Hi guys!
Today I wanted to share a little bit about how I assess and create guided groups for math at the beginning of the year.
During the first two weeks of school I try to pull all of my students one by one and do a beginning of the year number sense assessment with them. This allows me to find out what they already know and helps me plan my whole group instruction, centre activities and guided groups.
The skills I assess are oral counting, number identification, ordering numbers and creating numbers.
I make a copy of the sheet below for each of my students:
You can download this assessment recording sheet (the expectation numbers co-inside with the new Ontario Kindergarten document but there is a version without the numbers as well in the file) by clicking on the image below:
Then I make up a master guided group chart like this:
(These are in the free download above as well)
I write the students name in the column or box if the student needs practice with that skill. Then whenever I meet with them to practice that skill I put a checkmark beside their name. If I observe that they have mastered the skill I highlight their name.
Then each week I pop the (SK) kids I haven't met with for each skill into my guided math planner like this:
{Names are made up and just meant to be an example of what it could look like}
I only meet with the SK's for guided math at the beginning of the year. Although I assess the JK's as well, I try to have them learn their numbers and number concepts through play and whole group lessons before I pull them for guided math.
So now that you're ready to meet with your groups, what should you do?
I like to work on number intervention booklets with them.
Although I am not the biggest fan of worksheets I tried to make these fun and as interactive as possible! I also like that they have something to take home to their parents to build that home-school connection and to encourage them to practice their numbers at home too.
Ok so here is how I use these booklets:
1. Introduce the Focus Number
I hand out the booklets and have the students write their names on the line.
Then I say "Hands up if you can tell me what number we will be learning about today?" If they are struggling remind them to count the dots in the ten-frame to help them.
T: That's right! Today we are learning about the number one! First, we are going to practice printing the number one. Let's sing the number one song to help us remember how to print it properly!
2. Print the Number
I sing this number formation song by Dr. Jean and demonstrate on a whiteboard. Then I say "Ok now pick up your pencil and practice as we sing the song!"
At the bottom I have them print the number we are working on in the blank spot and then I have one of the students volunteer to read the numbers from left to right while pointing to each number.
3. Highlight/Circle the Number
Next we work on number identification and matching by looking for and either highlighting or circling the focus number.
My kids love using highlighters (because I only let them use them during guided groups.. so it's a novelty!) but I know these "Find & Highlight" pages use a lot of ink...
so sometimes we switch it up and use "Find & Circle"! Same concept and again I let them choose a Mr. Sketch marker (again I make a big deal out of this, they are usually JUST FOR ME). They love circling and then smelling their paper ;)
4. Count the Items
On this page I have the students look at the pictures on the right and see how many of that item they can find in the box on the left. If the number counted matches the focus number the box gets a checkmark. If not the box gets an X.
I usually have the kids count and put a thumbs up or down by their heart for each picture. This way I can quickly assess their 1:1 correspondence. Then I might say "Anna you are right! There is one dog house in the picture. Can you point to the dog house for me?" or "Jacob, you are right! There is more than one cloud in the picture. Can you tell me how many clouds there are? How did you find that out?" etc.
5. Build the Number
At the end is a little extra incentive. My kids love stickers (and really what kid doesn't?). I always have a variety of stickers on hand but I really try to find out what my intervention kids love so that it motivates them to work with me more! (I'm not above bribing!!)
For example the kids in my group loved Shopkins, Minions and Frozen so I went to Walmart and got those stickers to add to my stash!
For this I hand them a sheet of small stickers and have them build the focus number with stickers.
Each group takes about 10-15 minutes.
I have these mini books in my TPT store. If you click on the preview you can download "My Number 1 Mini Book" for free! Click on the image below to download the preview!
I hope this post helps gave you some ideas on how to assess, plan and implement early number sense intervention!
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