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Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits

Teaching with Heart and Creativity

Resources to Teach Guided Math

This post is going to be heavy in product just because I want to answer and clarify how my guided math resources work together for guided math!  And while we are at it, what exactly is guided math? Am I doing it correctly?  You’ll be happy to discover that YES you are!  There are so many opinions out there on guided math right now.

What is Guided Math, Really?

I love to research and read as much as I can about guided math.  Every article, book, and post has opinions and ideas that contradict the last!  But amazingly every guided math book, article, and post agrees on one important thing.  The purpose of guided math is to meet the developmental needs of  students as they learn math concepts.  YES!   It looks slightly different from classroom to classroom, but no one is right or better than the next.   When someone has success with guided math most likely it is because of the hard work and preparation put into providing students with engaging activities during their guided math block! Even when we put love and effort into our planning, we all have terrific days and tough days.   Over the last eight years as I taught this structure, I have had success and frustration.  With that, I have continued to push and modify.  Just when I felt I had it all figured out,  a new group of students entered the room.  Every year looks slightly different than the last.   Just like guided reading, guided math is a process with many moving parts.  What is essential in guided math, is structure, expectations, and resources.   Let’s get into it!

Guided Math Structure

Whether you have 60 minutes or 90 minutes, imagine breaking your time up into 4 categories.  The big difference is rather than spending the majority of time in whole group, we want to provide a powerful mini-lesson and then jump into small group instruction.

guided math

Math Warm-Up

We begin at the math warm-up. This is a way to hit the previously taught concepts.  Many of us spent 20 or more minutes on “calendar time” for years.  This has been modified with the  push of the “new” standards to become a very brief spiral review of key concepts.  We were able to hit on this in my classroom during our Rise and Shine morning binders and morning meeting.

In my classroom math warm-up is a quick fun game or activity that we did as we gathered together at the rug for our math mini-lesson. In our district, we have priority standards for a certain amount of time and then we have no less than 20 other standards that we are supposed to magically review every day as well.  Hello impossible, my name is Reagan, nice to meet you.  In order to keep just some of my hair from falling out from stress, I have written easy no prep ideas for spiral reviewing.  Nothing extra to print, nothing more to make, just a carpet, whiteboard, and students.   These warm-ups can be found in my guided math resources and look like this.  (If you have my guided math resource, they have all been updated so please re-download)

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Math Whole Group

Perhaps the biggest difference in guided math from traditional math is the mini-lesson in order to give up that time to small groups.  We all know that teaching whole group doesn’t meet the needs of every learner.  Providing a powerful mini-lesson gets every student familiar with a concept but allows teacher and students to spend instructional time in a more focused personalized manner.

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Knowing what to do in a whole group lesson followed up by differentiated small group can be a little overwhelming at first.  What should I tell everyone?  What should I save for groups?  How do I ensure that I am meeting my student’s needs?  How long should I spend on each concept?  What if a group is  moving much faster than the rest?  I have taken my guided math lesson plans and created whole group and differentiated small group lessons covering every TEK and CC standard.   From warm-up, to whole group, to small group, it is all laid out for you in the following resources.   You can find each month individually or you can get the entire year set.

First Grade Guided Math

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Find it here

 

Second Grade Guided Math

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Find it here

Take a look at samples from each of the first grade units in THIS POST.

guided math collage

Do you geek out on organization as much as I do?  I added free spine labels to help you organize the units into binders. (There are 9 spine levels per grade level)

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Then @teachingfirstgradewithgrace shared how she organized the units into tubs and I fell head over heels.  She said she found these tubs at Michael’s in the Scrap booking section!  I also found them on amazon here.

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Small Group and Rotations

Once you have taught your mini-lesson, it is time to break into rotations.  There’s no perfect number of rotations, but I like having 5.  This allows a classroom of 20+ to be in manageable groups of 4-6 students.   Depending on your resources, you can choose what activities you want your students to complete at each rotation.  I have found it works best if you stay consistent in your choices for students daily.  Then just plug in the day’s activity to what students understand.   The most important group is your small group.  In this situation, you are a rotation.  I know there are different opinions out there on whether teacher is a rotation or not, and I promise you, you will see HUGE gains in your students if they rotate to you to receive instruction.   This is so important!  Having my small group lesson plans and differentiated activities to play will make it easy for you and exciting for students.

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Math Centers

Most teachers think of math centers when they hear about guided math.  This isn’t a new thing and it is a BIG favorite of students.  I used to have every rotation be a different math center when I first began guided math.  The issue I had with this was the amount of prep I was going through in order to maintain this system!  Of course the great news is that once you have prepped your centers, they are going to work for you for years to come.  I still wanted to figure out a better way.
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I began by creating monthly math centers to provide students the opportunity to practice, apply, and strategize independent concepts.  Just because I was introducing place value in whole group and small group did not mean that students were independent with it and ready to go do an activity in a math tub.  Some students hadn’t even been to my small group yet and were heading to a math center.  I strongly believe that our rotations are opportunities for our students to become fluent on previously learned concepts that take numerous chances to practice and apply.  Remember the impossible number of spiral review standards we have for the month?  This is how we meet that requirement!  What I am doing in small group may very well become a math center the following week.

If you are looking to quickly have access to many math centers you can check out this bundle of math centers.  Or you can just get one month at a time if you only need to beef up a particular time of year.

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Math Centers and Other Rotations in One Resource

Once I decided to break up my class into different rotations, rather than everyone doing a math center, I knew I wanted to have monthly units that would hit all of those rotations and not just math centers.  These are available month by month, or in a discounted bundle.  The resources below have 10 math centers, 10 math journal activities, and 10 independent practice pages.  What is great about these is that they do not overlap with any other math centers or journals in my store.  Just even more options to fill your rotations.

first grade math centers

 

Find them here:  November, December, January, February, March, April

This Bundle HERE

Math Journal

A few years ago, our district implemented math journals as part of our math block K-12.  I wanted to provide students with age appropriate activities for their journals.  Students quickly let me know that they loved this!  I was nervous to try anything but centers for all my rotations, but this was an instant HIT with my students.  Over time I created journal activities for every month.

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These activities spiral review the previously learned skills and coordinate wonderfully with all of my other resources.

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I also have them in two semester bundles if you know you want to go all in.            First Semester       Second Semester
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The last piece to the guided math puzzle is to have a system for rotating your students through their rotations.  It doesn’t matter if you want to rotate through everything every day like I do, or if you want to spread it over your week.  Having a rotation system is important for consistency and providing a visual expectation.
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If you are struggling with getting guided math started or what resources to choose and when, I have a free launching guided math guide!  Find it here or click the picture.

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I hope you have found something helpful in this post.  If you would like to read my guided math series, you can click here.  Or click the Math Tab on the home page of this website to see every math post!

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31 Comments Filed Under: math

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    Comments

    1. Kimberly Clinard says

      March 20, 2016 at 11:14 am

      All of your math resources have made my Guided Math time awesome! It’s my favorite time of the day. Now, I just need to find a few extra minutes in my schedule for it so that I don’t feel as rushed! Love it all!

      Reply
    2. Tammy says

      March 20, 2016 at 6:37 pm

      Reagan,
      I am loving your math resources this year. I know my students so much better as mathematicians. How do you manage the math tub rotation.? I had to make a chart so no one argues or races to the tubs.

      Reply
      • ReaganTunstall says

        March 21, 2016 at 5:30 am

        I have 5 tubs out numbered 1-5. I assign numbers when I have a class that is not able to make the right choice. (or just particular groups) So Monday we do tub number 1 and so on. If they finish early, I have past tubs that they have access to or they can go back to a tub from the week that is not being used.

        Reply
    3. Christa says

      March 20, 2016 at 7:42 pm

      What a great blog post! I am super excited that you have the second grade guided math! What types of activities do you have your students do for the independent work rotation? My kids this year love our guided math rotations. They really like working with me because they get such individualized attention. Thanks so much for sharing what you do! It is so appreciated!

      Reply
      • ReaganTunstall says

        March 21, 2016 at 5:31 am

        This is an open rotation for me. Sometimes it is a printable that I want them to do, sometimes it is another math center, and sometimes I reward them with a math app or something special.

        Reply
    4. Cathy says

      March 21, 2016 at 8:09 am

      Looks great! I am trying to get it right in my mind before I try it in reality. How many rotations will you complete each day? And how many times will you meet with each group in a week?

      Reply
      • ReaganTunstall says

        March 22, 2016 at 11:10 am

        Hi Cathy, It depends on the time you have. We had 75-90 mins for math so I was able to do 5 rotations (10 mins each) per day. This isn’t necessary and can be customized to as low as one rotation for a longer time per day up to 5 or even 6 for a shorter time. I meet with everyone everyday. It really can be arranged to fit the time frame you have and how often you need to see your students. Just like guided reading, you can decide what is best.

        Reply
    5. Sue Strautz says

      March 21, 2016 at 10:03 am

      Do you every plan on doing a Kindergarten Guided math unit? I would love to be able to use it.

      Reply
      • ReaganTunstall says

        March 22, 2016 at 11:10 am

        Yes when I complete second, then I will tackle kinder.

        Reply
        • Karla says

          March 25, 2016 at 6:54 pm

          Yay! I would be interested in the Kindergarten guided math unit as well! This is so amazing!!

          Reply
          • Krysti says

            April 2, 2016 at 9:09 am

            I look forward to your kindergarten unit! I’m interested to know how your kinder classes manage journals. This is an area I struggle with since so many of my kiddos are not independent.

            Reply
    6. Samantha says

      March 21, 2016 at 3:35 pm

      I started Guided Math this year and I LOVE it! I have four rotations: teacher, journal/ Saxon worksheet, math fact sheet & Xtramath.org, and a center game or sheet. I am having an issue with some students getting finished way early and some having a hard time getting all of the work finished. I have “dessert drawers” for early finishers, but my highest groups use them too much.

      How do you manage kids who have trouble finishing and others with the opposite problem?

      Thanks so much for your help!

      Reply
      • ReaganTunstall says

        March 22, 2016 at 11:13 am

        Open ended partner games are best for fast finishers because they can use them over and over and get a different result each time winning sometimes and losing sometimes. It is always a challenge to take care of fast finishers at anytime of day, but I have found that games of chance are best to keep them engaged the longest. My math sticks pack has a lot of differentiated games to challenge any level. You can color code the numbers you write for different levels. As far as sweet and low strugglers, it would help if I gave them a goal such as get three done before the timer and you can move to the next rotation. Or you may not rotate until this is completed. That helped motivate them to push harder.

        Reply
    7. Beth Curley says

      March 25, 2016 at 8:50 am

      Oh how I pray that you will someday create Kindergarten units!!!

      Reply
    8. Jessica says

      March 31, 2016 at 4:35 pm

      Hello,
      I love your math rotation pack I use it daily for my students. I was wondering if you have the clip art that are under the small group and rotation part of this blog? I like how they have the words over it.

      Thank you

      Reply
      • ReaganTunstall says

        April 1, 2016 at 1:22 pm

        Almost all of that clipart in the little picture was from melonheadz illustrating on teachers pay teachers.

        Reply
    9. Whitney says

      April 21, 2016 at 6:30 pm

      Hi there,
      These units look fabulous! I can’t wait to try them out!

      Do you have a timeline for when you’ll be releasing 2nd grade Units 3 & 4?

      Thanks!

      Reply
      • ReaganTunstall says

        April 24, 2016 at 9:36 am

        I am planning to have them finished by the end of May! 🙂

        Reply
    10. Amy Maute says

      April 29, 2016 at 5:35 am

      Not sure if this has been asked, but is this Common Core aligned?

      Reply
      • ReaganTunstall says

        May 1, 2016 at 5:54 am

        Yes it is!

        Reply
    11. Julie says

      May 1, 2016 at 6:21 am

      Any chance you are working on creating units for fourth grade? I came across your blog on guided math today and fell in love with everything I saw- except I teach 4th grade Please let me know if you plan on creating this!

      Reply
      • Brittany says

        June 5, 2017 at 2:37 pm

        I would LOVE a 4th grade one!!!

        Reply
    12. Tanya says

      May 1, 2016 at 8:05 am

      Any chance you have a third grade one. I’m moving up to third this year and would love to try this out.

      Reply
    13. Lindsay says

      May 2, 2016 at 8:06 pm

      The scrapbook tubs, that @teachingfirstgradewithgrace posted, what exactly do they hold? Materials for each unit? Looking for a way to organize everything in your units for next year : )

      Reply
      • ReaganTunstall says

        May 3, 2016 at 6:43 am

        They hold the binder of lessons for that unit and baggies with the cards and games for that unit.

        Reply
    14. Stephanie says

      June 19, 2016 at 6:21 am

      Thank you so much for making the “How to Launch Guided Packet!” It has helped me so much! I can now wrap my brain around the process. The thing I had the most trouble with when I tried to implement guided math this past year (before I found your blog and products) was which group to start with in small group first. When I started with my struggling group first they took too much time. When I put my high group first and strugglers last, they couldn’t get everything finished. I realize now one thing I was doing wrong was having them complete the workbook page after they visited me. Do you have any suggestions on which group to start in small group?
      Thank you so much!
      Stephanie

      Reply
    15. Mary says

      June 7, 2017 at 5:08 am

      Hi Reagan! I am very interested in guided math and can’t wait to apply this concept. Do you have materials that apply to kindergarten standards?

      Reply
      • ReaganTunstall says

        June 11, 2017 at 5:10 am

        Yes! For sure! Let me link you to the kindergarten items. https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Browse/Search:kindergarten%20tunstall

        Reply
    16. Tatiana says

      June 30, 2017 at 10:50 pm

      Hi Reagan! I have a question about the centers. You say that you have 5 tubs. One for each day of the week. So, how many activities do you put inside the tub? Is there one for each child in that group? Are the activities the same or different? Are they differentiated? Oh my! It was way more than 1 question. Anyways, love your products. Can’t wait to use them this coming school year!

      Reply
    17. christine says

      July 23, 2017 at 5:41 pm

      Aloha!
      Just read the whole “how to launch guided math”….. so informative!!! Only question is with stamina tracking; how does this work? Do you build up your time in rotation–start with 2 min…then 3 next day etc…? Or is this to track how many minutes out of a 10 minutes rotation they are on task?

      Thanks!
      Christine

      Reply
    18. Nicole says

      August 15, 2018 at 7:41 pm

      OK- so I am new to guided math and looking into your units. They look amazing!! I have two questions- do you have to follow the units in order? and what kind of research went into putting these units together?? Thank you!!

      Reply

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  • Welcome!

    Reagan Tunstall

    Hi y’all! I’m Reagan Tunstall, an educator, author, speaker, and developer of Guided Math curriculum Kinder-5th grade with 22 years experience in education. My passion is empowering teachers to make their classrooms a community of thinkers through engaging lessons and materials.

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        • Active Learning Ideas!
        • Peek at My Week March 23
        • Howdy Partners! Come Take A Tour of our Texas Studies!
        • Fish in the Bucket and Other Things...
        • Guided Math-Reflecting on the Journey
        • Teacher Bag Lady and My Week...Wait...It's only Monday
      • ►February
        • Pot Of Gold Learning!
        • Phonics: What Why & How
        • Story Starters Galore
        • Teaching Time Freebies!
        • February in the Classroom
        • Write On!
        • Little Classroom Moments
      • ►January
        • Recap of the Texas First Grade Conference
        • Rough Patch!
        • iPad Essentials: Analyzing Weather!
        • Primary Geometry: Making the Grade with Shapes
        • Writing Mini-Lessons
        • A Peek at my Week {Gif Style}
        • January Jumpstart {A Day at School}
    • ►2014
      • ►December
        • Guided Math Binder
        • Reindeer Games!
        • December Behavior Management
        • Five For Friday
        • About Math Journals
      • ►November
        • Heading Back To Work!
        • H is for...
        • My Handy Spelling Notebook!
        • Printable Literacy Practice
        • Honoring Veterans in Every Subject!
        • Five for Friday
        • Spelling and Phonics - Step by Step
        • Hello November!
      • ►October
        • It's a Fall Frenzy!
        • All About Reader's Workshop!
        • Fire Safety and Planning for Next Week
        • Franken Authors
        • Bat Science!
        • Beginning Place Value
      • ►September
        • Reading Strategies and my Week!
        • Our Daily Schedule in Pictures!
        • Prepping for Pumpkin Season
        • Apples and Fall Happenings
        • Apples! Hands-On Science
        • Classroom Clips and Quotes....Day 10
        • Interactive Notebooks and Young Learners
        • Practice Makes Perfect?
        • Kick Start Guided Reading!
      • ►August
        • Back To School: The First Two Days
        • Guided Math Rotations & Explanations!
        • School Tour Continued!
        • Teacher Week Day 2 Classroom Digs!
        • Teacher Week Day One
        • Engaging Writing Activities Volume 2
        • Daily Data Ideas!
        • Meet the Teacher Night Signs
        • Engaging Writing Activities
        • Launching Guided Math {A How To Guide}
        • Classroom Tour 2014-2015
      • ►July
        • iPad Essentials
        • Math Concepts Galore! Day 10
        • Day 8 ELA Units
        • Math Journals! Day 7
        • Math Centers on Day 6!
        • Christmas in July Day 5- How I Start the Day
        • Christmas in July Day 4- Spelling/Phonics
        • Christmas in July Day 2!
        • It's Christmas in July!
        • Label Obsessed!! {Free}
        • A Trip to IKEA
        • Organizing for Next Year
      • ►June
        • Word Work Storage and Yearly Plan
        • I'm Flipping over Flip Books!
        • All About Me Flip Book
        • The Math Journal Component
        • Effectively Teaching with iPads
        • Teacher Gift Tag
      • ►May
        • Making Writing Portfolios
        • Birthday Sale!
        • Free Candy Awards
        • Mother's Day and Gifts for Helpers
        • Teacher Appreciation Week!
        • What's Your Behavior Number? Freebie
        • Science Writing and Technology
      • ►April
        • Word Wall Centers For Any Word Wall!
        • May Math Journal
        • We've Got their Whole World In Our Hands
        • Camp Number Sense!
        • Keeping the Joy in Teaching
        • All in a Day's Work...
      • ►March
        • Neon Bloggers Take San Antonio!
        • The Big Phonics Bundle! {Purposeful Word Work}
        • My Coin Crew!
        • Spring Break Vacation and New Products Posted
        • Spring Forward with Motivation!
        • Spelling Ideas!
      • ►February
        • Workshop Talk!
        • All About Guided Math
        • Making Sight Words STICK!
        • All About Math Journaling
        • A Box of TREAT!
        • Mastering Measurement!
        • February Journal and My Throne of Lies...
      • ►January
        • Take off One Shoe...For Fractions!
        • Oh For The Love of Math!
        • Guided Reading and Guided Math Essentials
        • First Grade Texas Conference RECAP!
        • CENTER of Attention!
        • A Little Motivation Never Hurts...
    • ►2013
      • ►December
        • Happy New Year 2014!
        • Winter Math Goodies!
        • Five for Friday
        • Parent Gifts and a Little Math Journal
        • Two Literacy Lifesavers!
        • Iced In at a National Conference in Dallas
        • Cyber Monday & Tuesday
      • ►November
        • Guided Reading Goods!
        • Prepping for December
        • December Math Journal
        • Nerdy Birdy! Turkey FACTS
        • Activities Like... {with a freebie too}
        • Scattered Recap...
        • Purposeful Word Work -- Blends!
        • Guided Math in First Grade
      • ►October
        • Trick or Read! Door Decorating, Freebies, and More!
        • Place Value Ideas and Rise and Shine Update!
        • The Time and Prep Factor
        • Critical Writing & Art with Columbus
        • Sounding Off....freebies and EMO.
        • Plenty Of Pumpkins and Other Fall Fun!
        • No Mayhem Monday!
      • ►September
        • This Week's Math: Resources and Freebies!
        • Five For Friday!
        • Guided Math Freebie and Sight Word Tracking
        • Making Ten Freebies and Our Self Portrait Gallery
        • Shaky Shaky Drop---Ten Frames
        • Highlights of our Learning Launch!
        • Math: How Do We Fit it All In?
        • Classroom Systems That Work!
        • O"FISH"ally in School....and a little bit of life...
      • ►August
        • Day 2 Breaking News...
        • Ready or Not...Meet the Teacher!
        • Back To School--It's NO JOKING MATTER!
        • Data and Learning Portfolio For Young Learners
        • Classroom Tour 2013-2014
        • Teacher Week! Let's Talk about Me!
        • Classroom Organization in Pictures
        • Must Haves for My New School Year
      • ►July
        • FUNdamentals and Friendships
        • Class Pet Writing Journal
        • Organization and Reteach!
        • Guided Reading-Transitional Readers Cheat Sheet!
        • How to Implement the Rise and Shine Binder {and a freebie}
        • Rise and Shine Binder
        • School Beginnings Update
        • Oh Good Graph!
      • ►June
        • A Teacher's Math Resource Units 1-6 Complete!
        • Meet Ups & Updates
        • A Teacher's Math Resource!
        • Big News!
        • Road Trippin' Without Falling Down
        • Chalky Classroom Garden Decor
        • A New Adventure in Professional Development!
        • Adding Tape Math
        • The Last Day...
      • ►May
        • Mark and Sally Learn To Tally!
        • The Last Week Of School Survival
        • Sliding Out of Town and Into a New Decade
        • Win a CUTE T-Shirt!!!
        • Five for Friday!
        • Classroom Details! {the nitty gritty}
        • Mother's Day
        • Math Center Ideas and a Sale
        • I Have News!
        • Five for Friday! Holla!!!
      • ►April
        • It's Official. I am a hoarder. Oh, and a Farm Freebie.
        • Book Reviews and SSSSSScenters
        • Fighting Bone Cancer
        • Hap Palmer CD Winner!
        • Math and Technology
        • Snake Safari!
        • Blog Stalker Bffs and Fraction Freebies
        • Catching up. A Freebie. Some Video.
        • Fly on the Wall Linky
        • Symmetrical Salad, 2-D Desserts, and My Fight with Siri
        • Math is a Picnic...in the Classroom!
        • Feelings and Rocks
        • Literacy Picnic In the Classroom!
      • ►March
        • Spring Daily Math and Language
        • Five For Friday
        • How Do You Spell......?????
        • Crunchin' Numbers! {Freebie}
        • My Year In Bulletin Boards! {Teacher Eye Candy}
        • St. Patrick's Day Sale!
        • My Spring Fling with Captain Obvious!
        • Riveting Reading Instruction
        • Five for Friday
        • Psst! Hey You!! Want a Freebie?
        • Unicorns...What Else?
        • Testing My Limits and Linky Visual Plans
      • ►February
        • Full Speed Ahead!
        • Looking Back and Heading Forward
        • Hall Pass Linky!
        • President's Day Visual Plans, Freebies, & Finds!
        • Sunday Funday!
        • Five For Friday!
        • All You Need Is LOVE!!!
        • Valentine's Day Week!
        • *Not Teaching Related! Boo-RAH!!!
        • February Math Centers!
        • Techy Teacher Tuesday! Free App and Literacy Activity!
        • Prepping Penguins!
        • Visual Plans and I Dyed My Hair!
      • ►January
        • Swimming With Sharks...and a little Claustrophobia!
        • Visual Plans and 100th Day Freebie
        • Sight Words and Thinking Maps!
        • Balance-Updates-and Lesson Plans
        • Dr. MLK Jr. Day!
        • Puppy Love Literacy!
        • Pinterest killed my Mojo
        • Visual Plans and Highlights
        • Home Office Makeover Reveal
        • Mega-Mode in January!
        • Visual Plans And New Year's Freebie
        • Classroom Pictures-Ready for January!
        • Mailbox Station
    • ►2012
      • ►December
        • Look Away- I'm Hideous!
        • Jam Packed January and an Office Make-Over!
        • Texas Blogger Meet Up!
        • Sound Science
        • Parent Gift Factory...
        • Visual Plans For a Busy Week
        • Silence for Sandy Hook
        • Just 24 Hours Ago...
        • Making Reindeer Food Meet the Standards!
        • I met Kim Adsit!!!
        • Plans, Crafts, Parent Gifts, and Let's Meet!
        • Tech the Halls!
        • Monday Made It Freebies!
        • Visual Lesson Plans For Gingerbread Week
        • It's Gingerbread Week!
      • ►November
        • Techy Santa!
        • Visual Plans and Estimate to Win Today!
        • Run Turkey Run!
        • Attack Attack! Calling for Reinforcements!
        • Let's Get Real Personal Post.
        • Products and My Daily Schedule
        • Visual Plans...and life!
        • Veterans Day Unit UPDATE!
        • We've all Gone MAD!
      • ►October
        • Spooky Fact Families Freebie
        • Pumpkins and Common Core... What More?
        • Pumpkin Week & Visual Plans
        • Wrapping Up the Week
        • Our Bat Book Study
        • Top Ten Blogging Side Effects...
        • Bats, Stellaluna, and Visual Plans!
        • Spider Art and Writing
        • Don't Call the Exterminator!
        • Keeping Writer's Workshop Alive!
        • Spider Week and Visual Plans
        • Freebies and Pumpkin Estimation Winner
      • ►September
        • Week 6 Plans and Writing Lesson
        • What's Working?
        • How I Run my Math Block
        • October Math Centers
        • Teaching Writing Ideas and Plans
        • Fall Sale and a Funny!
        • Word Work, Apples, and Caterpillars...
        • Visual Lesson Plans with Links!
        • Skip Counting Freebie and My Week in Pictures
        • Whatever Gets You Out of Bed in the Morning...
        • Pests or Pals?
        • Top Ten, Freebies, and Plans
      • ►August
        • First Week's Fun
        • Surviving the First Day!
        • Reading Lesson Anchor Charts
        • Where I Teach Wednesday
        • Are You Ready to Expo?
        • My Visual Lesson Plans!!
        • Mouse Pad Makeover
        • Sneak a Peek at My Purchases
        • Odds and Ends
        • Anchor Charts For You
        • On Your Mark,Get Set,GO!
        • Special Delivery!
        • New Awards For Students
        • Classroom Tour 2012-2013
        • Titles, Questions, and Tutorials
        • Classroom Progress 2012
      • ►July
        • Heading in to School Today!
        • Feelin' Texan
        • Fall Art and Writing Projects
        • Tell Me More!
        • Pixy Stick Birthday Makeover
        • 10 Lessons for Teaching Reading
        • Pinterest Inspired Crafts
        • Back To School Prep!
        • Teach Like A Theme Park?
        • Surprise Vacation!
        • Old School New School
        • Back To School 10 Math Centers {&Freebie}
        • Nerd Alert!
        • Currently Burn Ban!
        • Motivating Students with Props from the Dollar Store!
      • ►June
        • WHAT DID SHE SAY?!
        • Check Check...Is This Thing On?
        • Dancing and Math
        • I Messed Up!
        • Summer Laziness????
        • A Year Of Daily Math!
        • Best Summer Ever!
        • Flipping Out for Freebies!
        • Daily Math Requests
        • Texas Sized FUN at the blog meet!
        • Currently Redecorating!
      • ►May
        • Our Last Day in Pictures
        • End of Year Freebies
        • Surviving One More Week-IDEAS!
        • Crafts, Chefs, and Spaghetti!
        • Oh Momma--It's Coming!
        • Read to Puppy!
        • Currently Moooo-ing!
        • Don't Judge and Freebie!
      • ►April
        • Academic Awards for Elementary Students
        • Farm Fun and Freebie
        • Candy Awards
        • Oh Momma!
        • Are My Kids Still Chasing Me?
        • Bulletin Boards & BFFs
        • Dear Teacher Diary...
        • Four Friday Freebies!
        • Skyping Good Time!
        • We Ate a Frog Today!
        • Snack Sized Learning and a Letter Writing Freebie!
        • Today Rocked!!!
        • Spring Daily Language Review and A Couple Pictures
        • The Bunny
        • Math Math Math!
        • Shhhh Don't Tell My Diet.
        • Spring Daily Math
      • ►March
        • This Week's Pictures
        • Lunch Linky and The Daily Five Update
        • Science Freebies
        • Dumpsville- Population Zero!
        • Sylvester and the Magic Pebble
        • First Grade Fashions and Academics Too!
        • The Real Rocks of Limestone County
        • Gone Buggy Unit for Free
        • Planning With Ryan
        • Bloggers GONE WILD--Spring Break Meet Up!
        • Morning Work Freebie and a Linky Party!
        • Elmer and A Sale!
        • Teaching Writing and Life Lessons
        • I Think I Can! I Think I Can!
        • Reference Wall Freebies
        • No More Word Verification!
        • Lenny the Leprechaun
        • We Looked for A Leprechaun!
      • ►February
        • Write on the Money?
        • Feels Like a Monday!---and a freebie!
        • Giant TPT LINKY PARTY!
        • Looking For A Leprechaun
        • Today I Celebrate Being in Remission!!!
        • Feeling Super Presidential!
        • I think I am global.
        • Do You Feel Lucky?
        • Rowing my Boat. Keeping Afloat.
        • Happy Valentine's Day! Freebie
        • March Math Centers!
        • Shock and Awe
        • Penguins and Polka Dots
        • Giraffes in Antarctica!
        • Currently Contemplating...
        • My February Lesson Plans and Winners!
        • I hope this is Freeze Tag.
        • Build A Graph Freebie and Celebrating The Non-Fiction Superbowl!
      • ►January
        • Grab a snack it's a long post!
        • Daily Language Work
        • Goats, Trolls, and a FREEBIE!
        • Do You Speak Blog?
        • Mid-Week Pick Me Up
        • Dream Squashing In Full Effect!
        • This Little Piggy
        • San Antonio Texas Blogger Meet Up!
        • Daily Warm Ups for Math and Language!
        • Math Centers!
        • I'm Baaaaack...{from the salon}
        • Catching Up!
        • Currently, MLK, and Other Assorted Topics (HAIR)
        • Writing and Centers
        • My Friday Fix!!
        • What to Do with Ten Extra Minutes...and more
        • Geometric Quilting Update
        • Highlights of the Last 2 Days!
        • 2012 Morning Work Freebie and Another Top Ten!
    • ►2011
      • ►December
        • New Year's Sale!
        • Build a Pizza Math Center!
        • Monster Game Freebies!
        • Coziness, Confessions, and Lesson Plans!
        • 11 in 11 Linky FUN
        • I promise I know how to count...really...Free Reading Logs Updated
        • Bulletin Boards for Winter!
        • Merry Christmas!
        • Holiday Identity Crisis.
        • How Do Penguins Drink Their Soda?
        • The Emperor's Egg
        • My Pastor Ate Baby Jesus
        • Currently... Laughing
        • Top Ten Reasons I know Christmas is Near...
        • Sock Snowman Gift and Merry Christmas Splat the Cat!
        • All Aboard The Polar Express
        • Arrrrg!
        • Freebie, Giveaway, and a Recipe!
        • Cookies and Pepcid for Dinner
        • No More Reindeer Games!
      • ►November
        • Dream Squasher
        • In Charge of Chocolate and Cuteness
        • Black Friday through Cyber Monday Sale!
        • Rudolph the Chip-Nosed Reindeer & a Freebie
        • Christmas Art Projects!
        • Thankfully Giving!
        • Writer's Workshop Pet Edition
        • Not a DULL moment!
        • Daily Calendar Freebie and a mess of other ideas
        • Veteran's Day is Next Week!
      • ►October
        • November Unit Update!
        • 7 Things you'll wish you could forget
        • Bats, Phonics, and My Friday Fix!
        • Pumpkin Glyph Bulletin Board Freebie
        • Math Quilts
        • Halloween Dress Up Linky!!
        • Harry the Dirty Dog
        • Stellaluna Book Study!
        • Jack O Faces FREEBIE
        • Framed!!
        • Read on Little Dudes....Read on...
      • ►September
        • Oh Good Graph!
        • I Have Officially Spread Myself Too Thin
        • Fun with Fiction
        • Indoor Recess? Problem SOLVED!!
        • Totally Bugged.
        • You are the Wind Beneath My Wings...
        • Math Tubs
        • Writer's Workshop
      • ►August
        • Number Bracelets!
        • Breakfast in my Classroom {horrors}
        • Meet The Teacher Night
        • Things I have been working on...
        • Gone Buggy!
        • Top Ten Reasons You Know it is BACK TO SCHOOL time!
        • Classroom Pictures Part 2. D-O-N-E!!!
        • Classroom Tour 2011-2012 Part One
      • ►July
        • Book Barn!
        • Shape Up!
        • Teacher Feature
        • Writer's Workshop
        • Classroom Labels
        • I am a R-O-B-O-T
        • Vowels Visual
        • Monster Math Tubs
        • Can O' Worms
        • Earbud Storage
        • Discovery Bottles
        • WORD DOCTOR
      • ►June
        • Teacher Tipster...My NEW BFF!
        • Back to School....and writing...
        • Lovely Labels!
        • Classroom Organization
        • Minute to Win It
        • Teacher Song!
        • June Joy!
    • ►2010
      • ►August
        • Classroom Details
        • Back To School 2010-2011
        • Classroom 2010- 2011
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    Math fact fluency is important because we want stu Math fact fluency is important because we want students to be able to compute complex problems without laboring through every step. 

+ Fact fluency empowers students with a strong foundation of understanding in number relationships. 

+ Being able to spit out the correct answer is helpful in the process of solving a long multi-step problem. 

+ Just as important as knowing the answer is to build the conceptual understanding of combining numbers through addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. 

Link to sets for grades k-4.

https://www.tunstallsteachingtidbits.com/2017/07/math-fact-fluency.html
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    ❄️Snow in San Antonio❄️ ❄️Snow in San Antonio❄️
    It’s a big day for our daughter, @matunstall . It’s a big day for our daughter,  @matunstall . All of the hard work that got her to this point, plus the work to come, rolled up in gold on her little finger. 👍🏼 We are so proud of her!
    Opinion writing and Groundhog Day make mini-lesson Opinion writing and Groundhog Day make mini-lesson magic! 
Eight writing mini-lessons alleviate some of the Fury of February.  K-2 https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Writing-Mini-Lessons-February-2959867
    Picked up a new rug for my office. I told husband Picked up a new rug for my office. I told husband it was a business expense (obvi 🤷🏼‍♀️). I kept asking myself: does it match my math manipulatives? 🤓
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