Classroom Warm-Up Routine: Math Class Warm-Up: Fill & Download for Free

Teaching is three things - it's what/how and why - it's what curriculum, it's how you teach - instruction/assessments and it's why - your reasons for the curriculum and the methods of instruction/assessment. You usually don't have a choice about curriculum and you're usually not aware of why you teach as you do - but you can grow in awareness of that as you go along.Math falls into two categories - tracked and untracked. If you're teaching an untracked math class - I could write a book on how to make that work because it's a whole lot of work to make an untracked math class work. You essentially have to teach three classes in one class.If your class is tracked - if you have students who have been determined to all be roughly of the same ability in math - then teaching math becomes much easier - even if your students are math-weak students.But it's still a book and it depends on the kind of community in which you're teaching. If your community is not one that can support kids - forget homework. Don't assign homework that won't get done - it's a headache for you and accomplishes nothing positive. Absolutely be patient – don’t dismiss that as routine. Patience, flexibility and some compassion thrown in can make the classroom a better place for you as well as the kids.You’ll be given a textbook – you don’t have to stick to it like glue but it’s very helpful. You don’t say what age you’re teaching – that makes a big difference. Warm-ups work for younger students to get them focused – they can even work for middle schoolers. You can pass out a sheet of warm-ups - “math maintenance” but with younger ones you can do ‘whole class’ warmups. “Hold up as many fingers as 2 plus 2” – and you can get very creative! Hold up zero fingers. The kids can volunteer warmups for the next day.”Teach the concept – don’t fight over pencils, make sure everyone has one whether they’ve brought one or not. You’re there to teach math, not pencils – keep pencils they can borrow for class.Teach the concept, give them the worksheet. Get a sense of who is always able to do it without help, sit with those who need help. Keep a stack of ‘challenge sheets’ – enrichment math – for the kids who finish early. Or let them read.Collect the sheets at the end of class. Record their efforts. Go home and plan for the next day.I give a quiz every Thursday on the concept of the week – I make up my own quizzes and include ‘math maintenance’ questions and put a challenge section on it so the strong math kids will be help busy. I don’t expect the weaker kids to move on to the ‘challenge section’ on the quiz.I do whole class enrichment every Friday. it's a lighter day - it's math but we do a fun exploration of math on Fridays. I never give weekend homework and I don't give homework at all if the parents can't support the kids' efforts with getting it done.

I'll be 16 tomorrow! I live in an upper-middle class society in the suburbs of Jakarta, Indonesia. I go to a Singaporean school with a Cambridge Curriculum, and here's my weekdays' routine.5.40 - 6.00 : Turn off alarm (Vance Joy, anyone?) and do some cardio or yoga or jump-squats.6.00 - 6.05 : Go to kitchen and drink one glass of warm limewater and one glass of regular water.6.05 - 6.30 : Wash up and change to uniform.6.30 - 6.50 : Do homeworks or revise while eating breakfast; usually rice, veges and fish/soy-based proteins like tofu or tempeh/eggs (pescetarian because I'm not yet ready to become fully vegan)6.50 - 7.05 : Prepare bag; books, shirts for PE, water bottle and bread.7.05 - 7.20 : Car drive with mom to school. I put on my shoes, do my tie and tie up my hair (girls with long hair are required to do this, specifically using black elastics).7.20 - 7.30 : Arrive at school, go to the 4th floor slowly to avoid arriving at morning assembly too early (By this time, my classmates are already lining up in the multipurpose hall, waiting for the flag-raising to begin. We're supposed to stand on at ease position, without making any noise, every single school day, even during events like sports day. Luckily it's indoors. Even the national schools in Indonesia only do this once a week! How ridiculous does that sound?!)7.30 - 7.45 : The ceremony begins. We watch as the commander enters the field, looking for some sort of 'entertainment'. Then all students greet the teachers and classmates. We're dismissed from the assembly if there's no announcement (usually our principal would either announce these 3 things: the achievements of students in some sports or maths competitions, how disappointed she is about the way we stand, or announcing any upcoming events or school activities) or morning exercise, a light cardio in Chinese on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and the beloved boogie dance on Wednesdays.7.45 - 8.15 : Silent reading. English books on Mondays and Wednesdays, Chinese on Tusdays and Thursdays, and Bahasa on Fridays. But none of us does this because our form tutor uses this time to tell stories about 1. ISIS, 2. the principal, or 3. her adventures with her ex-boyfriend(s), which is always interesting.8.15 - 9.45 : Lesson time. Schedule varies but my class has maths everyday, since we take extended maths and additional maths. All 3 sciences, first-language english, and chinese as foreign language are compulsory subjects, and we must take 2 of the optional subjects (business, accounting, economics, history, ICT and art). We also have to take Bahasa, PKn, a national citizenship lesson, Religion, and INSIGHT, a personal development BS.9.45 - 10.15 : Break. My friends and I eat lunch in the canteen during this time. A bit early, I know, but it has became a habit. Food is not always good, and not always healthy although the principal insisted so.10.15 - 12.05 : More lessons.12.05 - 12.45 : Lunch break. We usually lounge outside our classrooms because it's always locked during break, playing card games or just chatting and doing overdue homeworks.12.45 - 14.45 : Lessons again.14.45 - 15.00 : It's dismissal time on Mondays and Tuesdays since secondary 4 and junior college students are freed from co-curricular activities because we're (supposed) to prepare for the upcoming IGCSEs and A Levels. But from Wednesday - Friday, it's break time.15.00 - 16.40 : Even more lessons from Wednesday to Friday. But on Mondays and Tuesdays, I go home and do my homeworks and projects and study for tests and revise for IGCSE.16.40 - 18.00 : Wash up, change clothes, lounge on the sofa, homeworks.18.00 - 19.00 : Dinner and TV.19.00 - 22.30 : Projects and homeworks and revisions (and occasional peeks at social media, if I don't get carried away!)22.30 - 22.45 : Brush teeth and prepare to sleep. Sometimes I do ab exercises if I'm not lazy or lethargic.So there you have it! Hope this helps :)

My youngest son started talking fluently at a very young age - and right from birth we just ‘knew’ there was ‘something’ different about him. As a baby he was always very alert, and had piercing blue eyes that seemed to look straight into my soul. It was quite uncanny - he had a really concentrated look even aged 8 or 9 months. He would watch everything I did as if he was ‘taking it all in.’ Other people who met him commented that he appeared to be a ‘very mature child.’By age 2.5 he was reading quite fluently - although I never taught him to. His Dad and I would read him bedtime stories a lot - and there were always books in the house for him to read - but somehow he just taught himself.By age 3 he could add numbers up to 100, subtract, divide and multiply - all with no teaching. One day, aged 3.2, he looked over the shoulder of his brother, who was aged 6 at the time, and was struggling with basic maths homework. He rattled off the answers to every question on the page, and then said: “They’re too easy!” His older brother was not impressed :(After his first day at kindy, when he was aged 4.1, I asked him how he enjoyed it. He told me it was boring because the teachers wouldn’t let him read his own story books, or let him use their computer. I arranged a parent meeting with the Kindy Principal, and told her that my son could already ready fluently and do quite complex maths. She told me that was impossible - and that he just had a good memory for stories. So I called him over, and told him to pick any book on the bookshelf and bring it to us. He picked a complex story book with small print - intended to be read to children by an adult. He sat on my lap and read the whole book to her fluently. You should have seen her jaw drop!Then I asked if he could demonstrate to her how he uses the computer. I had several Apple Macs at home, and allowed him to use them from an early age. He would sit watching me on the computer - then copy everything I did. He confidently asked the Kindy Principal: “Can I have the password please, as I want to log into the modem and then install new games. These ones are too easy - they’re for kids!” He then opened a maths game, and completed all the answers up to Age Level 10 in about 5 minutes. The Kindy principal just sat there stunned.She told me out of his hearing that she had never seen such an advanced or gifted child. Then she questioned me, in quite a disapproving tone - asking me how much tuition did I give him - how many hours a week did I ‘make him’ do schoolwork? I told her that I didn’t teach him to read or do maths - he just taught himself. And I didn’t do any tuition at all with him.All I did was what any caring parent would do - I would answer his (almost) non-stop questions! My son talked from the minute he awoke, to the minute I got him to bed about 6.30pm. He talked non-stop, all day, every day - it was utterly exhausting for me! I would let him use my computer, which was full of children’s learning games, just to occupy him and shut him up for 30 mins so I could have some peace and quiet!Anyway, the Kindy teacher said that she would contact a gifted education specialist and have him tested for IQ. However, the education specialist said that he was too young to test - they didn’t have tests designed to measure IQ for a 4-year-old. I asked her to test him using tests designed for older school-aged children - so she very reluctantly did. She said as far as she could tell, he had the reading age of an average 11-year-old, and his maths ability was that of a 10-year-old - and that her tests showed he probably had an IQ above 150 - but it was impossible to say accurately because the tests had never been used for a four-year-old.My son’s Dad and I agreed that we would have to educate our child quite ‘differently’ from normal. We all agreed the Kindy couldn’t accommodate his learning needs, so we got ‘special permission’ to enroll him in school Reception Year early- which he did for 6 months to orientate him to school routines. Then mid-year we put him up to a Year Two class. We were lucky that he was very tall and physically mature for his age, so he didn’t seem out of place with children who were aged 7 or 8, even though he was still only 4.8 years old.Our main aim as parents was to ensure that he grew up into a balanced, rounded, caring and compassionate man, who was able to relate to other people as ‘normally’ as possible. We didn’t want him turning into an arrogant computer geek who was unable to form proper caring relationships due to his exceptionally high IQ.We designed an Individual Education Plan for him, so he would leave his regular class and go to the special education unit, where he would do maths and language extension projects to keep him motivated and interested in learning. We enrolled him in every club and group and organisation we possible could - to ensure he learnt to be sociable, and relate to other children properly.The only one area he wasn’t gifted in was physical co-ordination - he still couldn’t tie his own shoe laces at the age of 10, and his running was described like that of a ‘wounded duck!” So we made him play football and basketball and squash and tennis, and enrolled him in the sailing club, so he would experience what it was like to ‘not be the best’ and have other children be better than him. We wanted him to experience what it felt like to not be picked for a team, or to come last and not win medals. It was painful for him and us, but we were determined to curb his sometimes arrogant nature. He was just so gifted that he won every competition, came first at everything - and we felt this wasn’t good for him as a human being. So we had to teach him to deal with failure!His education was exhausting and challenging for us every step of the way. We encountered teachers who resented him getting ‘special education’ funding because they felt he didn’t deserve to be treated any differently - and children who were struggling to read or write were more deserving. Some teachers disliked him because he was so cocky and sure of himself - but those teachers who accepted him loved teaching him, and they extended him ‘sideways’ every way they could. He responded positively to every learning opportunity and was at most times a model student - as long as he was not bored or made to do school work that was ‘too easy’ for him. If he got bored, he would become the class clown, and he could be rude and disruptive!I could tell the rest of my son’s story if anyone is interested - he is now aged 27. I’ll finish the story if anyone asks for more details…but for now I’ll stick to answering the initial question! Feel free to ask me anything you’d like to know…Addition 1: Thank you to everyone who up-voted my story and asked questions! So many have asked me “What happened next…?” and “Where is he now” that I’ve decided to add my answers here, as some people don’t seem to be able to read my replies to others. How does that work on Quora? Why can some people see my replies to questions, but others can’t?Anyway, here’s the ‘end’ of my son’s story.He finished the high school curriculum by the time he had just turned 14. He’d also got a Diploma in Computer Engineering from TAFE (Tertiary and Further Education) and also a Cert IV in Hospitality. He won numerous national awards - I won’t bore you with details!At this time, his Dad and I separated (very amicably), and I moved to a major city, where there was a government high school for gifted students which was linked to our city university.My son decided that he wanted to repeat the last year of high school, since he was too young to go to university. My move to a big city and a scholarship to this ‘special’ school was fantastic! They taught him about nano-technology, he designed and built robots, he represented Australian Youth at the International Forum for Global Warming, which was hosted by Al Gore. He visited the antarctic, climbed a part of the Great Wall of China, and was mentored by university professors in whatever subject took his interest.At the end of this time, after graduating as Dux of the Year, Sportsperson of the Year, and Community Citizen of the Year, he decided that he didn’t want to go to university, as he felt it would be a waste of his time. He wanted to travel and see the world. He had just turned 16.He volunteered with a charity to go and spend time in Africa - he climbed Mt Kilimanjaro, got his scuba divers’ licence, taught English in Kenyan schools, helped construct classrooms in remote villages -and did lots of stuff that his Mum should probably not know about!The logistics were a nightmare. He was too young to open a bank account or have a credit card or to book an airline ticket alone. So the best I could do was to have him authorised as a ‘secondary card holder’ on my credit card, so he could access money in an emergency. He had a budget which was supposed to last him a year of travel. After that - if he spent it all too fast - he had to earn his own money.He spent all his money within the first 6 months, and arrived in the UK to visit our relatives with just $5 in his pocket! He was very thin, and had just a backpack of thread-bare unwashed clothes - but he had LIVED!In the UK he got a job in a tourist animal park. He drove tractors, moved bales of hay and fed and watered animals. He loved the life, and for many months he supported himself this way (and partied hard with his new girlfriend!)He returned home just before his 18th birthday, having had many amazing experiences and seen a lot of the world. He was still determined he didn't want to go to university - saying he didn’t want to spend three or five years of his life learning ‘stuff’ he’d probably never use.At age 21 he bought a travel business - ran it for 18 months - tried to grow it too quickly, and eventually his company went under. He crashed and burned for a short while, but picked himself up again quite quickly.During these tough times, I always told him: “The most successful people in life have made the most mistakes to learn by” - so I gave him permission to fail, and there was no judgement of him just because his first business venture didn’t end too well.He then tried several different jobs, and eventually decided to start his own business in the hiking/mountaineering tourism travel area.Fast forward - he’s now 27. He’s a professional mountaineer, and his company runs outdoor treks and adventure tours - and employs 18 people.He started off as a tour guide taking groups of people trekking along the Kokoda Trail in PNG. He’s completed the Kokoda Trail around 25 times now!From there he started taking people on other outdoor adventures and mountain climbing trips, returning to Kenya to climb Mt Kilimanjaro as a tour guide. He’s now done that mountain four times I think? He’s also climbed Mt Cook in New Zealand and has trekked to Everest base camp (and climbed several of the higher ‘sister’ mountains in Nepal.) He has booked a trip to attempt Mt Everest in March 2020 - which he is going to do to raise money and awareness to prevent male suicide.He’s also a skilled rope climber, has his pilot’s licence, and loves to para-glide and fly planes whenever he has an opportunity. He’s represented Australia in Canada in the World Triathalon Championships.He’s just signed up to do a Bachelor Degree in Paramedics, and wants to train to become a qualified mountain rescue paramedic. His lovely girlfriend/partner is also highly intelligent, and is currently studying her Masters. They travel a lot together and have a great relationship.He really enjoys working with troubled teenagers, and does a lot with various not-for-profit organisations, taking groups of ‘at risk’ teens on wilderness hikes so they can ‘find themselves.’ He and his company organise treks, mountaineering expeditions and outback experiences for many schools, NfP organisations, the Scouts etc.The bottom line is that he is now a happy, highly functioning and productive member of society. He cares a lot about the inequality in the world, and raises money and supports a lot of charity work in developing nations.We’re still very close, even though he has recently moved interstate to grow his business. I miss having him live close to me, but we still communicate by phone or text almost daily.As an adult, I’ve talked to my son about the issues we faced educating such a highly gifted child. He understands how hard it was for us - and I understand how hard it was for him growing up too.But he tells me his childhood overall was a very happy one - so we appear to have succeeded in educating a highly gifted child to become a caring and well-rounded adult.He is still very close friends with his early childhood teacher, and now she has retired he supports her environmental and dolphin research as much as possible.Addition 2 - in answer to another question about parenting gifted children:In the end, highly gifted and talented children grow up to be just like everyone else - adults!Just like the rest of us, they may or may not succeed in the academic or business world - or they may decide that a job building roads makes them happy. Most employers do not hire or fire based on an IQ score!In my opinion, what will determine the success - or happiness - of a child’s life is not their overall intelligence - it is their ability to relate to, and to get on with other people, and to ‘fit in’ to this world that we all have to share.Having a happy relationship/marriage, and a job that fulfils and excites and motives you - plus having quality friendships to support you over the years, is far more important than your IQ score.I hope this answers all of the questions that I’ve received about this subject - thank you for reading!