How I had 100% Passing 2nd Grade Math in Just Two Short Months My First Year Teaching
Teachers do not have it easy. Early mornings, tons of prep work, pressure to get good test scores, lack of resources, dealing with bad student behavior, under-involved parents and overly involved parents, being reassigned grade levels with no say in the matter. You name it, I’ve been there.
My first year teaching I taught second grade at a very low performing urban public school. For anyone who has taught in that kind of environment, you get it (read my story here). It causes stress like no other. I later taught third grade at a wonderful private school, and that also came with stress. So it doesn’t really matter where you teach (a homeschooling parent, a tutor, a college professor) teaching is HARD, plain and simple.
I actually couldn’t quite wrap my head around it during my first year teaching. When I’d be getting ready for the next day, I’d think to myself that I’d always have to be making copies, creating new anchor charts, rereading the teacher editions because there was no way I’d be able to memorize every lesson for every subject every year. I wondered if there was a way to eliminate 90% of this work so that I could focus on the part of the job that I loved, which was teaching. Well I figured out a way to do it, and the results I had were astonishing.
In this blog post I’m sharing how you can make this happen and quickly! I’ll be covering:
The impact of short engaging whole group lessons
An ideal 90-minute math block schedule
Replacing math centers with math games
So if you’re feeling completely overwhelmed, questioning whether or not you want to stay in the classroom, or struggling to get results in math, you’ve come to the right place! Here’s how to get time back for yourself and find success in your first year teaching math.
The impact of short engaging whole group lessons
Teaching reading was amazing. I had two full hours and could spend weeks teaching one skill. Math was much harder. There was so much content and never enough time to get through it all. I needed my lessons to be incredibly efficient and engaging so that I could reach as many students as possible in a short period of time.
I decided that since the majority of students are visual learners, the best way to accomplish this would be to create math presentations that would use visual representations to simplify complex topics. I knew my students had a fairly short attention span so I made sure each lesson was no longer than 30 minutes. That also gave me time to conduct one or two small groups during the remainder of my math block.
The result? My students LOVED these lessons because all of a sudden math made sense to them and their confidence skyrocketed. The lessons were so engaging that students no longer misbehaved and I was able to get through more content than ever before. I also incorporated fill in the blank style checks for understanding so that I could quickly identify students in need of small group support.
Just two short months after using these lessons 100% of my students started passing math. I decided that if I put the work in upfront by continuing to create presentations, I’d get time back for myself in the future. And sure enough the following year when I taught second grade again, all I had to do was open the lessons and teach. I no longer spent hours of my time prepping for the next day.
Seeing my students have so much success AND getting time back for myself was truly incredible, and I want this for you too! My lessons require no prep work, so all you have to do is open the presentations and teach. I’ve also included instructional notes on each slide to help guide you, which is especially helpful for teachers who are new to teaching math. Visit my TPT store to shop lessons!
An ideal 90-minute math block schedule
If my whole group lessons were only 30 minutes, what did I do with the rest of my math block? Every time I thought I figured out a good schedule, something would come up and throw everything out of sync (holidays, field trips, testing, instructional planning days etc). After a bit of trial and error I came up with a reliable and effective schedule that worked regardless of everything else that was going on.
Here is what it looked like:
10 Minutes: Math Routine (Number of the Day, Problem of the Day, or Skill Review)
30 Minutes: Whole Group Lesson
25 Minutes: Small Group One
25 Minutes: Small Group Two
The biggest takeaways? Keep the whole group lesson to 30 minutes or less otherwise your students will lose focus. Forget about having more than two small groups in one day. You will not be able to meet with every student every day in a small group and that is ok! With how much testing my school did, I was only able to get through one small group on Fridays, and I still saw student growth. So even one small group is better than nothing!
Replacing math centers with math games
A huge component of being able to conduct small groups is to make sure the rest of your class is engaged in a relevant activity. I found math centers to be way too difficult to plan for. I just didn’t have enough time to set them up or explain to students what to do at each one.
Instead, I discovered an incredible resource through a company called Box Cars & One-Eyed Jacks. They create math games that can be differentiated for each student. So in other words, you can set up just one math game, and all of your students will be playing that game at their own level. Pretty awesome right?
Things to consider when implementing math games:
Pick a game that is a review of a previously taught skill or one that relates to the whole group lesson.
When introducing a new game, teach students how to play right after the whole group lesson gets done.
Students can either play the same game throughout the week to reduce your prep work, or once students learn how to play multiple games, you can rotate through those during the week.
Be sure to check out their Shuffling into Math books for your grade level so you can start playing these games in your classroom. The in-person workshops are also fantastic so if you get the chance to attend one I highly recommend it!
What makes teaching math so tricky is we are always flying through the content, so by the time we realize students need help with a skill, we’ve already moved on because our instructional calendar says so. That’s why I created Math on Point, to provide you with whole group lessons that allow you to reach as many students as possible. These lessons require no planning so all you have to do is download the presentations and teach! Make the investment in getting time back for yourself. It worked incredibly well for me and I know it will work well for you too!
For a limited time, bundle and save 50% when you buy all of my 2nd grade or 3rd grade math lessons, and be sure to follow me on TPT for new lessons and sales!
Grab these slide decks today so you have them ready to go for your next math class, and take the stress out of teaching! Click here to start shopping!
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