Getting ready for 2021: Maths

Maths is such a fun curriculum area to teach! I love everything about Maths - the way students share their learning and thinking, the manipulatives that can be used to explore their findings and the variety of programmes or Maths ideas that are out there to be used in your Maths programme. To start with, checking in with your fellow teachers at school on the programmes or notions they use in school. This could be things like Numicon, PR1ME or others in guided Maths teaching time. You might like to run your programme in a tumble based with activities to complete to support guided teaching time with you. 

What do I do?
​Before Maths time, I always do some Maths songs for fun counting practice off Go Noodle or Youtube, and then a whole class Maths game. This targets a number knowledge aspect we have been learning about or something we need to cover. Sometimes its fun practice like number formation, skip counting or numbers before/after as well. Then we head into our tumble.

A few years ago I put together some of the main things I think students should be doing in a Maths programme. I wanted students to have opportunities to complete Maths by themselves, independently, problem solving, using manipulatives to explore, create or play and also use technology in Maths. 

So I created a Maths acronym and concept based on each of those called PRISM. I use it in a tumble based programme to begin after unpacking each aspect slowly with practice opportunities. Each anchor chart is on the wall to refer back to if students are unsure or need ideas for each part. ​After practice and time, I then include 'you pick' where I give students the choice of what they want to do from the choices. I include other play aspects like lego table and play area so students can also do that if you they want to. I loved building student agency and giving my students the option to choose what they would like to do. 

The above picture explains how I teach Maths in my classroom. This is something I have practiced and fine tuned and I find works for ME in guided Maths teaching. This covers what we do when students come to the teacher table when teaching a strategy. I love this type of teaching as it gives me opportunities to differentiate based on students needs and target the next learning steps. 

Maths is lots of fun and I love seeing the growth of students in the learning and activities. There are lots of different ways to teach and cover Maths so do what works for you and your students. Check out some of the many Maths resources I have on my website including my PRISM Maths concept covering everything you need to implement this concept in your classroom too. 

Prism Maths Concept

NZ$8.00

PRISM Maths Concept

This Maths concept is the perfect way to pull a range of activities and ideas within Maths time. It allows for a variation of activities in class time to ensure students are receiving a range of things.

PRISM stands for:

P - Practise by myself

R - Ready with a buddy

I - I can use technology

S - Solve in book

M - Manipulative exploration

This resource comes with:

-premade pages that show what students can do when on each aspect

-PRISM icons for your tumble board

-anchor charts for explaining the behaviour in each aspect

This resource also comes with some additional worksheets and activities that I have integrated into this PRISM Maths Concept.

-problem solving thinking frames

-number of the week chart

-missing numbers activities

-signs for boxes

-various games that can be used for practice by myself or ready with a buddy

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PRISM maths planner on Google Sheets

NZ$4.00

PRISM maths planner on Google Sheets

This planner is to go alongside my PRISM maths concept resource. With drop down boxes and matching pictures, this is ideal in streamlining and making planning easier. Each drop down box automatically changes the picture for you, and is colour coded with the theme of the PRISM colours.

This resource will be a pdf document, with the Google sheets planner template accessible via link. This will then make a copy for you in your Google drive.

**This is not a customisable template, with no assistance given if pictures/formula is tampered with, ending with the resource not running smoothly. Please think carefully about this before purchasing the resource.

Want more information about PRISM? Check out the resource here.

Want to see more of this resource? Watch this quick explanation video here.

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Maths reflection prompts

NZ$0.00

Maths reflection prompts

If you are looking for some thinking or scaffolding prompts when talking about maths then these are perfect for you!

This resource comes with a title header and 8 sentence starter prompts to help your students talk about their maths learning. Great for group work, individual sharing or for on your wall as a display!

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Maths Problem Solving mats (materials)

NZ$2.50

Maths Problem Solving Mats (materials)

These problem solving mats are a great addition to guided maths sessions where students are learning addition or subtraction concepts. These problem solving mats can be used to create learning stories to support addition or subtraction learning with students manipulating the items to solve the questions.

These mats include:

Mat 1: Leaf and ladybugs

Mat 2: Plate and hotdogs

Mat 3: Bus and children

Mat 4: Puppy and bone

Mat 5: Monkey and banana

Mat 6: Farmer and sheep

Mat 7: Barn and cows

Mat 8: Baking tray and donuts/cupcakes

Mat 9: Basket and carrots

Mat 10: Truck and cones

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