Every Day Counts® Calendar Math is our fifteen minute Math Skills Block that compliments our daily one hour Math Workshop. The supplemental program, which we love, is designed to be fast paced with the goal of building student math proficiency. We cover math skills like reading a calendar, looking for geometric patterns, adding sums of money, working with place value, using math tools like the hundreds charts, telling time, finding number patterns, and building fluency with addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. In addition, we've added components like math analogies and Ten Minute Math to build algebraic concepts.
To enhance this daily routine, we use individual student white boards as response boards. Each student has a white board in their chair pocket, and an EXPO marker and sock eraser in their pencil box. When they come to the carpet for Math Skills Block they bring their tools with them. When we ask a question, students write their answers on their board. Then, one of the teachers says, "Boards up in 5-4-3-2-1." When the students hear us counting down, they put their cap on their EXPO marker and hold their board up for the teacher to review the answer. The benefits are plentiful. Every student is held accountable to think about and respond to every question, and the teacher gets to see whether the majority of the class is getting the correct answer. In addition, it's common for us to select boards to show to the class and discuss a student response. Sometimes, we select multiple boards to compare solutions. You'll commonly hear the teachers ask, "What is the most efficient way to get this answer?" During discussion and sharing, students are not allowed to write on or erase answers from their boards. Their job, during this time, is to listen to their peer's solution. After the answers are shared, the teacher says, "Erase," and we are on to the next question. The system works well because of student engagement, and we know this will result in student learning.
