If you have a 60 minute math block and a 90 minute math block, you may be wondering how to plan your math block. In this blog post, we will give you some tips on how to plan your math block so that you can maximize your time and get the most out of your math block.
1. Decide what you want to accomplish in your math block.
Planning is essential to ensure your math block is productive and efficient. Before getting started, it’s important to think about exactly what you want to accomplish with your time in math class. Depending on the day, you may want to review for an upcoming test, work on a project, or catch up on homework – taking the time now to decide what tasks take priority will pay off later. Knowing what you’d like to achieve in your math block can be the difference between meeting goals and throwing valuable time away.
Some things may include what are you teaching, what will you be using, how will you use it, what centers do you want to include, what MUST you include in your lessons?
Starting with knowing what you want to complete is important. Try not to over do it and provide more tasks for the students than they can handle.
Do you ever teach a lesson and think it’s amazing and then you get dozens of emails that the students didn’t understand the lesson?
Eliminate this problem using math notes. These math notes are great to use in your math class
2. Make a list of the topics you need to cover.
When you make up your list of the math topics you need cover, it’s wise to be strategic about it. It may be helpful to start by thinking about what your learning goals are and how this math block will help your students move towards meeting those goals. Once you have that goal in mind, you can prioritize what math topics will help reach that goal. Once you know what is most important, everything else should fall into place. You’ll be able to use your time wisely, focus on the productive areas of instruction and make sure that valuable teaching time is allocated only to activities that move forward your overall learning plan for the students.
My topics include a broad subject –
- Place Value
- Multiplication
- Division
- Adding Decimals
- Subtracting Decimals
- Multiplying Decimals
- Dividing Decimals
- Adding Fractions
- Subtracting Fractions
- Multiplying Fractions
- Dividing Fractions
- Graphing
- Geometry
I feel like this list keeps going on and on but hopefully this helps give you some insight into the topics that I use in my classroom.
3. Create a schedule when you plan your math block.
Once you know what you want to accomplish and what topics you need to cover, create a schedule for your math block. This will help ensure that you stay on track and do not run out of time.
A sample schedule for a 60 minute math block might look like this:
- 10 minutes: Number Talks
- 10-15 Minutes: Mini Lesson
- 30 minutes: Small Group
A sample schedule for a 90 minute math block might look like this:
- 10 minutes: Number Talks
- 10-15 Minutes: Mini Lesson
- 60 Minutes: Small Groups
A lot of times, I create a schedule that works for ME. I know that these ideas aren’t the most amazing ideas but this is a great way for you to have a starting point. This is usually my starting point.
You can learn more by one of my videos on YouTube.
4. Stick to your schedule!
Now that you have created a schedule, it is important that you stick to it! This will help ensure that you use your time wisely and accomplish everything that you set out to do in your math block. Of course, there may be times when you need to adjust your schedule, but try to stick as close to it as possible.
I will also tell you, that on the first day (say Monday) that you start this – it will be HORRIBLE! It will be absolute chaos.
Take a breath. Relax. Tuesday is a new day.
By Friday, you will be a rockstar and your students will be doing an amazing job. The new rotations will take a little for you and your students to get used to.
You can check out more math blog posts here on my site!
If you follow these tips, you should be able to effectively plan your math block so that you can make the most out of the time that you have!