Kindergarten Math Groups Made Easy PLUS a FREE file!!!

Kindergarten Math Groups Made Easy and a FREE file? You got it! In this blog post, you will read how I organize my math groups, assess, differentiate, and teach students with hands-on math activities that are sure to engage your kindergarten classroom. 

NOTE:  This blog post contains affiliate links but the opinions are my own.

Why do we incorporate kindergarten small group math? 

Why do we incorporate kindergarten small group math?   The answer is simple… we need to! 

• Students enter the year with varying math and numeracy skills.  
• Small group math supports number sense as well as other numeracy skills
• Small group math offers FOCUSED instruction that is scaffolded so students can access this new understanding.

Some kindergarten students enter the year with a solid mathematical background and others do not.  Even the best teachers are challenged to teach math in a whole group setting.  Teachers face challenges such as students’ attention level or inability to understand the instruction at the level it is taught in a whole group setting.  There are other students you may have that ALREADY know the skills you are teaching in your whole group setting.  How do you ensure that those students are being challenged?

Start your kindergarten small group math with an assessment

Before we even start small groups, we need to have a firm understanding of what the students know and what they are still needing to learn.  I love ESGI for this VERY reason!   I have created math assessments for kindergarten that are aligned to the Common Core standard.  If you are not a CCSS school, no worries, these assessments are still essential in understanding the strengths and needs of your student.  You can read more about ESGI and get a 60-day free trial by clicking:

Why I LOVE Kindergarten Assessments! Don’t Hate Me!

This image below shows just a few of the assessments that are included in your ESGI subscription.   ALSO if you use our Guiding Kinders Kindergarten Math units, I have written unit assessments for ESGI as well!  That was easy… right?

We also have assessments in our Small Group Math Units for each module.  We do a pre-test to help us group our students.  We also conduct a post-test to document their progress.

Once we have our data, we are ready to form our math groups.  Here is an example of what a weekly schedule looks like.  Students move in and out of groups AND a student can be in more than one group.  These groups are meant to be fluid.

This is a free file that you can download at the very end of this blog post.  This small group planning page allows me to quickly change my groups!

Wait!  What are the other kids doing while math groups are going on?

Students are simply working in centers or stations!  Here are a few of the activities that I call Anchor Activities.  These are HIGHLY predictive and HIGHLY engaging. The offer an opportunity for students to overlearn math and numeracy skills.  I can go on and on about math centers (in fact, I did).  You can read more about the types of activities I have in math centers, plus how I manage them by reading:  12 Math Center Activities That Will Engage Your Class ALL Year! (Free File)

Organizing your small group math stuff!

Oh! My!  Organization is something I HAVE to work to achieve.  I am a professional paper stacker and shuffler!  Having a system to organize your math group materials helps… a LOT!

I start by comb-binding all of the different math modules. I always get asked about the comb-binding machine I use, so HERE is a link to the one I have… LOVE IT!!  The teacher modules are just a few of the math units that are included in our small group math bundle.

Because our math is very hands-on, there are a lot of pieces!  Some of them go into this organizer.  Things like the fluency cards and numeral formation cards sit in here perfectly.  Because we reinforce these skills in many of the different math groups, it makes sense for me to have them all together.  Printing them on different colored card stock helps me to find them fast!

Then I put each of the module pieces in these zipper pouches.  I was unable to find the ones I bought on Amazon, but you can find similar ones by clicking HERE.

Now we are ready to teach our small group math

Our lessons are structured the same way for each module.   

• Daily fluency practice warm-up/numeral formation if needed (5 minutes)
• Reteach skills that students need with hands-on learning and practice (7-10 minutes)
• Response Sheet/Journals (5-7 minutes)

The goal is to keep each group to just 20 minutes.

Small Group Math Activities

Here are a few examples of the activities students do.

Small Group Math Response Pages and Journals

Small Group Math: Data and Graphing

Kindergarten Math Crafts

We also like to hook students with some engaging math crafts that help reinforce the skills they are practicing during their small group math lessons.  Here are just a few of them.

There you have it!  Kindergarten Math Groups Made Easy!!!

You can find all of these activities and more by clicking:  Kindergarten Small Group Math

Small Group Math FREE file

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