The First Ten Days of Math Class
Build Community, Frontload Unit 1 Content, & Foster Growth Mindest
Start the School Year with Confidence Instead of Confusion!
The start of a new school year should be filled with excitement for all the possibilities that lie ahead, but let’s face it:
Most of us start out feeling overwhelmed and uncertain.
We instinctively KNOW that the first few days of school are vital for building community and setting clear expectations.
But there’s also a lot of pressure to start teaching curriculum right away!
After all, there’s only 180 days in the school year, and we have SO many standards to cover. There’s no time to waste!
There only seems to be two choices:
1. Focus on team building and growth mindset but end up neglecting the actual math curriculum.
2. Jump right into curriculum and content without building community at all.
Community or Curriculum? Which one should I choose?
What if you could have BOTH?
What if you could....
Start the year with confidence instead of confusion on how to spend your time?
Build growth mindsets to create strong math learners from the start?
Ease into the curriculum and help bridge gaps or refresh last year’s skills without stressing about lost time?
Help math students feel successful from day one!
Community takes time to build, but if you want students to be risk takers and truly believe they are good at math, it all begins with a strong start.
The First 10 Days of Math Class gives you a strategic plan for tackling the early weeks of school so you can start the school year with complete confidence.
With the First 10 Days of Math Class, You'll be Able To:
Create daily routines and set up math notebooks
Help students understand and adopt a healthy mathematical mindset
Practice cross-curricular instruction by incorporating literature connections into math activities
Establish collaborative small group routines
Use manipulatives to help students learn procedures
Provide hands-on activities to reach all Learners
Does this sound familiar?
It’s only 7 a.m. but sweat is already dribbling down your back. Your heart rate is skyrocketing.
You have NO IDEA where to begin teaching math.
“How in the WORLD am I supposed to cover all this material AND meet every kid where they are at AND keep them engaged AND give them a good foundation in mathematics?”
I get it. I’ve been there, too.
As an elementary school teacher, the first days of school were some of the most challenging because I felt the need to get it right from the start. I wanted to build community, but I didn’t want to wait too long to dive into the curriculum.
I had no idea where the balance should be. After over 20 years teaching math and consulting for school districts across the country, I have seen so many people experiencing the same feelings that I did on those first days of school: overwhelmed, confused, and underprepared.
I created The First 10 Days of Math Class so elementary math teachers can banish uncertainty and start a new school year with confidence! The First 10 Days of Math Class incorporates the five core structures of Math Expressions (Quick Practice/Daily Routines, Student Leaders, Math Talk, Building Concepts, and Helping Community) through hands-on math and STEM activities.
In the first two weeks of school, you’ll be able to build community, expectations, norms, AND begin tackling your curriculum/state standards.
Click Your Grade Below to Purchase Now!
Kindergarten
Grade 1
Grade 2
Grade 3
Grade 4
Grade 5
When you join The First 10 Days of Math Class, you'll get:
Mathematician Character Traits
Who are mathematicians? What do they do ? How do they act? Each day will focus on a specific character trait to support a healthy mathematical mindset. For example, mathematicians take risks. This will be the guiding trait of the day and I’ve planned math activities to help your students take some risks so that we can honor and value that trait.
Curriculum Starts
Learn how and when to start incorporating your curriculum. You’ll also get Google Slides for each day, number sense activities to frontload Unit 1 content and help students review and recall prior learning.
Slides and Videos
You’ll get daily slides to use each day along with all of the videos and tools you need to be successful with beginning the Daily Routines and Quick Practices.
Protocols and Management Strategies
This will help you nurture the classroom community by establishing clear boundaries and expectations. You’ll get activities for: -Using manipulatives
-Creating math notebooks and using math rubrics
-Making mistakes
-Practicing partner talk
-Arguing/defending thinking in math class
-Working in collaborative groups
-Math Routines/Student Leader Roles
Famous Mathematicians
Let’s improve our understanding of who and what a mathematician is by introducing a famous and diverse mathematician each day. A primary and an intermediate version is included. Thank you to @Amplify for their free mathematician role cards. You’ll show students over the course of 10 days that mathematicians are of every gender, color, background, and age, which means they, too, are mathematicians!
Literature Connections
You’ll get picture book recommendations to go with most days to launch the math trait of the day or the math concept of the day. When available, the Youtube version of the read aloud is also linked.
Hands-on Activities
Don’t just talk about it, do it! Get your little learners practicing their math skills with fun and low prep hands-on activities that appeal to a variety of learning styles.
"These 10 day lessons are crucial, in my mind, to getting the math year off on the right foot. Not only does it get my students in the right mindset, but it helps to build my math community. ”
“I LOVED The first 10 days!!! Learning about what a mathematician does, the books and the building community was so important and successful! ”
“We loved [The First 10 Days of Math Class]. It created a great mindset for the year, it set the tone as every student being a mathematician, and every student being able to participate in math. ”
Everything You Need To Rock the First 10 Days of Math Class
Take the confusion, worry, and time out of planning your first ten days.
For only
- Printable easy-to-follow lesson plans for the first 10 days of school
- Instructional videos to explain each Math Expressions unit to clear up confusion
- Hands-on activities to support learning
- Printable worksheets and activities to make your life easier
- Google Slide presentations to enhance each lesson
- Mathematician character traits to develop growth mindset
- Famous mathematicians study to introduce diversity and inclusion
- Cross-curricular activities which include literature and writing
- Confidence knowing that you’ve started the year off strong!
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Who is The First 10 Days of Math Class for?
It’s for K-5th grade math teachers, and it is geared toward those who use Math Expressions as their primary math curriculum.
What if I don’t use Math Expressions curriculum?
No worries! It can still work for you! You will just need to substitute the following:
Daily Routines/Quick Practices. These are specific to Expressions users, sub out your own daily counting math routines
Lesson numbers. The math activities are geared around the first unit for that grade level. Substitute your lessons on these topics. The pre-content is intended to build in review of what happened in the previous grade, to get ‘ready’ for the new grade’s unit 1. You may need to reorganize your content to make this feel right to you.
Puzzled Penguin. This is the Math Expressions mascot who makes errors. It’s ok if you don’t have this mascot. The lessons he teaches and the activities built in could be used with ANY curriculum.
What is your refund policy
I don’t offer refunds for this product because I’m 100% convinced that you won’t need one because The First 10 Days of Math Class will make starting your school year SO much easier!
Can I share with my teammates?
Although sharing is caring, that is not the case with copyrighted and licensed material. Thank you for respecting my work and considering your purchase a Personal Single Use License. Slide decks, printables, lesson plans, etc. may not be shared outside a single user and is in direct violation of the terms of your purchase. Commercial use in full or in part is strictly prohibited. © Copyright 2022 Empower Consulting. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to copy pages specifically designed for student or teacher use by the original purchaser or licensee. The production of any other part of this product is strictly prohibited. Copying any part of this product and placing it on the internet in any form (even a personal/classroom website) is strictly forbidden. Doing so is a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
"[The First 10 Days of Math] empowered the kids as mathematicians. I think this was terrific for building our math community"
Carrie M - First Grade Teacher