Guided Math is one of my favorite times of the school day! Working with students in a small group can be so beneficial. Today I’m sharing some of my favorite resources for teaching guided math.
Manipulatives and Other Materials
At the top of mind for resources for teaching Guided Math, you must have manipulatives!
Depending on your grade level, you’ll want to have access to the following manipulatives:
- Clocks (Judy clocks are teacher favorites)
- Red/Yellow Counters
- Unifix cubes
- Counting Bears
- Pattern Blocks
- Place Value Blocks
- Coins
- 3D shapes
- Fraction bars
- Protractors
- Rulers
Learn what other materials I think are essential for your Guided Math teacher table HERE.
Lesson Plans and Pacing
Next up on our list of resources for teaching Guided Math we’ve got lesson plans and pacing guides.
Let’s talk about pacing guides first. You should have a pacing guide that outlines your entire year. In this pacing guide, you want to make sure you plan out when you will teach all of the standards for your grade level. Then, you’ll want to factor in review time at the end of the year and any standardized testing students will take.
Once you’ve got your standards mapped out for the year, you’ll want to break each quarter of the year into units. Within these units you’ll want to write out the objectives you will teach each day. (See picture above.) Give yourself review days within your unit so you can account for interruptions to the daily schedule and time to reteach if your students have difficulty with a concept.
From there, you’ll take the daily objective and write your lesson plan! Note how you will remediate and enrich the objective during your small group time. Write out your plan for your instruction, and don’t forget to note the vocabulary you want to use, materials you’ll need, and questions you’ll ask to get students thinking!
Centers and Activities
During Guided Math, you’ll want to have a variety of centers for your students to work on. If you read about my flexible Guided Math set up, you’ll learn that instead of having students rotate from center to center, I have a Must Do May Do chart and students work through their responsibilities, and then are able to choose which centers or activities they would like to work on.
Assessments
You’ll want to have pre and post-tests for each of your units. It’s important that the pre and post-tests are similar (but use different numbers or problems) so they can easily be compared.
I like to have my students graph their pre and post-test scores so they can see their growth! (Teacher tip: Before you administer a PRE test, make sure your students understand that it’s just to figure out what they already know and that it’s okay if they don’t know how to do any of it!)
Digital Resources for Teaching Guided Math
Digital resources are also really important for Guided Math. With more and more schools becoming 1-1 where every student has a device they can use, you want to have some digital resources that align with what you are teaching! I created Digital Guided Math lessons for Google Slides that correspond with my Guided Math units. These are student-friendly and interactive. Learn more here and preview your grade level.
Want Guided Math That’s Ready For You!? Come check out an in-depth preview for your grade level!
