show four images and
students simply share their opinion on which
one does or does not belong. And this is a great
opportunity. for students to start to seriously
think about what they're seeing and reflect on
it and have conversations with each other. So
they might agree or disagree and you can take
that opportunity to talk about how you could
agree or disagree with somebody. Respectfully
reinforce that we should be listening to other
students when they're talking because they can
also have a turn to share and they would want
the same thing. This type of groundwork is setting
the stage for academic conversations that your
students will have throughout the year. This
is also a great opportunity to share with them
a silent signal that they could do if they agree
with what another student is saying. Oftentimes,
A lot of kids might have the same opinions about
which one does or doesn't belong, but a chorus
of me too's kind of can derail a conversation
and you want to rein it in. So you might show
them if you agree with a so -and -so student
A or student B, you can show them by using a
connection sign. My partner teacher would use
the ASL sign for me too. And she taught them
that on her side of the day when she was teaching
on the English side and I was teaching on the
Spanish side. So to keep it consistent, I just
did the same thing. The kids understood it and
it worked really well. So that's something you
might want to try to avoid the chorus of me too's
in a which one doesn't belong situation. After
a number sense routine would be. If we're into
curriculum where I would go into a mini lesson
or a lesson, but to start off the school year,
it's really great to introduce students to the
materials that they're going to be using right
away, how to use them and how to care for them
appropriately. So one way to do this is to do
a guided discovery. A guided discovery is part
of the responsive classroom framework wherein
you are. trying to build a community of learners.
And this is just one piece of that entire framework.
I'm going to use pattern blocks for this example.
So in a guided discovery, I would put these pattern
blocks into a container and cover it up so students
could not see what it was. So I might shake the
container a little bit. I might ask students
to ask me questions like, oh, is it heavy? Is
it big? Like what? might it be? And the point
of doing this is to create some curiosity in
what you're doing, and then it kind of sets you
up for a big reveal. So after you've taken some
guesses of what students think it might be, you
reveal the pattern blocks. And at that point,
you might ask students if they've ever used them
before. Some of them might have used them in
preschool or a different classroom, and you can
ask if they know what they're called. If they
do, then they can share it. And if they don't
know what it's called, then you name it. You
might say these are pattern blocks and this is
a manipulative or these are materials that we're
going to use throughout the year. If they have
used a material before, you could ask students
to share what they've used them for in the past.
And if they haven't, you could ask them to think
about how they could use them right now. And
so someone might say you can build something
with them. Someone might say you could build
a house or you could build a hamburger. And as
they're suggesting things to you, you can actually
try and build the little house or build the hamburger
or whatever it is that they say. You can try
and build those things so they can see how to
use it. After that, you let the students know
that they're also going to have an opportunity
to use these things. And this is when you would
mention how you want these things used. So you
might say something like. The only place that
the pattern block should be is in your hand or
on the table, or if you're in a circle on the
carpet, the only place the pattern block should
be is your hands or on the floor. So that would
avoid students trying to put them in their mouth
or put them on their body or something else that
they shouldn't be doing with their pattern blocks.
Try to come at it from a positive, like these
are the places you can have the pattern blocks
versus you can't do this, you can't do this,
you can't do this, just to keep the spin more
positive. You'd then give students a small handful
of pattern blocks and let them build with it,
see what they do. And as they're working, you
would circulate around the room and ask them
questions about what they're doing or how they've
used them in the past or what they want to try
and do. This is like a... Since it is a guided
discovery, it's kind of a free exploration time.
And if students are using the things inappropriately,
you could give like a soft correction to that
student individually. Not making a big deal out
of it, just kind of a reminder because this is
the first time that they're using that material
in your classroom. There are different ways to
get your students' attention at a time like this.
So you might be using a timer in your classroom.
You might have a chime in your classroom, whatever
it is. You could give them a little warning when
it's coming, like I'm going to ring the bell
or the timer's going to go off soon. When that
happens, stop what you're doing. So stop building,
but you might want to remind them not to clean
anything up because you're going to want to give
students the opportunity to see what their peers
might have created and model the way that you
want things cleaned up. After the timer has gone
off or you've rung the bell, you would talk to
your students about taking a gallery walk. And
a gallery walk is when everybody stands up and
walks around the circle or walks around the classroom
wherever students were working to take a look
at what some other students built. Now, it's
very important to remind them not to touch anybody
else's work, that they're just looking. And after
you've had your gallery walk, you could bring
every... buddy back to the carpet or wherever
you're working and have them share what they
saw someone else did that they thought was really
cool or something that they wouldn't have thought
of or something they want to try and do in the
future. Afterwards, have them watch you and tell
you what they notice while you're putting things
away. So they might notice that you're putting
things away gently, that you're not throwing
the materials, things like that. And after you
kind of established the way that you want things
put away, they can do the same. and reflect on
what they did, how they liked it, and what they
might want to do in the future. And this framework
of a guided discovery works for any material
that you're introducing to your classroom. And
in the first week of school, there's a lot of
new materials that students might be using. Once
you have a few materials introduced, it's a good
time to think about starting your math workshop
time. Now, in the first week of math workshop
time or center time, station time, however you
want to refer to it, We're not really doing that
much math. The first week of school, it's more
about the routine of math workshop. So that would
be starting in one place, cleaning up your things,
being respectful when you're there, and moving
to the next place when the timer goes off. So
there's really just, I'm going to... work on
whatever it is that's at this table. And then
when I'm done, I'm going to clean it up and move
safely to the next place. So you're really just
getting that routine in place, not necessarily
a lot of math the first week of school. During
this time, you'll really think about what you
want your math workshop to look like halfway
through the year, at the end of the year, and
set up those kinds of routines right at the beginning
of the year. So things like, do you want students
to clean up right when they hear the bell? Do
you want them to move when they're done? Or do
you want everybody at the table to be done before
they go to the next spot? Do you want them to
ask you for permission to go to the bathroom
during station time? Or do you want them to have
a little bit more freedom and just be able to
go to the bathroom when they need to go during
that time? Things like that are what you'd want
to consider before you do math workshop and then
show the kids or tell the kids this is the way
that we're going to do things so they can start
to get in that practice. Beyond how they move
from place to place, they need to know where
they're going when the timer goes off. You can
use a pocket chart to show students like if you're
in this group, you're going to go to this place
and then this place and then this place. Or you
can also use a digital chart that's basically
just pictures on a slide and then teach students
how to read it. So you might say this is your
group. Where are you going first? Where are you
going second? So you could really talk about
the chart and how it works. And so that lets
them know, okay, I'm going to do these three
things today. I'm going here, here, and here,
or however many stations that you have to cut
down on any confusion. And it also empowers the
students to be able to support other students
if they're still learning how to read the station
chart, whichever chart you choose to use. A note
before we continue with stations. Sometimes,
some classes, the transition of moving from one
place to another just does not work for them.
And in that case, you might want to consider
moving the material instead of having the students
move from place to place. Depending on your stations,
it might have to be located in a certain spot.
For example, if they're doing a floor puzzle,
it kind of has to be on the floor because that's
the only place that it would fit. So maybe they
would only move for that kind of activity. And
for the rest of them, what would move is the
material instead of them. The benefit of having
them move is they can be more independent, and
if you're working with small groups, you won't
have to change everything before they go to the
next spot. But if it's an issue for your students,
you might want to consider the other way, moving
the materials for them instead of having them
move. During their first station time, they have
the material that's at their table if they're
working in groups. They use it, and whatever
you're using, a timer, chime, whatever, it would
be the same to signal the end of station. So
you would talk to your students about when they
hear the bell or when they hear the chime, it's
time to clean up their materials. Clean up is
where it can become a little bit chaotic because
sometimes students want to go really fast and
they start throwing things into their bins. So
this is when you'd want to reinforce the way
that we clean up, the way that we have talked
about cleaning up things when we're done with
them in guided discovery and try and bring that
back into math workshop so it's consistent with
what they have done in the past and cuts out
some chaos wherever possible. You could choose
to have kids move on their own. or wait for your
signal to move. Either way has pros and cons.
If they move on their own, they're more independent,
but also they might move on before another team
is done cleaning up or another group is done
cleaning up, and that can lead to things not
getting put away the right way, or if a student
wasn't quite finished with something, it can
lead to some friction between students. So that's
something to consider. Or you might have them
wait until everybody's done cleaning up and then
they can move safely. But before they move from
space to space, reinforce the way that they move
around a classroom. So a lot of students want
to run to the next spot, but in a small classroom,
if everyone is running at the same time, you
know that's a recipe for disaster. So reinforce
that we are walking in the classroom, going to
the next spot. Before they move on, you can cue
them to look at this chart, get used to reading
the station chart so they know where they're
headed to next. The next part of the first week
of school is setting your classroom up for problem
solving and collaborative learning to be something
that is expected rather than something they do
every once in a while. I'll be the first to admit
that teaching problem solving was something that
was a challenge for me when I first started because
there's so many problem types and it's a lot
of listening and often students aren't really
able to talk through what's going on and make
sense of a problem before solving it. So I found
that doing a building thinking classrooms model
of problem solving and setting that up right
from the beginning of the year was the most success
that I'd had in teaching problem solving because
they were doing it daily. And they were used
to talking through problems and thinking through
problems so that when they had to do problems
on their own, they already knew kind of how to
approach problems and weren't held back or caught
up with not even knowing how to approach a problem.
I will list some episodes in the show notes of
going in depth on what you need to start a building
thinking classroom model and what it is and what
it could look like in early elementary. For now,
overview is that students are working together
in pairs problem solving on a vertical non -permanent
surface, so a whiteboard with one marker between
the two of them. The benefit to working in pairs
is they always have someone to bounce ideas off
of. And with their marker sharing the marker,
they do have to talk to each other to solve the
problem. And since it's on a non -permanent surface,
They don't feel as tied down, like if they were
using a pencil and paper, they might be more
hesitant to start because it feels more permanent
than a whiteboard that's easy to just wipe away.
In this episode, I'm going to talk more about
the routine, again, kind of like the math workshop
routine of moving around and getting to the right
space versus what they're really doing once they're
there. The big goal, I would say, for the first
week of school is for students to understand
that their partner, might not be their very best
friend, but that as peers, as a learning community,
they should be trying to engage with whoever
their partner is and getting to the right place
and sharing their marker. However you choose
to set up your classroom or your whiteboards,
maybe it's color coded, maybe it's number coded,
whatever it is, you're going to show students
how to figure out where they're supposed to be
and what they're supposed to do when they get
there. I used color -coded cards, and I'll have
a link to those down below that you can grab
for free. I would have two blue things, like
a blue J and a blue berry, and so if they picked
a random card and they were both blue, they would
go to the area that was marked as the blue area
with their marker, and then they could start
to get to work. For the first week of school,
after they've gotten to the right space, I would
be looking to see if the students are sharing
the marker. and talking to each other. And it
really encouraged students to do that in this
problem solving setting. And similar to the guided
discovery gallery walk, they would do the same
thing with their whiteboard. So whenever the
timer went off, the first thing they want to
do is just erase what they have, but really remind
them not to do that so that people can look around
and see what's going on. A word of caution here
with the gallery walk is talk about how you want
them to move. The first time I did a gallery
walk with the whiteboards, I was not specific
enough. And when I said, take a look around to
see what happens, they like scattered like candy
out of a pinata. They didn't stay with their
partner. They were just kind of bouncing all
over the room. That's not what you want. So talk
to them about maybe rotating from with their
partner from space to space, or if there's something
they want to see across the room, if that's something
you want to allow them to just go to one spot.
or to see everyone's work and to travel together
from spot to spot so they can talk to their partner
about what they're seeing before you do a consolidation
or before you gather together to highlight things
that you saw other students do or reinforce things
that you saw that were appropriate behaviors
or interesting ideas, etc. So those are the main
things. I like to focus on the first week of
school in terms of math. So you're doing number
talks, guided discoveries, practice rotating
and doing math stations or math centers, and
practice problem solving with a partner to set
your school year up for success. So an example
of the first week might be on Monday, you do
a number talk and a guided discovery. On Tuesday,
you do a number talk and a problem solving session
with the whiteboards. On Wednesday, you do a
number talk, guided discovery, and a problem
-solving session if you have time for it. Thursday,
number talk, guided discovery, problem -solving
session, and by Thursday or Friday, depending
on how many guided discoveries you do, you'll
probably have introduced enough materials so
that you can start rotating from place to place
during station time or during center time. Looking
to week two, you'd want to continue practicing
rotating from station to station during your
center time. Introduce new manipulatives if you
need them. Give them non -curricular problem
-solving tasks to get them used to that routine
as well. And maybe a few tasks aligned to the
curriculum sprinkled in if you feel like your
kids are getting the hang of it and are ready
for that. Doing workshop and problem solving
back to back may be a lot. So you can alternate
days or break it up with other activities. So
you might have your defined math time be your
number talk, mini lesson, and station time. And
then at a different time, do your problem solving,
whatever works with your schedule. This is not
the be all end all. Feel free to make these ideas
your own and in a way that works for your classroom.
Feel free to send me a message on Instagram or
send me an email if you have any questions. I'm
always happy to talk about things with you. And
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