When I sit down to plan any unit for my math class, I have two words in mind: guided math. This is no exception for my graphing unit!
Guided math is my go-to unit planning method because it focuses on scaffolding and differentiation. In guided math, you go from guiding students in a whole group during the mini-lessons to centers and a teacher station, and ending with independent work. Guided math allows me to clearly see where my students are at with the concept.
I wanted to share how I plan my graphing unit in my elementary classroom, and some resources I use to make things just a bit easier.
Resources for Planning a Graphing Unit
A great place to start is always any curriculum you have in place already. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel on this one. However, if you aren’t in love with your math curriculum or don’t have one, I suggest using this Guided Math Graphing Unit. It’s comprehensive, and includes every element you need for a complete unit, from the mini-lesson to group activities to an assessment.
No matter what curriculum you use to teach your mini-lessons, I highly recommend you have your students complete math notes. The key reason I use notes in math class is because I believe the best part of a mini-lesson is practicing together. I give my students these Graphing Math Notes, which already contain the exact problems we will use (plus, a buddy problem and independent practice problem.)
Math notes just help me naturally include scaffolding into my lessons without even thinking twice. And that’s the kind of lessons I thrive on!
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Resources for Graphing Stations
After mini-lessons and some buddy practice, guided math includes centers. While centers are great, the real benefit is that my students can review content while I meet in small groups and differentiate.
One of my go-to resources is a digital Google Slides graphing and coordinates resource. It has 17 slides of practice, and I like that the problems include different challenges. Plus, the fact that it’s digital makes it easy for me to assign, and I can find the information easily at any time (like if I want to review in my teacher station).
If you are not a fan of digital, or don’t have the tech in your classroom, having students complete the independent practice from their math notes is a convenient center! In fact, I have a free Creating and Analyzing Line Plots math notes. It includes the I Do, We Do, and You Do (which is the independent practice).
Resources for Assessing Students
When it’s time to assess your students, there are several ways you can go about it. There is certainly nothing wrong with your traditional pen and paper assessments, but sometimes it’s nice to mix it up.
I also like to use Google Forms for assessment. This is great because it gives you instant data, and you can see where your students’ struggles are. You can also use online games like Kahoot! and Quizizz for assessments. These will give you data as well, and you can probably find pre-made assessments for free. Win-win!
