My Math Block Mini-Series {Part 1}

So I changed the "Calendar Mini-Series" I teased about to "My Math Block Mini-Series" because there is so much more about math that I want to share! Now, we all know that my favorite subject has and always will be MATH! Teaching 1st grade math has been such a great experience so far, particularly because the students aren't so defeated (drained, damaged, mislead, behind, etc.) when they come to me (as they had been in 4th). In this first part of this mini-series, I will give you a breakdown of our math block and calendar activities. In subsequent parts of this mini-series, I will go over each activity in much more detail.

Number of the Day
Our math block is from 12:40-2:10 every day. My students come back from P.E./Music at that time, so a bathroom break is a must. I have a "Number of the Day" ready to go as soon as they walk in (just a random number I pick between 1 and 100). I display the number by using base-ten blocks or ten-frame cards:

(You MUST go back to this post to get the story behind the hand on the screen!)

The kids take out their math notebooks and dry erase markers and get started as I send one table at a time to the restroom (just right outside our hall door). The NotD papers are kept in a sheet protector that we write directly on with a dry erase marker (best idea EVER). Easy erasing, saves paper, and readily accessible to students!

Here is the paper that we use for NotD (click on it to snag a copy):

I plan on moving to this step next (this is available to download as well):

The following pages are kept behind our NotD page in our notebooks. We use the following pages to help us write those number words we have trouble sounding out:

You can snag a copy by clicking on the picture of the page! The pages we use just go up to 100 so I added an extension page to 120 for my common core friends.

Anyway, after they complete the NotD, they grab a number board and practice counting writing numerals and number words until we have all gone to the bathroom and are ready to go over the number.

I purchased two sets from Really Good Stuff for really cheap! The kids love them and I love how they are an easy time filler. 

Calendar Time

One of my favorite things about 1st grade math is definitely calendar time! What an incredibly POWERFUL time to learn new math concepts, discuss patterns, reinforce learning, and explore numbers! My students are always excited to do it and always come with something new and exciting to say (seriously...I have to cut them off or our calendar time could easily last an hour). The kids are so engaged that they actually run it with very little assistance from me. The main thing I do is facilitate discussions and pick the next helper! I treat calendar time with the same importance as I would an actual math lesson because to me, it is a math lesson. As previously stated, it is such a powerful time because so many skills are covered in such a short period of time. Now, calendar time in March looks quite different than calendar time at the beginning of the year. We have added many new things, taken some things out, and extended several things that already existed. That, I will share with you later. 

NotD and bathroom break takes about 15 minutes. After that, we sing our mystery number song as we put math notebooks away and head to the carpet for calendar. The mystery number song is such a GREAT transition song for us! I saw the idea on Miss Kindergarten and adapted it for my classroom. Our song is pretty much the same, as is the process.

Remember these cute little pointers??

During Mystery Number (or right before) I very casually choose a student as my calendar helper and that student gets to pick a pointer out of the pointer bucket (highlight of their day, let me tell ya). After we finish mystery number, here is our current calendar routine:

1. Months of the Year/Days of the Week songs

2. Count to the date, recite the date (MDY)

3. Read the pattern, decide what is next

4. Count by days and/or weeks to special days and birthdays

5. Days in school tally marks, straws, and stickers/odd and even

6. Money

7. Build the hundreds chart

8. Weather

As you can see, our routine includes quite a bit. In fact, each number has at least a few subcategories! As stated at the beginning of this post, I will go over each activity in more detail in a later post.

Math Lesson

At the conclusion of calendar time, half of my class goes to stations and the other half goes to the mat with me for the day's lesson.

The station kids have a sequence of activities laid out for them so there is no question as to what to do. We switch after 30 or so minutes. We usually conclude the day's math work with Lone Star Math on the Promethean board.

Whew, long post! Well, I hope you enjoyed the post and maybe picked up an idea or two. I hope to prepare post part 2 of this series tonight so it is ready to post tomorrow! Thanks for stopping by! :)

You can also grab copies of the above pages by visiting my shops.

Number Words:

Number of the Day: