This 20 minute video explores the components of guided math. As teachers we sometimes find ourselves isolated from seeing what other teachers are doing in the classroom! My hope is that I can share an inside look into all of the components that work together to create a dynamic math block!
Guided Math Video: A Lesson From Start to Finish
You will learn how to maximize time and minimize transitions!
See how to introduce new activities within a lesson.
Understand the components of guided math and how they work together!
Get tips and tricks on creating a community of mathematical thinkers.
Guided Math Resources For K-3
Let’s face it. Time is an issue for every teacher. There’s not enough hours in the day! If you need support finding the right standards based materials for your wide range of learners, I can help! You can find materials for every component of your math block!
The guided math links below will take you to grade level bundles. In these bundles you will find 9 different math units (also sold individually) These units contain the math warm-up, whole group lesson, discussion questions, materials, small group lesson, materials, and added differentiation!
Math Journals for K-3
Daily math journal entries for your guided math rotations for grade levels K-3! If you are wanting to have a math journal in your math block, I have got you covered! These journals provide daily reinforcement and spiral review of the math standards. If you have students that are working well below or well above your grade level, you can give them a different grade level in order to teach the same objective with a more challenging or more supported format. In this example below one student is using the first grade journal and another is using the third grade journal. Both are working with missing addends.
example journal pages (first grade set)
Math Centers for K-2
Math centers are the most well loved rotation of students! Students and teacher love the hands-on, and engaging ways to practice the math concepts! This rotation is all about daily practice and application of spiral reviewed math concepts!
Interactive Math Games
These games can be played on handheld devices, computers, or interactive whiteboards! Whatever technology you have available can be put to use in a technology rotation during your guided math block! The launch guide (link below in this post) has a list of websites and apps that I have found very useful for my groups! I have also created interactive math games that students can use to practice their math standards.
I will be adding more interactive math games!
Free How to Launch Guided Math Guide
Be sure to grab this free resource to help you launch into guided math whether it is day 1 or day 101! Anytime is a great time to get your students into small group learning!
Free math expectations posters
If you would like to have a guided math workshop for your school or district please use the Book a Workshop tab at the top of the blog! I am happy to help!
Primary Geometry: Making the Grade with Shapes
Guided Math Workshops
Teaching Students to Use Math Strategies
Teaching Coins, Data, and Graphing!
Sylvia Parker says
February 23, 2014 at 3:05 pmFantastic post. Very explicit on how to operate Guided Math.
Stephanie McConnell says
February 23, 2014 at 3:57 pmGreat job! I love it when teachers use centers in the class and are able to work with small groups of students on specific skills.
Kelly Koonce says
February 23, 2014 at 4:13 pmThis post was absolutely fantastic! Thank you so much for sharing! This is my first year teaching math after teaching just language arts for a few years, and I am struggling with how to get it all in! This helps me refocus and think about what's most important for my kids.
Thanks so much!!
M Barrett says
February 23, 2014 at 4:27 pmI love the idea of Guided Math…small group/center-like time…but am OVERWHELMED by it all. How do you get it all together…materials/tubs…it seems like a HUGE undertaking. Suggestions? Thank you for this awesome post!
ReaganTunstall says
February 23, 2014 at 4:35 pmStart with one area. Don't try to do everything at once. Maybe just have one day a week when you explore some math centers. Once you are comfortable with math centers, incorporate journal or vice versa. Once you are able to get your students functioning independently, then you can take on a teacher table. There's no need to rush into it all. Making centers is time consuming, but once you make them, then you are set up for success for years to come. It took me a year of making centers on Sundays to build up a great collection of concepts and materials. Thankfully there's a lot to choose from and you can really dig into your standards to find what centers will be best for you.
M Barrett says
February 23, 2014 at 4:46 pmThanks for your QUICK comment. I think you may have hit the hammer on the head. I tend to JUMP in ENTHUSIASTICALLY feet first instead of SLOWLY. Then, I get overwhelmed and then ultimately, it gets put on the shelf for next year. LOL 🙂 Obviously, TPT is a WONDERFUL resource for center materials…it's all the printing, laminating, cutting, bagging, arranging… Thank you for your blog and all your wonderful ideas and sharing. I appreciate it all! 🙂
Rachael Mitchell says
February 23, 2014 at 5:26 pmThis was the perfect blog post! I have been trying to do guided math all year and as a 2nd year teacher (with grade level peers who don't want to do it), it has been a struggle. I have a huge variety of math levels in my class and I have not been able to find a system that works. I am so impressed with what I just read and look forward to trying it this way this week since we have done most of this all year, just not with the timing. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for taking the time to write this!! 🙂
Melanie Arizmendi says
February 23, 2014 at 5:37 pmLove what you shared. I teach 4th grade and have wanted to get started on Guided Math, but also feel overwhelmed by it. Would you also do 10 minute rotations for 4th graders? Your comment to M. Barrett helped me as well. Thanks!!
ReaganTunstall says
February 23, 2014 at 5:43 pmI imagine your concepts will be more complex and mulit-step. The attention span of a 4th grader would be longer (let's hope!) so try ten minutes and adjust from there. I don't know what your scheduling and time situation is, but I imagine you don't have tons of extra time. Even adding 2 minutes to each rotation could be a better fit. You can ask students or take a poll too. It would be great for them to self reflect on whether they are able to get finished on time. Then to prioritize what needs to change etc.
Nina Drewis says
February 23, 2014 at 5:39 pmWhat a great post! My district is changing the way we deliver math and I am part of the team to improve professional development. You have wonderful ideas and I love your step by step breakdown. I will be sharing the link to this post to help others with math instruction. Thank you for sharing!
KTP on TPT says
February 23, 2014 at 6:25 pmLove this post, Reagan! I love Guided Math and math is definitely my favorite time of the day, along with my class! I love the way you have broken everything down in this post- very helpful to see it that way!
Katie 🙂
KTP: Keep Teaching and Planning!
momx4 says
February 23, 2014 at 7:54 pmDo your students visit the stations each day for 10 minutes? If so, do you have five different journal topics?
ReaganTunstall says
February 23, 2014 at 9:46 pmI have a new journal activity every day. I sell monthly journal packets on teachers pay teachers. You can find them at the math product link in the post above.
Mrs. Kelly's Class says
February 23, 2014 at 9:01 pmWow! What an amazing post. I have been struggling all year with getting math center rotations down. I feel like the guided group approach may be a lot more fun for my kiddos than what I've been doing. I love the way you organize your math tubs…everything is in one place and the kids have everything they need to be successful. Math journals are a great idea! I've been trying to incorporate them into my daily math routine, but have been trying it whole group annnd it just isn't working for us. But having the kiddos work together in their group at a station is genious (duh)! I'm super excited to start incorporating some of your ideas into my math time. Thank you so much for sharing!!
eyelashy says
February 23, 2014 at 9:55 pmThank you so much for being so detailed. This is my 2nd year doing my version of Guided Math. For those out there that are hesitant, give it a try. It just gets easier the more you do it. And once the routine is in place, the kids will miss it if you don't do it!
My question is-how do you answer those that thing small groups should always be heterogeneous groups? My groups are ability grouped like yours and I think that's what is best. But I don't always know how to explain it to someone who has never done it.
Ashley Barrett
http://www.teachingbythetablespoon.blogspot.com
Tiffany Tupps says
February 23, 2014 at 9:59 pmI have slowly began to incorporate centers/stations throughout the day along with meeting with groups. My kids are loving it right now. This was a great post and has given me a better insight for Guided Math, thank you!
Sarah Mackey says
February 23, 2014 at 10:00 pmO.K. do you have a math basal to follow or are you pretty free to teach math how you want? I would love to do this, but not sure how I could do this plus teach our math basal that we are required to use?? Any suggestions??
Mary Kaye says
February 23, 2014 at 11:05 pmWhat a great explanation on guided math. I teach kindergarten, is there a way to get a hold of some of your centers and make them work for K5.
First Grade Carousel says
February 23, 2014 at 11:34 pmThank you so much for writing this all up and adding pictures so we can see what it looks like. I just got math tubs up and running and have purchased a set of your math journals, but it wasn't flowing. Now I can clearly see how all the pieces fit together. I can't wait to put it all together. Thanks! Maria
Miss Trayers says
February 24, 2014 at 12:16 amI just also wanted to thank you for posting this. It is something I will definitely use! 🙂
NotJustChild'sPlay
rrmoore says
February 24, 2014 at 1:54 amThis is awesome, I have so many of your products and wish I could see this all in action. I recently purchased the March journal product so I'm hoping I can start implementing it with my rotations. One thing I'm struggling with, and would love your advice on, is how much planning you put into the small groups. Are you planning the whole group lesson then using it to guide differentiated practice with the small groups? Or do you plan specific work ahead of time for each group? I just can't seem to fit in all the planning to make my teacher rotation as effective as it could be. Thanks again, you are absolutely fabulous!
landoflearning says
February 24, 2014 at 3:56 amWow! This post was amazing! Thanks so much for sharing! I could so see this working for me if I was basically allowed to do this. We have 90 minutes of math technically. But we are following a 3 tier model (which I also love) and 30 minutes of that is designated as actual math stations and tutorials. I have 2 groups- tier 3 and 2 that I work with depending on the week. I have to share a math aide with my door partner so one week I have her and the other week my partner does. When I have the aide, she's working with my tier 3 group (lowest) and I'm working with tier 2 (low to on level). When I don't have my aide, I've got the tier 3 group. I'm allowed one flex day a week where I can work with any group I want. Then I have an hour block later for actual math instruction. I'll have to see if I can modify what you are doing to what I have. I've also passed this post on to our head math person for our district as I know she will love this. Thanks again for sharing what you do. It soooo helps!!
Shibahn
Mrs. Landry's Land of Learning
katieloucurtis says
February 24, 2014 at 4:00 amAh! Amazing!! My brain is whirling with ideas and new incorporations after reading your post. Thank you so much for it! Sometime in the future will you explore perhaps these "contracts" with students who need some individual attention in order to let the others maximize on centers time? I would surely appreciate the ideas.
Thanks so much for always giving us new, enlightening teaching experiences and guidance for our classes! 🙂
Amy says
February 24, 2014 at 8:58 amYou are amazing!
I am in my first year of teaching this year in Australia, and I find your posts so motivating and inspirational. Thank you very much sharing your great ideas. 🙂
Christina says
February 24, 2014 at 9:08 amI've always felt Math needed to be structured more like reading blocks, thanks for sharing! Wish you would make a youtube video, so I could attend this training virtually! 🙂
cowansprekcaterpillars.blogspot.com
jhanis says
February 25, 2014 at 3:42 amThank you for this amazingly timely post! Our team recently decided to switch our math instruction to more of a guided math format, but have been struggling with the details of it all. This post is exactly what we were looking for! Thank you for sharing all of your wonderful details! 🙂
Elena Fryer says
February 25, 2014 at 6:36 pmI loved this post. This is how I tried to organize my 3rd grade math class. It really helps me differentiate.
Wendy from Melbourne says
February 25, 2014 at 6:49 pmWe've been doing this for a while in Victoriralia as part of our Early years Numeracy Initiative ( it matches with our Early Years Literacy ). I the way you've documented your work. Its so accessible and teacher friendly. Great job and inspiting for everyone
Becca Adams says
March 2, 2014 at 9:48 pmCan you give a sample of what you have for your two friends that are on a separate contract for math rotations? I have 2 friends that cannot handle them (behaviorally)…or literacy centers for that matter. I would love in additional advice or tips on that. Thank you so much for your time!
~ Becca
[email protected]
ReaganTunstall says
March 2, 2014 at 10:37 pmSure! I put 6 smiley faces on a page. For each rotation that they can do correctly, they color a face. If they read to me or work at my math table rotation without issue, they get the 6th or extra smile. They use the smiles to earn a reward privilege like spending a rotation of choice the next day on a computer game, or some i pad time immediately. That time frame and reward depends on your student. My other students are great about not comparing themselves. I think they like that it helps keep the classroom at peace.
Anonymous says
March 10, 2014 at 6:04 amOh what I wouldn't give to see this process in action. You are inspiring.
Firstie Favorites says
March 20, 2014 at 12:38 amHi Reagan,
This post really inspired me to try math workshop in my first grade classroom. I am a second year teacher and I wasn't feeling satisfied with my math instruction and I have to tell you, after one week of trying math workshop/guided math, I feel like I've reached my kiddos so much more appropriately! Thank you for all of these great ideas… I am using your March Interactive Math Journal printables right now and have the April ones downloaded and ready to go!
I'd love for you to see my math workshop post that I just did last week at Firstie Favorites. Thank you so much for this fantastic post!!
Take care,
Nicole
Laura says
June 12, 2014 at 2:22 amThis is awesome! I need to add Journaling as one of my Math centers! Thanks for your help – looking forward to using Guided Math this year.
HCundy says
June 28, 2014 at 4:12 pmI love this. I have always wanted to try incorporating Guided math in my classroom! I may have just found the resource to help get me started! Thanks for sharing all your great knowledge.
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Wendy Walsh says
August 16, 2014 at 3:33 pmI cannot tell you how helpful this has been. I am a new graduate and was unable to give a well rounded answer to the question of how much do I understand about the workshop model of mathematics. Now I am confident that I will be able to articulate, understand and utilize this concept using your wonderful pictures and detailed explanations. Thank you so much.
Wendy
Laura Ettema says
August 30, 2014 at 11:36 pmCould you give me some ideas on how to implement this in a half day program? I have 2 1/2 hours of time with my kinders each day… I know this is best practice for my kiddos but I can't seem to figure out how to get this in! I was thinking maybe 2 days of guided math/centers, 3 days of literacy centers- then the next week 3 days of math, 2 days of literacy centers…
April Harter says
February 24, 2015 at 12:11 amThis is my first year teaching and I am trying to get more organized and familiar with different techniques. I bought your big math bundle and can't wait to get them all ready to use! 🙂 I haven't heard of most of the warm up activities. Is there a spot on your blog or somewhere else I can learn more about them? Thanks!
Birdsong says
July 22, 2015 at 12:14 amDo you label tubs Monday through Friday or do they just get to pick one?
general manager says
October 22, 2015 at 1:33 pmThis is really great share,
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRLxCna6j_c"
Alexia Neill says
December 28, 2016 at 8:01 pmHi!
I’ve read through most of your posts about guided math as I’ve launched it this year and this one has been additionally helpful! I feel like we have gotten the structure of GM down, but our transitions are a wreck! Mainly our timing. We start and stop REALLY well with our signal. Yet the time it takes to clean up, comes to the carpet, choose their next station, for EACH student has been struggle all this past semester. We have exactly 1 hour and 10 minutes for rotations (we do whole group in the morning and then have specials. Coming back from specials we have the 1 hour+ before we head to lunch) and I by round 4, I’ve noticed I am rushing with that group! On good days I introduce our math journal and excel (spiral review) BEFORE we leave for specials. If not, I’m introducing when we come back which sucks up times from the hour and 10 minutes. We do 10 minutes rotations at teach station. The only thing I can think of is practice practice practice our transitions procedure to get it down to 30 seconds.