Math Intervention in the Upper Grades

Math Intervention in Grades 3-5

 Upper Elementary

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Hey friends!

Math intervention can be a difficult time to plan. The best thing I've EVER done with my intervention block is to simply go back to the basics. 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. 

Since switching to the upper grades, I wanted to take my Math Intervention for Primary grades  and bring the same concept with me.

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. There are 14 sections to this binder and it's always growing as my students needs are always changing! The teacher  pulls and sees every student. We 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. 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!! So it's important to catch that 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. 

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!

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. 

My Journey as an Upper Elementary Teacher

Hi Friends! 

So, we've been SO busy the last 10 weeks that I haven't had a chance to mention all of the changes that have happened. We ended school in VA on June 20th. We packed all of our belongings up on the 21st and moved south on the 25th! We spent most of July by traveling and visiting family before we finally settled in. I started my new job on July 25th! So we had a very brief, but fun summer! I was pretty nervous about making the jump from my comfort zone (primary grades) to the big, scary world of fourth grade! We are only three eight weeks in, and can I tell you how much I LOVE THE BIG KIDS??!?!? They get my personality, they roll with the punches, and most of all, they still LOVE SCHOOL!! For some reason, I had it in my head that they do not like school past third grade! I was WRONG! They are witty, quick and just plain fun. They get my weird personality. Fourth grade is a whole new world, but man, I'm loving it so far!

Here's a peak inside my new classroom!

Give students a visual aide of expectations. 

My students really needed some math intervention in order to close foundational gaps I was finding in their number sense skills.  We spend a lot of time on place value skills so that they really understand how to break apart larger numbers. 

These activities were so great for small groups! My students practiced building numbers. When I came to the intermediate grades, I wanted to bring the mindset with me that students still needed to use manipulatives in math.

I found these jumbo post it pads at Target and we put them to use right away! We started our vocabulary maps before reading. We defined the word and discussed it's meaning. I encouraged them to point out when they come across the word in the text. During reading, if the students find the word, they would write the "example from the text". Next, the students would finish reading. After reading, they would identify a synonym and antonym of the word.

In this activity, students are using colored dominoes to build numbers. They can practice building numbers and place value skills literally everyday and develop a different number each day! 

We've had a blast so far and I'm excited to share this journey with you. Since I've not had as much time (like that exists), I've been sharing a lot on my Instagram  and Facebook pages on what we've been doing.

Since my Facebook page has grown so much, I've teamed up with my amazing friends Michelle and Fern to bring you some awesome prizes!

I will have TWO winners!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

**Please Note***
The rafflecopter is not accepting entries for everyone, so you may comment on this post that you follow me on FB and TpT to enter!








Go visit my friends, Michelle and Fern, for a chance to win more prizes. Make sure you follow all of our Facebook pages because we will each announce the winners on our Facebook page.