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Math Intervention in the Upper Grades

Math Intervention In upper elementary

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Hey friends! I wanted to stop and share some of the activities and strategies I’ve used during  math intervention in upper elementary. I’ve taught math intervention in third, fourth and fifth grades. Math intervention in upper elementary should be done as often as possible, but at least three days a week.  In other words, we have to make math intervention a priority.

Math intervention for upper elementary
 

How To Plan For Math Intervention in Upper Elementary

Math intervention can be a difficult time to plan. As a result, simply go back to the basics for math intervention. Most students who struggle with math concepts, do not have a strong foundation in number sense. I would give my students place value blocks, and just call out numbers for them to build. Then, we would write the numbers in expanded and word form. Students need to see the numbers in different ways to learn how numbers change and get larger. The third grade math intervention binder is perfect for having students practice this skill.
 
Since switching to the upper grades, I wanted to take my Math Intervention for Primary grades  and bring the same concept with me. These strategies worked well for my lower grade students so why not try them with upper elementary? 
 
 
 

Small Group Math Lesson Plans

For small groups,  our plan looks like this:  we start with a Review skill. This is a skill we’ve previously taught in the weeks before.  Next, we do a preview skill. This is a skill that we will teach in the next few months or so. This gives the students the chance to be exposed to the skill prior full instruction. Then, we dive into our current skill. We use our Math Intervention Binder for Fourth Grade to review, preview and teach our current skill. We just use a different section of it. 

Meanwhile, we also have a para for 30 minutes and she pulls our bubble students. She uses the intervention binder as well and does a spiral review of the previous week skill. I will often have the para go back to place value, multiplication or division because those are foundational skills that students need to grasp in order to do just about anything else. 

Furthermore, students need a daily and quick practice with a variety of skills if they are falling behind. I strongly feel like by having students practice a previously taught skill for spiral review, will give you the biggest bang for your buck. One way I do this is try to stay four weeks apart from the skill. This gives the kiddos a little time in between, but not so much that you need to completely reteach the lesson. For the beginning of the year, I try to spend a lot of time on place value (regardless if that’s what my curriculum tells me). Students who do not have a strong number sense foundation, will eventually struggle!! Therefore, it’s very important we fill these gaps in now. 

 
 
 
These place value mats help the kiddos to visualize and understand the number. I want my kids to know the term value. What is the value of the thousands place? I might ask.
 
 

   Place Value Math Games

I love using the place value disks. They are super cheap and the kids LOVE them. You can find them HERE.
 
 
 
This activity is something that I do in my small group table first, then it moves to centers a few weeks later. I print them on different colored paper so that it seems like it’s a new activity. The kids always enjoy it so much!.

Also, that’s another reason why I’m constantly updating these binders because as I find new strategies that work for my students, I add them to see if they will help with your students as well!

 
 
In this section, the students work on number sense.
Students have multiple ways to practice “building numbers”. This takes the boredom out of math. Students are engaged and ENJOY it. They look forward to this activity every day and ASK for it. WIN WIN!
 

Using Spiral Review During Math Intervention 

We also use the place value pages as a spiral review in math centers.
 
We spend a lot of time practicing and reviewing place value nearly all year long! It’s a big and important skill. Students have to grasp this skill in order to move into harder skills like decimals later in the year. To do this, expanded form is important. Start with the basics, and move into the larger numbers. The intervention binder is put together in building blocks. It starts smaller and works into larger numbers to allow the students to gain confidence and a strong foundation.
 
Using the mini anchor chart helps with a variety of ways. It helps give kiddos that real world application plus the visual format is a huge bonus for some kids. I will often copy the anchor charts and let the kids keep them in their math folder or notebook.
 
 
 
In the geometry section, we work with symmetry, angles, lines, rays, points and more!
 
 
Division can be such a hassle in fourth grade. The kids get practice with partial products, the box method, traditional method, long division, base ten strategy, and more.
 
 In conclusion, math intervention is a very important part of your instructional day. If you need help with your intervention groups, chat with us in our Facebook Group! 
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