Teaching an Elementary Math Mini - Lesson

Hi, this is Betsy from Classroom Teacher Resources. Today, I’m going to talk to you about transitioning to my math mini lesson. Many of you may have been following me on my Classroom Caboodle newsletter about how I go throughout my day and what my students are doing. Today I’m going to talk about how we transition from our number strings and problem solving activity that warms up students’ brains into our math mini lesson. What I have here is an example of work that my students did do with our number strings where they learned strategies for mentally manipulating numbers. And we also work on some problem solving where students have to underline important information and write equations to solve. We have a specific procedure that we go through for that. But once we’re done with that, you know, the students feel really good about math and we're ready to move on to our mini lesson. So for example, this week, I’m going to be actually teaching my students about simplifying fractions. So I already had this up on my computer on the task bar, and just for efficiency's sake, I click right over to the lesson I’m going to teach. Now you may not have a smart board, but the point is to have everything you need at hand so there’s no loss of time when digging for the lessons and supplies that you need. I generally go through the standards that are written in student-friendly language first, and I ask students, “Why do you think this is going to be important in your life?” Then I go through some...you know, some information students need to know, some definition of terms. I always try to include photos, video and sound..."But Mrs. Weigle, why do we have to simplify fractions?"...which gets the kids really engaged in what we’re doing. And then I have an explanation for students. I always try to...tie it to things that students already know, or give it funny terms that will stick in their heads. Like for simplifying fractions, we can do the repeater pants method where you just cut in half and cut in half and cut in half till you can’t cut in half anymore, and then we try thirds and fifths. Or we do the fancy schmancy, which is using the greatest common factor to simplify fractions. But you can see how I’m using humor, pictures, and funny words to get these ideas stuck in students' heads. And then while I’m presenting, students are working out some of these problems and trying it on their own on their individual white boards. I always keep, when I’m teaching my lessons, my mini lessons, students always have their whiteboards in hand because if they’re just sitting there listening and their hands don’t have something to do, that’s when students can get into trouble. So I try and keep them engaged and keep them working on their smart boards, drawing their attention back to the smart board when I need to, and then having them give it a go on their white boards. It tends to work great and these lessons are really engaging, so I don’t have issues with students being off task or having behavior issues. So again, those things you keep in mind when you’re teaching your math mini lesson is keep the content small, plan for 10 to 15 minutes teaching time at the most. Students can only take in so much at one time. And if it all possible, use color, use sound, use photos or video to help all of this stick students’ brains. Remember to highlight vocabulary and put it in kid-friendly terms, tie it to something that they know from their life. And ask for student input. I always ask, “Why is this important in your life, or why might this math concept be important in your parents’ life?” “How do you think they use it?” And we have great conversations around that. So after students had some practice with me, I give them some problems to try. They do it on their white boards. I have some students come up and explain. They solve up here on my smart board and explain. I have additional items if I think we need to practice a little bit more. But if kids get it in a snap, then I show them what their independent work is going to look like and I have those, that paperwork there with me so I can show them, go over anything that I think might trip them up, and then I send them off to their desks to work independently. I go back to my small group table where if students feel that they need my support, they immediately grab their papers, head back to that — we call it the circle table — where they can ask questions or get a little more direct instruction one-one-one from me. It’s a great system that works in my classroom, and it’s the same thing every day so students know what to expect. And it’s easy for them to meet those expectations. Kids love routine, and I tie that into math so there's not a moment lost. So that’s how I run my math mini lessons. Be sure to write in on my website — Classroom Teacher Resources — or look for me on Facebook. Ask questions and post comments. I’ll see you there.