Do you feel overwhelmed by planning math centers in your classroom? Follow along as we break down math centers into manageable parts we can tackle one piece at a time. In this post, we will focus on the teacher led center.
Fill out the form below to check out the free activities you can use for centers that are available in the Teaching at the Oaks free resource library.
You can grab a copy of the Teacher Led Fraction lesson I use in my classroom by clicking the image below:
Grouping Students
Start your planning session with a standard in mind. Once you have that use a recent exit ticket or assessment to group students. Choose the 4-5 students that you believe would benefit from working with you and place them in your teacher led math center.
Warm Up
Decide on a warm up routine that works for your class. In my room, students come to my table with their multiplication flash cards. It helps with the transition and keeps them busy as I get out my materials for the lesson. I also try to include a relevant warm up on the center materials I create. It helps build students’ confidence and understanding for the upcoming lesson.
Model and Review the Standard
On the front of each lesson in my guided math packet, there is a review of vocabulary and multiple examples. I spend a few minutes going over this before we start the guided practice. We review everything more than once and I ask them to repeat back what we discussed to check for understanding.
Guided Practice
The next portion of the lesson is my favorite. I usually put my copy of the guided practice in a clear sheet protector and write all over it as we solve the problems step by step. I ask questions and stop often to discuss misconceptions. Depending on how the students are doing, I will create extra problems with these questions as a guide.
Independent Practice
I watch as students complete the 4 practice problems independently. I encourage them to look at the previous examples if they get confused. If I see them making a mistake, I stop and talk with them one on one and correct their work. At the end, I ask them to rate their understanding, write any questions for me and their scores on the practice problems.
Exit Ticket
Lastly, I give each student an exit ticket and let them complete it without any support from me. I usually wait until they finish and then quickly grade it so they can see their score and receive quick feedback. I keep a record of their score compared to the previous assessment’s score so I can measure growth and make plans for future centers.
Timing
The whole teacher led math center from warm up to exit ticket typically takes 45 minutes. I like to split it up into two sessions so I can focus on remediating the content and not feel rushed by the clock to get it all in.
If you would like to check out my Teacher Led Fraction Lesson in my TPT store check out the link below:
3rd Grade Guided Math Center Fractions Editable
What is your favorite resource to use in your teacher led center?
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