I am so excited about this bonus blog post for this Guided Math series! Many of you have asked me how to use Guided Math with a curriculum and even though, I know it is possible to teach Guided Math with a curriculum, I do not have experience with it myself. So, I have reached out to 4 other elementary teachers who have successfully used Guided Math while using their district curriculum to share tips and ideas on how to make it work! Without further ado, checkout what these 4 upper elementary teachers have to say about this topic.
Teacher #1: Jen is a 3rd grade teacher in Brooklyn and can be found on instagram as missvin3 (click here to check her out!)
How long is your whole group lesson? Do you shorten the lesson that is provided by the curriculum?
Jen: My whole group lesson is about 12-15 minutes. I take the standard taught in the curriculum and use the time to introduce that standard in the whole group lesson. I have had to use bits and pieces of the curriculum. I look at the lessons and decide which pieces are the most important if I cannot fit it all in.
What is one tip you would give to someone who wants to try Guided Math with the curriculum that their school uses?
Jen: It can absolutely work! Once you weed through the things that you like/ are important for students to matter, it gets easier. I write all over the curriculum the things I want to keep and cut out things that I do not think work.
Teacher #2: Nikki is a 3rd grade teacher in and she can be found on instagram as 3rdgradesthecharm (click here to check her out)
How have you used the worksheets and problems that are provided by your curriculum?
Nikki: I use the problems given in their independent work from the curriculum and just don’t use all of them. I used the whole group components and just cut some of the practice that was done altogether to use in small groups instead. This helps me not have to make up problems or create my own for small groups.
What has been your biggest challenge teaching Guided Math using a curriculum and how did you overcome this challenge?
Nikki: The biggest challenge for me is keeping kids engaged during centers time. I feel like I have overcome this by shortening their independent practice from what the curriculum book gives, using digital games and activities and using different types of activities.
Teacher #3: Molly is a 4th grade teacher and can be found on instagram as flawsomeinfourth (click here to check her out!)
How do you make sure you cover everything in your curriculum while using Guided Math?
Molly: I make sure to cover everything by trying to expose all students to the “core” in whole group but then use small groups to reinforce skills. For example, if we’re doing long division, but some students don’t know how to divide math fact yet, we use the small groups to focus on learning their facts.
How have you used the worksheets and problems in your curriculum for Guided Math?
Molly: I have tied the word problems in the curriculum to allow students to work on how to solve and analysis them together in the small group time.
Teacher #4: Megan is a 4th grade teacher in South Carolina
How long is your whole group lesson? Do you shorten the lesson that is provided from the curriculum?
Megan: I try to keep it to 15-20 minutes. I do shorten the curriculum lesson by cutting out some parts or shortening what is there. You have to just do the best you can with this!
How have you used the worksheets and problems that are provided by your curriculum?
Megan: I use my student’s consumable textbook and “practice journals” for both whole group and small group lessons. Use the textbook question banks to make a weekly practice assignment that students can complete in their rotations.
THANK YOU to these 5 other teachers for taking time to answer some questions and help you all see that it is possible to use a curriculum in Guided Math! My biggest takeaway from these interviews was to see what can be shortened, shifted to small groups instead of whole group and use the problems from the curriculum as a resource for your Guided Math rotations. Feel free to reach out to these teachers that are on instagram if you would like to ask them more questions.
Check back next week for the next post in this series on differentiating in Guided Math! I will be sharing tips on how to differentiate without making it a ton more work on you, the teacher, and how to make sure it does not take as much time as you may think.
