A Guide to Guided Math

So in my district we have been doing the math workshop approach for quite awhile, and I love it!  I love when the kids are doing the most work and I can guide them to where they need to end up.  I went to the Winthrop University Partnership conference and went to a guided math session.  I know that this is where the district wants us to be headed.  Well, I really liked the session and thought I am going to try it!  I understood the concept...think guided reading groups, but for math.  My grade level already does centers 2 days a unit as a review.  Plus, we already do a mini-lesson then small group or independent work.  That could easily be changed into a center or station.  The only real work is the organization.

First I needed a way for the students and myself to see what they would be doing during the guided math block.  This is what I came up with....all the activities on the bottom are able to be dragged, and I am sure I will think of more as the year rolls on.  I decided to call each group by a letter of M.A.T.H.  The Card is a center I have of math activities I bought from Mailbox.  SeeSaw is an app and a great way for students to explain their thinking; they can type, take a picture, record audio or video (formative assessment).  The SAB and Red are our math books.  FrontRow is a new website-based math review,  I learned about it at the conference.  It is a little like Khan Academy, but free.
I have decided to try to do 3 centers a day as an average (I have about 30-40 minutes after the mini-lesson).  I put a space for a 4th as it might be needed. 

I also for my sanity, need a way to plan which group is doing what for the week.  So I came up with the document below.

Now, the last part is when I get my students, is to figure out who goes in what group.  My grade level recently took our math assessments and made mini-versions to give as pre-assessments.  Now, the document below will hopefully help me analyze assessments and put students into a group based on a skill they need.

Hope this gives some teachers some ways to start guided math!  Good luck to us all!