Eureka Math: Whole Group vs. Small Group Instruction

I hope you're starting to feel a little more comfortable navigating Eureka Math.

Over the last several weeks, we’ve taken an in-depth look at how to effectively use the Eureka math curriculum.

We’ve talked about how to prepare your lesson and supplies, and how to teach each specific aspect of the curriculum.

​Today, I wanted to take a look at 2 different methods to using the Eureka curriculum: whole group and small group.

Whole Group Instruction with Eureka

Eureka was clearly designed with whole group instruction in mind. Every aspect of the way that the lessons are written caters to a whole group setting. Therefore, whole group instruction works well with Eureka and is easy to implement. Teaching Eureka in a whole group setting might look like this:

• Fluency practice: done together in a large group using choral response or having students answer on whiteboards
  
• Application problem: students work independently on their whiteboard or in their textbook to solve, then go over it together as a class
  
• Concept development: follow the script and teach to the class all at once, pausing to allow students to independently practice problems on their whiteboard and then go over the problems together as a class
  
• Problem set: following the concept development, students work independently at their desk for 10 minutes on their problem set
  
• Debrief: all students gather together, teacher asks debrief questions, and students raise hands to answer
  
• Exit ticket: students independently work at their desk on the exit ticket
  

This is pretty basic and follows the general flow of the Eureka lessons. The lessons do not need to be adjusted, because they already work for this format. However, many people prefer to teach in a small group setting as it is more engaging for all students. It also allows teachers to help students better and prevents students from falling through the cracks. It can be tricky to figure out how to accommodate Eureka using a small group format.

Small Group Instruction with Eureka

One of the biggest complaints I’ve come across about this curriculum is that teachers don’t know how to use it with small groups. There is so much packed into one lesson, and of course you don’t want to skip over parts of it, and some of the parts just don’t lend themselves well to small group instruction. Fortunately, it IS possible to implement small groups with Eureka - you just have to get a little creative! 

Below I am going to offer two scenarios in which Eureka can work with small groups. These are not the only two ways to do it, but hopefully if neither of these scenarios will work for you, they will inspire you as you think of a way to make it work for your own classroom.

Scenario 1

• Warm up your class with one or two fluency practices and the application problem (10 minutes)
• Teach a quick mini-lesson modeling the first part of the concept development to introduce what you’re working on today (10 minutes)
• Break into 4 small groups (5 minutes)
  • Group 1: Meets with the teacher to complete the rest of today’s concept development
  • Group 2: Works on the problem set independently
  • Group 3: Completes the Zearn.org lesson that corresponds with today’s lesson
  • Group 4: Game or activity center
• Rotate groups every 10 minutes (40 minutes total)
• Come back together as a class and debrief (10 minutes)
• Return to desks and complete exit ticket (5 minutes)

Total time: 80 minutes

In a classroom with a 90 minute math block, this allows 10 extra minutes of cushion for transitions and clean up time.

Scenario 2:

• Warm up your class with one or two fluency activities (5 minutes)
• Complete a Zearn.org lesson whole group in place of the concept development (15 minutes) [Zearn lessons correspond with Eureka lessons and the videos are very similar to the concept development)
• Break into 4 small groups (5 minutes)
  • Group 1: Meets with the teacher to work practice problems or complete an extension activity corresponding with today’s lesson
  • Group 2: Completes the application problem independently and draws a diagram or writes an explanation to support their answer
  • Group 3: Completes problem set independently
  • Group 4: Game or activity center
• Rotate groups every 10 minutes (40 minutes total)
• Quick debrief and exit ticket (10 minutes)
  
  ​Total time: 75 minutes
  
  In a classroom with a 90 minute math block, this would allow 15 minutes of cushion for transitions and clean up time.
  
  

By nature of small groups, it is certainly a busy time and every minute counts. If you have less than 90 minutes for your math block, small groups may not work for you (or you will have to get pretty creative). That said, it is definitely possible to teach the Eureka curriculum in a small group setting!

Hopefully this has at least given you some idea of how you can best teach Eureka in your classroom. Both whole group and small group instruction have their pros and cons, so whichever way you choose, you are doing a great job!

I mentioned Zearn a few times in this post, and I’ll share more about this online program next time, as well as some other online and digital resources that may help you teach Eureka. If you enjoy integrating technology into your instruction, then you definitely won’t want to miss it!

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