Teaching Redefined: A Peek at My Math Workshop

I feel like there are a million and one different ways to do math workshop. I *love* seeing how other teachers structure their math block, so today I want to share what my math block looks like in my fourth grade classroom. Hopefully, you'll take away some tips you can use in your own classroom. Just remember, every class is different! So do what you know will work best for your classroom.

So what does my math block look like?

Warm-up (10 minutes)
We spend the first 10 minutes working on a spiral review sheet and fact fluency. We use a Texas resource my school purchased for spiral review. The kids complete half a page and then work on their Fact Master on Moby Max.

Class Meeting (5-10 minutes)
After the 10 minute timer goes off (*hint* use a timer to stay on track!), the kids meet me at the carpet for a class meeting. Depending on the day, I use this time as an introduction to the skill, to explain the workshop activities or do a quick mini-lesson. I don't let this time go over 10 minutes.
Tip: Start a stopwatch when you start your meeting so you can quickly see how long you've been talking.

Workshop time (35 minutes)
This is the bulk of my math block. For my math workshop, I put all of the student directions in a Google Slide that I share through Google Classroom (read more about that here). The students work through the activities at their own pace. I try to follow the concrete -> pictorial -> abstract model for student activities. I also build in extension activities at the end for students who are early finishers.

While the kids are working, I pull small groups. During my small groups, I teach differentiated guided math lessons. I keep these lessons to about 10 minutes each.

A few more notes about workshop time:

* All of the students start workshop by watching a video lesson that I have previously recorded. They have an anchor chart they have to fill out as they watch the video. This way I know every student has heard the lesson before they start any of the activities.
*I give students 2 days to complete the activities for a skill. One day they'll spend part of their time working with me and the other day they'll have the entire 35 minutes to work.
*Every year I have students who have more difficulty working at their own pace. I give them some modifications to make sure they stay on track with the activities.
*Want some help finding materials for your math workshop? I've got some resources available in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. You can find them here

Closing (5-10 minutes)
After workshop time, we clean up and come back together as a class. During this time, students may reflect (individually or in pairs) about their learning that day, complete a quick formative assessment, or we may do a small lesson together (especially if I saw them struggling during workshop time). I have found this closing time to be crucial so I always make sure to include it. If the beginning class meeting goes long, then I do a quick closing activity.