When you teach elementary, you may notice that you are given a lot of time to teach math. In particular, I have an hour and 40 minutes to teach math. While at the beginning this may seem like a lot of time, when you actually start teaching, it may seem like not enough time to fit everything in. Planning and scheduling is essential when teaching math. You need to plan out and schedule times during your math block to make the most of it. In this post, I will talk about how I teach math and how I schedule my math block.

How I Teach Math

In fourth grade, there are 28 math standards to teach. This doesn’t seem like a lot, but some of those standards are pretty intense. At the beginning of the year, I like to map out my standards using a curriculum map to make sure I am teaching all the standards before the end of the year testing. When mapping, I like to teach one standard a week. One standard may take a week, 2 weeks, or even a month to teach depending how long it is, but for each week, I stick with one standard or part of a standard. 

This allows me to be super focused on what I need to teach my students, and allows my students to be focused on one skill they need to learn. Each week I will write a learning target that each student needs to learn by the end of the week. (Click here to read more about learning targets). This learning target is my goal and my students goal throughout the week. It keeps everyone focused on the goal and more students can achieve this goal.

I teach the same math schedule that I describe below Monday – Thursday. Every Friday, I test the students. I think giving a small quiz or test every Friday is extremely beneficial to students. This gives them a way to show me exactly what they know and I can help any students that still don’t understand during the next week. You constantly need to collect data on what your students know and where each student is in their learning.

Math Block Schedule 

1. Number Talks (5 – 10 minutes)

I start every math block with a number talk. I absolutely love this program. It helps build students confidence in math and helps students learn mental math, which is a skill many students lack. Starting the math block with a number talk, helps my students get in the mindset of math. It helps us use math language to discuss math problems. 

I will use one to two problems from the book each day. I always bring my students to the floor so everyone is close and use the board to write and discuss the problems. I use the number talk model mentioned in the book. I encourage you to read the book, “Number Talks: Whole Number Computation, Grades K-5.” It is really enlightening and will be a great tool to lead you in helping your students learn mental math strategies. Click here to check out this book!

2. Question of the Day (5 minutes)

After number talks, my students will go back to their seat and we will do a question of the day or bellringer. They keep this on one sheet of paper and add to it everyday. On Friday, they will turn in this paper with all their work on it. I put one to two review problems on the board and give the students a few minutes to answer on their papers. I always go over the answers with them, so they can fix their paper and always have the right answers.

This is a great time to review standards that students may be struggling with or even standards you don’t want them to forget. I even sometimes will review standards that we will be building on in the main lesson just to jog their memory. This time is also a great way for them to get into the math mindset and get ready to learn for the day.

3. Math Lesson (15 – 30 minutes)

This is the main lesson that I am teaching. Depending on your grade, this lesson may be anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes long. I try not to make the main lesson too long. I want students to be engaged and get to the point quickly, so they don’t loose interest.

Sometimes, I will follow my curriculum provided by the county and sometimes I will add in activities I find on the internet. But whatever I do, it is completely focused on the standard and skill I am teaching that week. If you want to know more about how to use curriculum in your classroom and the problems with it, click here.

Each math lesson I teach throughout the week will be focused on the standard I am teaching. On the first and second day (Monday and Tuesday), I will teach and model the skill explicitly. Then by Wednesday, I will start moving towards guided practice with the new skill and by Thursday give more independent tasks on the skill. During the lessons everyday, I will either follow curriculum given to me by the county or sub in some different hands on activities or math tasks that I find teach the standard well.

I organize all the extra activities, worksheets, ideas, and resources I find in a binder and organize them by standard. This way, I can easily reference all the great ideas I find every year and I save time planning! Click here to learn more about how I organize resources.

4. Math Rotations (1 hour)

I give 1 hour to math rotations in my classroom. I find that this time is well spent. Students are always engaged in their work and I get to help smaller groups of students that need more help. Whatever you do during your math block, always have a time to work with a small group. Cutting down the student to teacher ratio will help your students achieve more. You will be surprised how much this time helps your students. 

During math rotations, I will reinforce the main lesson and standard I am teaching. I usually have 3 to 4 groups depending on the number of students I have each year. There is a group for independent work, computer work, and small group time. Each rotation is 15 to 20 minutes. When I have 3 groups, each group is 20 minutes. When I have 4 groups, each group is 15 minutes. Every student rotates through each group in the hour. On Monday and Tuesday, the groups are focused on the main standard and skill I am teaching that week. On Wednesday and Thursday, I move towards adding in review standards or standards they may be struggling with. 

The key with implementing and using math rotations successfully is to have good management. I explicitly teach and model exactly what students should be doing during each station at the beginning of the year. We practice how to transition, how to work, and even how you may talk while working in each group. I make sure that there is a rule of silence or whispering, depending on the station. I also make sure that students know they CANNOT ask me anything or interrupt me while I am teaching a small group. Also, whenever you change a station activity or add in a new task, make sure you teach, model, and practice it with all students before they can do it by themselves.

For more information on how to teach procedures at the beginning of the year, click here.

Small Groups

I work with anywhere from 4 to 6 students in a small group setting. I group students together on their abilities. Usually in the small group setting, I will use more hands on activities and manipulatives to help the students understand the skill. I will also do a lot more drill and practice with white boards just to give the students more repetitions with the standard or skill. 

This time is a great time to challenge and extend the learning of the higher students in your class. Sometimes, the higher students in your class don’t get small group instruction because they quickly learn the skill they need to for the week. But I love to use this time to enrich these students if that is appropriate for their learning.

Small group time is also a great time to work on struggling skills. Sometimes, I will group students together that missed certain standards on the weekly test, so I can better teach them the standard and fix the problem as soon as I can. 

Small group time is critical for all the different learners you have in your classroom. Give students the differentiated instruction they need through this small group time.

Independent Work

I like to assign independent work based on the standard I am teaching that week. Sometimes, I will assign workbook pages or worksheets. I also love task cards that students can check their own work through a QR code. Whatever I leave for independent work, I will try to leave a way for the students to check their answers. When they are working in this group, I am working with a small group, so they are not allowed to ask me for help. So having a way for the students to check their work helps them to see whether they understand or not. I do allow them to ask a friend while they are working on the independent group, but I always enforce that they should be quiet and not interrupt my small group teaching with the noise.

Computer Work

With the curriculum my county chose for math, there is an online program that students must get so much time on each week. I like to put this as a station each day so students can get in their time for the week. This program also works on their level and teaches them while they complete the lessons, which is nice. 

I also love to use Xtra Math during this time. It is an Internet site that helps students with their math facts. It works through addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division math facts. Math fact fluency is a great determiner of how successful a student will be in math. 

Other Stations 

If I need more stations based on how many students I have, I like to add in some math manipulative stations if I can. Building numbers with blocks or using fraction strips to complete problems are great for students. Sometimes, I will allow the students to play a math game with a partner. In younger grade levels, just giving students time to practice counting objects is great. Anything that encourages math thought is great for students. Students need a lot of repetitions to learn new skills so give them an opportunity to practice!

I hope this helps you to better schedule for your math block. Having a schedule, and keeping to it, not only helps you, but also helps your students stay focused and learn more!

If you want to learn more about how I schedule my English Language Arts block, click here.

Thank you for Continually Learning with us!

Kyle and Sarah

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