Contact UsLaunching Guided Math {A How To Guide}
Setting up guided math is a lot like setting up guided reading. Slow and steady wins the race brings sanity for the year. Don’t be in a rush to get this launched. Try to enjoy the process. I know it is hard to take your eyes off the prize, but you can get a lot of learning in while still training.
Think of the training like a video game. It takes time to know the process. You will have some bumps in the road. Video games expect you to “die” before being successful. They give you multiple lives. Just remember no one is going to be perfect the first time through. Those extra lives are a fresh start. Be honest with yourself and your students about what is happening in the room as you practice. Last year I had to change my structure at the beginning of October because what I had thought was going to work, did not work for that particular class. Factors like class size, class personality, and physical space can affect your launch. Listen, reflect, and adjust.
Here’s a free day by day launching guide! It has lesson plans for how to launch guided math. Day by day and step by step! Just click HERE to download it on tpt for free!
Guided Math Posters
Get these free guided math posters! I had them made into posters at office depot!
Guided Math Teaching Resources
For a post on K, 1, and 2 guided math lessons and activities, check out THIS post.
Another great post Reagan! One day I'll get brave and try it out! Not sure if this is my year since I'm moving from self-contained to departmentalized so that will be transition enough for me this year I think! haha
Ginger Snaps
Fabulous!! Just passed this along to my entire teaching staff as a resource for getting math workshop up and running!
Thank you! You have relieved some of my anxieties!
Nicole
Firstie Favorites
Thank you SO MUCH for this post!! It's just what I needed! I've been wanting to do math workshop for a few years, but never knew how to get started. This was perfect! Now I get it… 😀
Jamie
Thrills in Third Grade
It's going to be a whole new world starting centers with first graders! But hopefully, it'll go just as well as with my 2nd graders! thanks for the posters! 🙂
♥ Jen
Teacher by the Beach
A Splash of Life Blog
Thank you! I started some guided math and centers last year and looking for more help. This post makes me excited about starting the year off with math centers. It is similar to Daily 5 which I have been using for years so this feels like a nice and easy transition.
I started Math Stations 2 years ago and LOVE it! Thanks for the posts for reminders and resources to get started this upcoming year!!!
Thank you for the posters and the tips. I am going to try this with my 8th graders – yes, 8th graders. I need something different. I have been teaching for 20+ years and need something to give me and them a shot in the arm.
Great post!! I know this will work for older students too! I do many of these things already, but it's a great reminder!!
Rachel
A Tall Drink of Water
Awesome post! Thank you for sharing. What kinds of things do you have your students do in their math journals? Do you have any other games or activities that are great for the centers? Thanks for sharing!!
Download the posters (click the last picture in the post above) in that download you will find links to guided math journals and centers.
Thanks Reagan, this was a great post! I am going to try math stations for the first time this coming year and your post has given me direction.
LOVE the posters- thank you! Will you be making posters for launching reading workshop?
Thank you so much for this detailed post! Love, love, love! I have been reading your guided math posts and absolutely love your details and resources. I will be implementing guided math for the first time this school year and can't wait to use your expertise in this area! Can't say enough about all your resources. Thank you, thank you, thank you!! ~Sonia
Oh my goodness! I think this is the best blog post ever written. Seriously. This will be my first year to use guided math, and you have eased every worry, concern, doubt, wave of nausea (wink, wink…kinda), and negative thought! I now have a plan! Thank you so much for all the thorough details.
Wow! This was a great post! Coming up with a scope and sequence for launching guided math can be overwhelming. It's a fine line we're walking as we roll these centers out….I teach Kindergarten, so it's a little tricky getting everyone on the same page, but going slowly and correcting behaviors as they occur seem to be the key. – Beth
Reagan,
I think that you have the BEST teaching blog out there! I do guided math, as well. My products so far have been centered around one part of my math block time. I have wanted to create a products that includes some of these things. Thank you, thank you now I don't have to.
What a great post!
This was awesome!!! Thank you!!!! I'm going to try guided math this year but I was deathly afraid…You have given me courage!!!!!! gulp!!
THANK YOU!!! It's like you read my mind and answered all of my questions and then some! I did centers last year, but always felt like they did not go very well. Now I am looking forward to doing them this year and rolling out everything S-L-O-W-L-Y as I build stamina. My only concern is with space. I have seen pictures of your classroom and it is huge, so your students are able to work in groups of 2-3, which is conducive to maintaining good behavior. I am going to have 30-32 students in a small classroom, so I will have to do bigger groups, which is when the behavior problems usually begin. Hopefully, following your tips will help!
Great post Reagan!!! The posters are adorable!! Thank you!!!
Thank you! I'm going to be splitting my workstation block this year so that all morning is literacy and then the afternoon will be math. Thsi gave me some ideas how to fine tune my thoughts.
Thank you for these posters! I just purchased your Rise and Shine and Math Journal packet. I love your ideas!
EEP!!! These posters are TERRIFIC!! They are colorful and yet still simple which is perfect! Thank you so much for sharing! I have been doing guided math for the past two years and it really is an effective way to teach. I love that I can support and differentiate with my students a few at a time while the rest are occupied with meaningful math tasks. Even though I've been doing guided math for a while now, your description about how you implement it in your room is incredibly helpful. It reminded me of how I need to start slow and ease them into the routine. Thanks again!
~Theresa
First Grade Is Sweet!
Do you teach a whole group math lesson before breaking into your groupings? Or do you teach the lesson individually to the small groups? We use Math Expressions at our school and I'm trying to see how I can still use that and incorporate this into it. Thanks so much for sharing.
Thanks for your great ideas! Im curious about what you have in the yellow buckets. I would like to set up a Math center like this…Thanks
Thank you for so much useful information. I am a 3rd year teacher and will be attempting to implement guided math this school year. My question for you, is what do you have the early finishers do? I'm sure you have some kids that zip right through the journal time, what do they do next? Or when you introduce the journals at the beginning of the year and a child does not finish, do they then finish before you give them the second one? Also, once the centers are in full swing, what do you do about those children who consistently do not get their independent work complete? I had this problem last year with independent work during guided reading groups. Thanks again. I love your blog!!!!
Wow, this is an interesting article! I loved reading this. Actually I just joined a Phoenix preschool as a teacher. So I am looking for the creative ideas that I can use in the class. This one is the best blog I found while searching the teaching stuff.
Thank you for this break down! I just purchased your guided math bundle, journal bundle, and centers bundle and hope to make my classroom soar this year (first year of teaching).
I do have a question– how do you help your 1st graders with independence in math centers and Journals so that they don't interrupt you in your small group? Mine are not reading yet (for the large majority) and I am having a hard time picturing them being able to do these without me with them walking through them, particularly my emerging group.
Thank you for any input!
A fellow Texas teacher
Just watched your video. We used to do math stations and loved it. When we got a new math program, it went to the wayside. Do you have a template for your daily math plans? I would love to use it, but I need to tie it in with our math program.
I love your math centers and bought them when I was in First and Now in Second we use them could you explain how you set them up along with the Math Stack board?
Thanks