How to Teach Kindergarten Math Workshops During Distance Learning

Oh hey there, amazing teacher friend! I’m so glad you’re here right now because the topic of this blog post is a good one.

When you found out you’d be teaching kindergarten virtually, did you kind of look something like this? 

via GIPHY

Lol, same. 

I kind of felt like a new teacher again, trying to figure out what my lesson routines would look like. It felt confusing, to be honest.

After some trial, error, and planning, I found a format for Math Workshop that my students and I are loving! I hope you love it too!

Our Virtual Math Workshop looks something like this:

How it Works:

Students join our google meet. We review expectations and math groups. Half of the students stay for the math lesson, half go into a breakout room for a Calendar lesson with our TA

If you don’t have a TA or teach calendar during another time, another option would be having this half of the class could do a virtual math station such as Dreambox or online game.

After each group participates in the first half of math, they switch to do the other.

About Breakout Rooms:

When I first introduced breakout rooms, I showed them screenshots of the pop ups and prompts they would see. We talked about what to click when they were prompted to join a breakout room.

Tip – If you’re using Google Meet, I found it easier to split the class in 2, using the main room and one breakout room. When it’s time to switch, I switch myself and our TA. Then not everyone has to navigate moving between rooms.

About the Warmup:

This is a quick activity we do when we first come together to review previously learned skills OR practice math fluency. Some of my favorite ways to warmup our math brains are:

• Virtual Number Flash Cards
• Virtual Counting/Subitizing
• a Math brain break video

You can find virtual Math Workshop Warmup Slides for Kindergarten here!

About the Mini-Lesson

I always put my teaching point on my mini-lesson slide as a reminder for myself, along with a visual that relates to what we’ll be doing.

Tip – You may want to include a slide that shows students what materials they’ll need. This will be a super helpful visual support for your little ones.

About the Independent Task

After we go through the mini-lesson, I introduce our independent task. Examples of independent tasks might be:

• Using white boards to solve a problem or represent a skill they learned (great for number writing, drawing a given amount, or solving addition/subtraction problems)
• Using cubes or other math tools to represent the skill. (great for counting and representing an amount)
• Finding objects at home that show they can apply the skills (great for identifying shapes, creating a set, comparing by creating a set of more or less).
• Doing an interactive activity in Seesaw

About Share

At the end of Math Workshop, we come back together in the main room for students to share. I typically prompt them to share something they learned, a new skill they tried, or we create an anchor chart together.

If you’re looking for Math Workshop Slides you can customize to any lesson you teach, check these out:

Math Workshop Slides and Math Workshop Warmup Slides for Kinder