Whole Group Linky and Bloglovin Giveaway

Link

I am not a big picture taker and I don't think I have ever taken a picture of my classroom...but I am a big talker. After reading the delightful link-ups in this party, I'm bringing my gab to talk a little about whole group.

Math - I love whole group Math. I know people love their Math tubs and workstations and don't get me wrong I like those, too. But there is just something about gathering in a circle on the carpet and revealing a new game or concept, that draws the little bodies into the circle to see better and enthralls them with a partner game. We have a carpet with assigned carpet squares but we also sit in a circle on it. I
 will sit in one spot in the circle. I try to move that spot around to avoid the "I want to sit next to the teacher" argument and sometimes sit next to that child who was trying to sit as far away from me as possible. Then just a few manipulatives come out and we start to learn. I often teach new games for Math workstations/centers here.
I sit in the center of the circle and pass out materials to pairs around the circle and they all play right there. I can see everyone - monitor that they know the rules, are taking turns, correct any math misconceptions, and informally assess. This also helps me decide on groups and who needs re-teaching or extension. They are always engaged here. Later, they will play away from me with a different partner but for now it is whole group time. With common core this year, we started doing some great warm-ups on the carpet as well. We did simple things like sit in a circle and roll the gigantic die and add ten (or 1 or 2) to whatever we got and more manipulative heavy with part-part-whole plates, cubes and whiteboards.
Sometimes, my whole group Math is at the end of Math time so I can pre-teach during workstations. Sometimes that whole group is at our tables. I love shake, shake, drop games for teaching the parts of numbers. You get some two sided counters and a mat or worksheet and shake it. This is neater when done at the tables and we use the doc camera to project one friend's answer. When comes to solving math story problems, I alternate it. Sometimes, it is manipulatives at the tables and others it is whiteboards on the carpet. I like doing these in whole group so I can walk around and see their problem-solving and they can explain to a buddy and they can explain to the class. We also do all of this in small group setting, too.

I should totally stop here...There must be some bloggy rule about how long you ramble.

I am catching up with the social media side of things. I am on BlogLovin' & you can follow me there- see the link on the side. I already had a Facebook account just for bloggy teaching stuff but today I created a Kinder Myles Facebook Page (or so I think). I'm still working on the buttons and cover. :)

So here is the deal...I am linking up with Collaboration Cuties linky. I am hosting a giveaway for following me on Bloglovin' and like this post. Then enter your bloglovin' username in the rafflecopter.
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