Improve Your (Virtual) Eureka Math Routine

As educators, we know that when working with children, they need consistency and structure.

Kids thrive on knowing what is coming next.  Students use that momentum to excel and bounce off of what they did the day before. They want to be better, stronger, and impress you with what they know!

Looking at a daily lesson from Eureka Math can feel overwhelming at first glance! Dig deeper, establish the routine that is set out, and it will feel like magic.  It has a set routine and pace to it.  Set small goals and add in more a little at a time until you and your students are ready for more.

Think of the Eureka daily math plan as the math workout! 

​We start off with Fluency, and this is our warm-up.  During fluency the students are quickly reviewing facts using base ten frame cards, reviewing place value or using number sense strategies. 

​This is done in a quick-drill routine.  
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The energy you set with this part of the lesson will come back to you from the students.  Let this be a fun attention-getting period of time to keep them wanting more.  The fluency classroom routine translates into the virtual setting.  Hold up cards or create slides to flash to the students. You can also create slides showing missing numbers in an equation or on a number line.
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Math Sprints: The Fluency workbook provides math sprints.  These can be done during this fluency part of the daily lessons or you can adjust to complete this at another time of the day if more time is needed.  Set a timer and time the students on completing Section A.  Then students count up the number of examples they got correct and put the number in the start at the time.  Then they turn to Section B.  Set the timer again and students try to beat their score of examples they got correct.  The time limit will vary among age groups and types of fluency examples.  Using a timer is always an exciting motivator!

Virtual Setting Specific: Students can complete these sprints with their workbooks if you have sent them home in advance.  You can also find any of the page materials digitally on  https://www.engageny.org/common-core-curriculum.  You can download the pdf and make Google Slides for your students to complete and post to your Google Classroom or other online platforms.  You are still the coach setting the timer and cheering them on!

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Next, move to your Lesson Content.  This is the high-intensity part of the math workout. We are burning calories, sweating, thinking.  Push the students to new heights.  It may feel uncomfortable at first.  Tell them it is suppose to! We grow from leaving our comfort zones and learning new things.  This is the part of the lesson when you introduce the new skill.  Provide the students with plenty of guided practice.  Use the technique I do, we do, you do.
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Each new concept is first introduced in a concrete way.  This is when the students make real-world connections to number sense. 

One module begins by showing the students 1,000 straws!  We look at that many straws and think about strategies on how to count them the best way.  Brainstorm and model using rubber bands to create groups of ten.  Then bundle ten groups of ten to make 100.  Then bundle 10 groups of 100 to make 1,000! Wow! They are amazed at this big number, and they have witnessed first-hand how the base ten system works. 

​These concrete teachable moments make it real and then students can use that knowledge to push forward. 

Once students have a concrete idea of the concept, they will learn to relate pictures to that model.  This is called the pictorial method.  This is drawing number bonds, pictures, number discs, or tens sticks and ones cubes, or bar models.  They use these pictures to solve the problem.  Finally, they will learn to relate those pictures to an abstract equation of just numbers.  Set the students off to try with independence as you feel they are ready.  It will not be a one size fits all transition.  The program does give plenty of spiral review opportunities through the following lessons as well.  This may feel hard, but remember we can do hard things!
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Virtual Manipulatives: If you have access to a document camera, you can continue to use the classroom-based manipulatives and show the students the examples under the document camera.  There are some free sites that allow you show the use of manipulatives virtually and allow students to use them on their own.

Place Value Discs: https://www.geogebra.org/m/awS83JcY

Base Ten Blocks: https://www.coolmath4kids.com/manipulatives/base-ten-blocks

Finally, the Exit Ticket.  This is the cool down session of our math workout.  We want to send them off from the lesson with a nice stretch.  The Exit Tickets in Eureka Math have only a few examples of the most important pieces of the content.  At the end of the lesson, the students fill out the exit ticket and either they submit them, or you can go over them as a class.  This is the assessment piece for you to take away from the lesson to help you plan future lessons to meet your students’ needs. Deep breaths and positive feedback all the way.

Another site I recommend for those just getting started with Eureka math is embarc.online. I think it is a great site with very helpful video demonstrations, as well as digital format of materials. I would suggest that anyone teaching this curriculum review its content, as it provides a wealth of information.

Remember, in a virtual setting, students crave structure they can depend on, just as they do in the classroom.  Students look forward to learning new ways to do math each day and notice their own gains regularly.  Once students are comfortable with the structure of the lessons, they will be free to focus on the content, and you'll be surprised at how quickly they will grasp the mental math concepts and fluently use them.