At all three elementary buildings our new K-5 math program includes a district wide approach to teaching math. Within the curriculum teachers conduct lesson openers that involve quick counting and skip counting that support the development of math fact fluency. Another instructional component in the math program is something called a, "Sprint". Almost every day students will engage with a Sprint activity. The instructional goal of our math "opener" and a "Sprint" is to build fast, thoughtful, thinking skills and math fluency.
The teachers and the students are just learning how to participate in the opening activity and the classroom "Sprint'. The exciting thing is that all students K-5 are participating in similar activities. As a result, the strategies, routine, and lesson structure of our math block is now seamless from grade level to grade level. Here is short clip showing one 2nd grade classroom participating in their opening activity and a 2nd and 5th grade classroom finishing up their "Sprint". Given only one minute to complete the Sprint - today - a clap or a "whoop" meant they got the answer correct!
Engaged students!
Keep up the good work Riverside!!
ReplyDelete