suggested first 5 days of school
Choose your own maths adventure with our interactive tools that allow you to build a custom playlist of inspirational maths activities and messages! To build your WIM week, select one video, one resource for creating a positive maths community, and one task per day and add to your playlist. Then click “See Summary” to play videos, download materials and save/share your WIM week! Check out these pre-made playlists curated by the youcubed team for first grade, middle school and high school and share your playlist on social media with #myWIM!
Share the “Why” with Students: Give the students the rationale behind the Math Talk. Let them know that they have great thinking that we can't see and this gives them a chance to share what's going on in their brains. This also gives everyone a chance to learn from each other lots of different ways we can think about a problem.
Initial Implementation : As you begin to implement Math Talks in your classroom, you will want to keep them simple. Your goal might be to have 2 or 3 students share their thinking, which you capture and record without much comment or questioning.
● Provide a safe environment. ● Start with easier problems so that students can learn the routine and to encourage wide participation.
● Present calculation problems horizontally. ● Provide quiet think time and a silent signal. ● Accept, respect, and consider all answers.
● Capture student thinking as faithfully as you can. ● Write the student’s name so that you can refer to _______’s strategy.
● Develop your poker face. Respond neutrally to students’ comments.
More information: Number Talk "Look fors" Math Talk Process Tips for Number Talks
Strategies: Count on & Make 10
Day 1
Dots (show one slide at a time, discuss, if time show another slide)
Questions: How many do you see? How do you see them? How many more do you need to make 10? What equation could you write that matches what you see?
Suggested Steps:
Quickly show one of the dot images so students do not have time to count. Have students show a thumbs-up to the chest if they think they know how many dots. Depending on the number of students who are showing you a thumbs-up, you may wish to show it a second time.
Solicit student responses, right or wrong.
Have students do a Turn-and-Talk to discuss how they saw the dots.
Have a few students share how they saw the dots. Make several copies of the Dot Talk in order to record student thinking by circling the groupings they identify, and writing the corresponding equation. Record students’ names on the copies.
Summarize the Math Talk by connecting the equations to each other and to the dots in the ten frame.
Day 2
Ten Frames (show one slide at a time, discuss, if time show another slide)
Follow the same steps as Day 1.
Day 3
make 10 Math Flip slides (show one slide at a time, discuss, if time show another slide. Different models throughout slide deck.)
Follow the same steps as Day 1.
Day 4
make 10 Math Flip slides (show one slide at a time, discuss, if time show another slide. Different models throughout slide deck.)
Follow the same steps as Day 1.
Day 5
make 10 Make Ten number strings ten frames (show one slide at a time, discuss, if time show another slide.)
Follow the same steps as Day 1.
Ready Teacher Toolbox- Lessons 0 for the first five days: Lessons to launch to review key concepts to prepare for the start of the school year and familiarize students with the flow of the Try-Discuss-Connect instructional routine.
Guided Math expectations: For assistance on structuring guided math, click here. Guide to the first 20 days here.
Youcubed: Day 1: Finger Trails
This activity encourages students to connect multiple representations of the numbers 1-5 as well as develop ‘finger discrimination’ so that students understand individual fingers really well. In the Atlantic article, Why Kids Should Use Their Fingers in Math Class, Jo Boaler and Lang Chen share the importance of using fingers for the brain’s development of numbers. Content: Finger discrimination, counting, number sense, multiple representations
Lesson Plan Day 1 Video Day 1 Good Group Work-setting norms
Classdojo Video - Growth Mindset Video 1 Video 2 Video 3 Video 4 Video 5
Ready Teacher Toolbox- Lessons 0 for the first five days: Lessons to launch to review key concepts to prepare for the start of the school year and familiarize students with the flow of the Try-Discuss-Connect instructional routine.
Guided Math expectations: For assistance on structuring guided math, click here. Guide to the first 20 days here.
Youcubed: Day 2: Placing Chips
In this activity students explore place value and number relationships. Students build arrangements to make different quantities using representations for 10’s and 1’s. They are introduced to constraints, which are an important idea in maths. You can think of a constraint like a rule. Students will build numbers considering the constraints given for how they can place their markers in the place value bins. Content: Place value, number relationships
Classdojo Video - Growth Mindset Video 1 Video 2 Video 3 Video 4 Video 5
Ready Teacher Toolbox- Lessons 0 for the first five days: Lessons to launch to review key concepts to prepare for the start of the school year and familiarize students with the flow of the Try-Discuss-Connect instructional routine.
Guided Math expectations: For assistance on structuring guided math, click here. Guide to the first 20 days here.
Youcubed: Day 3: Flexible Number Trains
In this activity we focus on numbers that can be created by repeated addition, summing the same number again and again to achieve the result. In this activity students build flexible number trains out of Cuisenaire rods which promotes embodied cognition because of the movement of rods while the different ways of seeing a similar length supports further development of the Approximate Number System (ANS) that we use for estimating quantities. We love this task since it provides the opportunity to create an equivalent length in different ways. It is important for students to experience the different ways a number can be made by combining other smaller numbers. Content: Repeated addition, measurement, approximate number system
Classdojo Video - Growth Mindset Video 1 Video 2 Video 3 Video 4 Video 5
Ready Teacher Toolbox- Lessons 0 for the first five days: Lessons to launch to review key concepts to prepare for the start of the school year and familiarize students with the flow of the Try-Discuss-Connect instructional routine.
Guided Math expectations: For assistance on structuring guided math, click here. Guide to the first 20 days here.
Youcubed: Day 4: Toppings
This activity allows students to practice counting and to begin exploring the relationship between numbers. This problem draws on embodied cognition since students are connecting movement to the counting they are doing. This allows students to understand the content at a deeper level because their physical movements are connecting to the problem, strengthening their understanding of counting and number. Students also draw a visual representation of the problem which is a valuable tool for solving maths problems. Content: Skip counting, visual patterns
Classdojo Video - Growth Mindset Video 1 Video 2 Video 3 Video 4 Video 5
Ready Teacher Toolbox- Lessons 0 for the first five days: Lessons to launch to review key concepts to prepare for the start of the school year and familiarize students with the flow of the Try-Discuss-Connect instructional routine.
Guided Math expectations: For assistance on structuring guided math, click here. Guide to the first 20 days here.
Youcubed: Day 5: Foot Parade
This activity provides students an opportunity to think creatively about pairs of numbers and their sums. Number flexibility, seeing a number as different combinations of other numbers, is an important part of number sense. This problem can be solved in many different ways with visuals and manipulatives, and the work students produce will be great to display, providing visual reminders of number flexibility. Content: Counting, number sense, sums and their visuals
Lesson Plan Day 5 Video Day 5 Bonus Activity
Classdojo Video - Growth Mindset Video 1 Video 2 Video 3 Video 4 Video 5
“Closure in a lesson does not mean to pack up and move on. Rather, it is a cognitive activity that helps students focus on what was learned and whether it made sense and had meaning.” How the Brain Learns Mathematics (2007) P. 104
There are many ways to wrap up and reflect the day's activities but this step is often overlooked or rushed. Purposely plan and allow time for students to have closure each day (even if it means setting a timer or daily alarm so you don't run out of time).
Ideas for closure activities