I am also interested in seeing these math activities. Are these shared anywhere on the website for me to print?

Hi Holly,
Congratulations on becoming a teacher! I hope your school year is going alright so far. I wanted to answer some of your questions so that it might help in some way. I’m by far no expert, and even though this is my sixteenth year teaching, I’m always learning. For the past 3 years I have been experimenting with the Math Daily 3 and really focusing on implementing it even more this year. So far I have been liking it and it has been beneficial for my teaching and my first graders, especially since it gives me time to work with students one-on-one and in small group. I’ll try to answer your questions as best as I can

1. Definitely keep your activities up on the board. I have mine on a big closet door and this works really well because it is accessible and visible to the students. Keep them up all the time and add to them as the year progresses. This represents a continuum of their learning and it is great review. As the students work on their Math Writing, Math by Myself, or Math with a Buddy, they will be able to review what they have already learned. This is also called “spiral review” and is a great way to have students become fluent in various math skills, teach others while playing games which increases competency, and practice toward any of their math goals. So far, my students have really liked it because it’s fun for them while still practicing math.
2. There is no minimum number or core set of activities per unit…just do what is best for your students. Also, the Math board guide that the sisters provide is a guide and I believe iss meant to guide teachers so that they can add more as needed in their classroom. When other activities/games have come up that work well, I have posted these. For example, the other day I found a great game board online and made up a game with students rolling two dice, adding the dice together, and then moving up on the game board if they added correctly. If they rolled a 10, they could move up two spaces, and if they rolled a 4, they had to move back one. It was such a simple game, but they loved it! I’ll keep this under Math with a Buddy so that they can practice this adding skill throughout the year. I think I’ll have them come up with the title of the game so that they have more ownership and they will love it even more!

As far as adding some to meet each objective (or standard), yes. Each of the games and activities that I have added aim toward each standard. It varies from topic/unit, but generally there seems to be maybe about 3-4 new activities added for each topic/unit. Of course, many of these activities/games have skills and concepts that overlap with and build on the other standards.

3. I suppose you could have each game/activity during the MD3 round relevant to the focus lesson and the topic of study, but I find it very beneficial and essential to give students the opportunity to review what they have already learned so that it becomes super clear and easy to them. This gives them the opportunity to practice doing math. Also, if there is a current goal they are working on and an activity that has not yet been added to the board, they can still practice this current goal by working on their whiteboards or creating a math story on the current topic being taught so they can still have the opportunity to practice some more - in addition to the practice they are getting during the “WE Do” and “YOU Do” parts of the mini-lesson.

I hope this makes sense and helps in some way. Best wishes for a great year!
Michelle in Virginia, USA
NBCT, First Grade

Great ideas, Michelle! The more we hear from teachers who share their ideas, the more we can all learn!!