Launching into Maths

Sometimes I feel with such a huge focus on reading and writing that maths doesn't get the time it deserves in my timetable.  I'm extremely aware of this and am trialling a more flexible timetable this term, where if I finish with maths, I back that up the next morning by starting with maths.  This ensures that the learning we did the previous day is fresh in the learners minds and I've noticed that the learners have connected with it immediately.

Groups that I'm not seeing first up are able to continue with their Explain Everything activity from the previous day with only a brief scaffold so by 9am we're all fully engaged and learning.  This also enables me to make good use of the teacher aide time in my classroom with my special needs learner while he is fresh and able to totally focus on the task at hand.

While its early days, last week has encouraged me to continue with this for at least another week or two, in order to see if I continue to get increased engagement.  The use of the visual timetable on my wall ensures that the learners know what they are doing when and they have adapted quickly to this small change.  If anything, they have shown more focus across the core curriculum subjects with this variety in timetabling.  I look forward to seeing if this pattern continues in the coming weeks!

Some examples of the DLOs created as we learn subtraction in Room 19:

Anthony

Hannah

Aniqua