Guided Math Groups

HELP! My administration tells me that I need to be doing Guided Math Groups! How am I supposed to manage that? I already plan for groups during Guided Reading and Intervention times. How can I possible plan for and manage multiple groups again?

I hear and understand your concern. There are only so many minutes in a day. I would like to share with you how I did Guided Math Groups in my classroom before I retired. Maybe my approach could work for you or even just help to spark some new ideas of your own. Read on to find out what I did....

At my school math time was a 60 minute block. I pretested each chapter and used those scored to break my class into 3 math groups... Group 1 would need more support and intervention; Group 2 would need basic instruction; and Group 3 would need less supoort and possible extensions. I ran three 20 minute blocks each day. I planned my lesson time for each group, an assignment time, and a game or activity time.

1.Depending upon the concept being taught.. the assignment just came from our math curriculum but I may have modified it or extended it for the different groups. For Group 1- I always used the assignment during my instruction time to be able to help them get started.

2. The game or activity could be the same for all 3 groups or differentiated. I taught 1st grade and a game or activity could be as simple as flashcards or counting cards... as an example... Group 1 only used decade numbers and Group 3 used numbers to 100; or Group 1 used flashcards for addition facts 1-5, but Group 3 was ready for facts 1-10. Other very quick and simple activites was just to give them dice and have them roll and solve the equations. Group 1 might use traditional 6 sided dice creating equations with only the numbers 1-6, but Group 3 used 10 sided dice for larger equations.

3.The lessons were straight from my teacher's guide. I just sat with the kids in a group on the floor. They had white boards and markers, and sometimes their assignment sheet and a pencil as well. For Group 1- I needed to go through every step and sometimes repeat. I added extra examples if needed. We always did a few of the assignment problems together. Group 2 received the regular paced lesson and examples. Group 3 got a quick overview and I gave them extended versions of the examples. They usually did not need any help on the assignment... unless I was adding an extension peice for them, then we went through it together.

A couple of important notes...

*The daily assignment was always from the lesson 1 or 2 days previous.

*Games and activities were a review of previous skills taught.... and not necessarily aligned with that day's lesson or concept.

*Group 1 was always the first teacher group so that they had the help they needed to complete the assignment during center time 2 or 3. Group 3 was my last group because if for some reason I was running short on time... they didn't need as much of a lesson.

*The games and activites were used over and over throughout the year.... no "one and done" games. Even if they were games from the math curriculum, it was a great review to pull those games out again a few chapters later. (I strongly encourage you to laminate and color code any game sets you make so they can endure being used over and over again.)

Well, that's it.  It sounds like a lot... but once you get it rolling you will see it is pretty easy to plan.  Just plan for a week at a time to facilitate for keeping the assignment a few days behind the lesson.  Good luck on taking on this new journey!

If you need any ideas for the game/activity time... visit my store, Lollipops Learning Place on Teachers Pay Teachers!