Having routines in math instruction is essential, especially in elementary school classrooms where young learners are building their academic foundations. Routines provide structure and consistency, allowing students to feel comfortable and confident environment and their learning. By establishing and following routines, teachers can create a positive and productive learning environment for their students. This is something I feel like the Illustrative Math curriculum really does well. Routines are embedded throughout the lessons and material.
One of the most important structures in a math lesson instruction is the warm-up activity. This is a brief activity that is done at the beginning of each math lesson to review previously learned concepts or introduce new ones. Warm-up activities can be in the form of a quick problem-solving exercise, a mental math challenge, or a math-related discussion. This is important because by starting each lesson with a warm-up activity, students are mentally prepared and ready to engage in the day’s math lesson. The same routines are used throughout the entire curriculum, and students become very familiar with the structure of the routines.
During the warm-up of each lesson in Kindergarten through Grade 5, students will engage in an activity that is one of the following warm-up routines:
- Act It Out
- Choral Count
- Estimation Exploration
- How Many Do You See?
- Notice and Wonder
- Number Talk
- Questions About Us
- True or False
- What Do You Know About _____?
- Which One Doesn’t Belong?
As I said, having routines in math instruction in elementary school is essential for creating a positive and effective learning environment. The IM curriculum embeds this into each lesson. By establishing and following these routines, teachers can foster a love for math and set their students up for success!
Are you using IM in your classroom? Check out the instructional posters I created to support instruction when establishing the IM Math Kindergarten through 5th Grade warm-up routines.
This resource is an instructional tool created to assist in the implementation of warm-up routines for the Kindergarten through Grade 5 Illustrative Math Curriculum.
Routines include:
✤ Act It
✤ Choral Count
✤ Estimation Exploration
✤ How Many Do You See?
✤ Notice and Wonder
✤ Number Talk
✤ Questions About Us
✤ True or False?
✤ What Do You Know About _____?
✤ Which One Doesn’t Belong?
The posters can be displayed in the classroom as a visual reminder to integrate them daily in your instruction. Each poster contains the routine and a visual example (clip art/picture) of the practice.
The file will a non-editable PDF file with all the Math routine Posters combined into one file.
A great addition to your classroom!
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Teach Infused With Tech By: RF 