Guided Math in detail!

Well, first of all, let me say Happy New Year!!!!  I hope y'all had a safe New Year's Eve- I was cozy under a blanket watching the second Hobbit movie: exciting, I know!!

I also hope y'all have had an enjoyable Christmas break!  I know I have!!!  Lots of fun family time and lots of Netflix and naps as well!  I'm almost 7 months pregnant now, so it's been nice to relax and spend quality time with my husband and my family.  We have been working on the baby's room (and when I say we, I mean mostly my husband) and everything's still all over the place, which is making us both a little crazy!!  We're making good progress though and are taking advantage of the last few days of break to get it as close to finished as possible!

I wanted to share a little about how I use Guided Math in my classroom.  I've been meaning to do a blog post about this for a long time, but just haven't gotten around to it until now!

I love Guided Math and have been using some form of it for about 7 years now.  When I first arrived at my current school, we taught math in Whole Group only and used our giant student workbooks as our pacing guide.  It was miserable trying to run from desk to desk to make sure that everyone was on the correct page and this was before I had a document camera and projector installed in my classroom!  I remember saying, "Ok, find blue number two," and then going all around to make sure my little sweet first graders were actually on blue number two.  Whew!

Then came Guided Math (and eventually a projector!) and everything changed.  I finally felt like I was actually teaching math to each and every one of my students.  I introduced Math Centers (Workstations) and they LOVED them!!  There is so much learning going on and they just think they are playing math games!  Math is now my favorite part of the day, hands down.

Please feel free to leave me any comments or questions you have in the comments section of this post.  I hope this gives you insight about how wonderful Math time can be in any classroom and I really hope you find something helpful!

*edited to add more detail about my Math Journal time-

I love using the 4 box system.  It's really easy for the kids to get used to as a daily routine.  At the beginning of the year, I introduce just the first two boxes.  We do them together each day and then I give them time to practice some math workstation games.  As the days go on, I add the third box and start to leave blanks in the first two boxes.  Then we add the fourth box and eventually build up to them doing the entire thing independently.  Once they get going, it is SILENT during that time and I love it!  :)

I have always done handwritten journals, but I recently started making them on my computer and trying to get 5 at a time done for the upcoming week.  I just print and post that copy on the document camera and they do the work in their Math Journal spiral notebook.  They come show me when they are done and I quickly check for any major errors.  Then they go to their workstation and we check their journal together after I'm done pulling groups.  Here are some more pictures-

Bright Ideas Blog Hop- Math Journals!

Happy Sunday to you!  I really hope you are enjoying this Bright Ideas Blog Hop- I know I am!!  Loving all these amazing ideas!!  Thanks for hopping over from Hilary's awesome post!

Today, I am sharing a few ideas on how I do Math Journals with my class.  Do you use Math Journals?

I teach first grade and we have a 90 minute math block.  I start with a short whole group lesson, sometimes including some hands-on exploration and sometimes including a Brain Pop Jr video, and then we go into our Math Journals and Math Centers.  Those are the activities my students are doing while I am pulling my small groups to do my Guided Math lessons.

Our Math Journals have 4 boxes, as you can see in this picture below.

I write the journal entry and put it up on the projector for the whole class to see.  They each have their own Math Journal to work in.

My students know that they have to come show me their completed journal entry before they can go get their Math Center tub.  I do a quick visual check and point out any big issues that need to be corrected, if necessary.  After Center time, we check the entire journal as a class.  I truly love this system for many reasons.  It lets them work at their own pace.  My table groups are mixed ability, so there is always someone available to help if they need it.  Additionally, while everyone is working on their journal, it is SO QUIET!  Once they start moving into Centers, it gets a little louder, but I have no problem with that!  I occasionally have to ask them to bring it down a bit, but as long as I can see that they are working- I'm a happy teacher!

Now, this is what our journal looks like at this point in the year- at the beginning of the year, we start off with just the top two boxes and we fill them in together.   Then, as the year goes on, I start adding more content, leaving things off and the kids have to build the whole thing with what's there and with what's missing.

Here's the basic breakdown for each box-
Box 1- calendar
Box 2- number of the day
Box 3 and 4- current topics and spiral review

I'll end my post with some more picture of each box, please feel free to comment with any questions you have- or to share how you do Math Journals in your classroom!!  I'd love to hear from you!!

If you are looking for more great ideas, please hop on over to Seconds At The Beach to read Elizabeth's great post about taking learning outside!! 

Don't forget, you can also visit the link-up below and choose a topic that interests you. Thanks for visiting!

p.s. Bloggers love to read your comments, so please leave lots of love along the way, especially if you loved the ideas you picked up!  Thank you for your support!