Math Workshop in 6th grade

Three years ago I was drowning while attempting to teach Languages Arts for the first time. In an effort to stay above water, I attended a training on the Two Sisters Daily 5/CAFE. I was inspired to try Daily Math in my class the next year. Over the summer, I started to gather research/ideas to help me implement the workshop method in my classroom. I realized that very little existed for the upper grades, especially 6th grade. My hope is that this becomes a resource for those teachers wanting to use workshop model in their Upper El/Middle School classrooms. 

Over the next few entries, I will detail how the workshop model functioned in my classroom. I am hoping this year to now integrate this model into a traditional 7th/8th grade math class. 

I dedicated 30 minutes every day to Daily 5: Practice It, Write It, Digitize It, Play It, and Explore It.  Each day students were assigned one choice and given the option to choose the other choices. Each choice lasted 15 minutes. During this time, I would work with individuals or small groups on personalized math goals and our current curriculum. My co-teacher also used this time to work with students on their IEP goals. Students worked independently or in pairs on their choices. 

I also integrated technology during this time. Students used iOS math apps during Digitize It and rotated in pairs through an interactive Whiteboard lesson.  I will go into further depth about the technology in a later post about the Daily 5 choices.

I loved this time and really felt as though I could meet the needs of all my students from the special needs students to the gifted children to the students on grade level. Most of my students grew one grade level, if not more than one. I feel this was due in big part to the use of the Daily 5 model.