The Math Workshop

Hey Kinder Friends,

One of the biggest questions I hear and ask other teachers about is the structure of the math workshop. We all want to know what is going on in this or that classroom so we can tweak and modify our own workshop and make it better. I never really tire of talking about the math workshop. Over the years I have had a standard 90 minutes of math. The only difference in the last few years is that now that 90 minutes is not broken up by specials or any other event. My 90 minutes is continuous. No matter if I have 90 continuous minutes of math or if it is broken into two parts, I could find and discuss the pros and cons of both. The fact of the matter is that I have 90 minutes of continuous math that consume my math block. Knowing the nature of a five year old and knowing my time allotment I had to make it work so that we are continuously moving through the 90 minutes and accomplishing everything. I will be the first to admit 90 minutes at the beginning of kindergarten is challenging to say the least. It feels like that block will never end and within a few weeks I always find myself begging for more. I had that feeling this Friday. I swear I didn't want to stop! 

What are the components of the Math Workshop?

In my math workshop I include:

Calendar Time

Focus Lesson

Guided Practice

Independent Practice

Small Group Instruction

RTI

Number Talks

Notebooking

Breaking it down!
I follow this format each day of the week except for my computer lab day. Having the lab day break up the week really helps me because it is just once a week and we look forward to it. So the rest of the week we follow the breakdown.
Calendar 5-10
Focus Lesson 5-10
Guided Practice 10
Independent Practice and Focused Small Group 20
Transition 10
Independent Practice and RTI 20
Number Talks 10 

The calendar time is quick and easy. The focus lesson is our current content. Guided practice is simply guided instruction and modeling. Independent practice is when children practice what has already been taught while I work in a small group. I usually have a transition planned that I am excited about because...I don't really like stopping! I need it for time management. Our transitions have been surveys and questions lately. We have another round of independent practice and RTI. And finally we end with Number Talks. I end with Number Talks because everything is cleaned up and it signals the end of the workshop. Number Talks is one of my favorite components so leaving it to the end is motivational to...me!
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