Three Simple Steps to Strengthen Your Math Lessons
Have you ever been here?
You’ve followed all the indications for teaching a fantastic new math block to your students!
Maybe it’s second grade and place value. You’ve been really creative. You’ve provided lots of sensory experiences. You’ve supported the learning with meaningful stories. You’ve guided your students through beautiful drawings in the main lesson book to support the learning.
And then the block ends and you move on to a new topic. Now what? What do you do with all that math you just introduced in your recent math block?
I used to believe that if I taught really good main lessons that presented a math topic pictorially to my students, and if my lessons were experiential, imaginative, and fun, then this was enough. The students would now know this math content. However, I discovered there is nothing further from the truth.
It was not a reflection on my main lesson teaching . . . it didn’t mean my teaching was particularly ineffective or bad. It had nothing to do with the students . . . it didn’t mean that they hadn’t paid attention or had any learning challenges. Learning math . . . learning anything . . . takes time and repetition and practice. It takes a period of not really knowing and slowly opening up to new understanding. This is where the math skills practice classes come in.
Some schools have special math teachers that take on this task, but for many of us, this job falls on the shoulders of the class teacher. One of the challenges for Waldorf teachers is preparing for all of the many subjects they have to teach in addition to the morning lesson, from form drawing to painting to reading. It takes a great deal of planning, and teaching math is no exception. Once you’re done teaching the main lesson math blocks, there’s still an enormous amount of planning to ensure your students keep learning and move toward proficiency in the math concepts you’ve introduced.
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed. But, focusing on just a few things can help a teacher deliver tight and effective math skills lessons.
Know What You Want Your Students to Learn — Big Picture
My “guiding star” question for math each school year is: What do I want my students to be know in math by the end of the school year? This can be quite simple — just three or four main things you hope to accomplish with your students this year in math. And it will change next year when you enter a new grade.
For example, this year I’m teaching second grade. My broad goals for my students are:
Understand and become familiar with the concept of place value up to the 1000s
Learn the multiplication “families” up to 12 (Skip-counting)
Know the addition and subtraction facts up through 20 from memory
Continue to build “number sense"
That’s it!
Obviously, there are other math related things I’m teaching, like variations of adding and subtracting with double digit numbers. But I’m not teaching “vertical” addition and subtraction until third grade; I want the students to be really comfortable with number sense around place value before they move on to a method of problem solving that is more procedural.
The wonderful thing is, I didn’t have to come up with these math topics myself. That work has been done for me.
There are many Waldorf teaching books and resources that offer the scope and sequence for math instruction, grade by grade. The one I turn to the most is Making Math Meaningful by Jamie York. Each time I enter a new grade, I review the concepts that are essential for my students to learn that year and create my year long “guiding star” plan for math.
This simple activity helps me create a roadmap. It guides me if I get off topic and feel like I’m getting side-tracked or overwhelmed.
One final thought that’s important to remember — not all of your students will master everything you set as a teaching goal. In fact, many students won’t master what you teach that school year.. Many will make steps forward, and need more review and practice in upcoming years. Some students likely will become proficient in the math skills you teach in the school year, and a few could seem quite confused, as if they don’t get it at all.
This is normal and reflects the diverse learning styles and developmental span of your students.
Practice Math Facts Every Day
Math facts are the foundation of all other math in the grades. They come from using numbers with the four operations — addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. We introduce all four of these arithmetic operations conceptually in first grade. Students eventually need to have all of these facts memorized. And, memorized means retrieval from memory, without counting on fingers to get the solution.
It takes hard work and a lot of practice to move students from the imaginative number stories of first and second grade to having math facts memorized. In Waldorf schools, we’re good at practicing these math facts orally.
But, students also need to see these isolated facts and be able to write the answer down. They need to have a visual experience of the abstract numbers after using manipulatives or pictures and be able to quickly know the answer—from memory!
It’s overwhelming for children to learn all of these facts all at once, so we teachers have to find creative ways to weave them into our lessons in smaller chunks on a daily basis, keeping them fresh and at top of mind for our students.
I like to start off each math skills class with some math fact practice, but I also like to squeeze some math fact practice into other small segments of the day. I’ll often have a very short “morning math” time in my main lesson. I also ask to students to work on unfinished practice papers when they’ve finished up other main lesson work and need something to do at their desks.
Incorporate Games and Movement Whenever You Can!
Games and movement activities make learning math fun and effortless at any grade level. Students have to use the math skills I want them to practice, but they hardly realize they’re doing it because they’re having so much fun playing the game and interacting socially. One of my favorite whole-class games is Steal the Bacon, which requires students to know their multiplication facts. As they move up in the grades, I’ve adapted the game so students have to mentally simplify fractions in order to take their turn and win the round. Fifth and sixth graders love this game as a warm-up at the beginning of math skills class.
Sometimes I divide the students into smaller groups and they play math board games or work on solving math puzzles. For example, in second grade, a dice-throwing game, such as Parcheesi is perfect for developing instant number recognition, adding numbers mentally, and counting.
Movement is another great way to reinforce math facts. Depending on the grade level, I include math movement into my morning circle time on a daily basis. Whether it’s jumping rope, or a hand-clapping game, movement engages full-body learning, and the children experience the joy without feeling any anxiety or frustration about learning math that might come from doing a paper-pencil worksheet.
Finding the Joy
Math can bring up feelings of dread in some of us. This is true for our students as well as for some of us as teachers. Your own joy and enthusiasm for math can go a long way towards relieving feelings of anxiety and apprehension about math for your students.
Maybe you had some bad experiences yourself as a student learning math. Maybe you think you’re just not a “math” person. If you are challenged with finding your own joy in math as a teacher, it’s a perfect opportunity to do some inner work. Treat yourself with care and kindness and take some time to reflect on your own experience as a math learner . . . without judgment. You may uncover some beliefs about yourself and math that are no longer true and be able to let them go!
Your own struggles in learning math can be one of your greatest gifts as a teacher. You can offer your students a level of empathy and understanding that will support them in taking risks and making the inevitable mistakes that are part of growing and learning.
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