One of the things we primary teachers ALL do in our classroom is count the days – whether we’re counting our way to the 100th Day or counting the days till summer, we know the importance of numbers! Math Meeting is a great daily routine that incorporates counting and so many other important math skills!
I started using Math Meeting during the pandemic when we were all online. I recorded daily videos walking my students through how to complete their daily page. The idea was that students would build their skills daily from home and over time, they’d have a strong understanding of the important math concepts. When we got back into the classroom, I was simply amazed at how strong their foundational math skills had developed – even from home!
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So since that year, I’ve included Math Meeting as part of our daily routine…right from Day 1 of the school year!
Why Use Math Meeting
Math Meeting is a great daily routine. Building on the skills daily is sure to strengthen your students’ knowledge and skills of important math concepts. It gives them exposure to the same concept every single day until they’ve mastered it! Instead of waiting till January to talk about place value, you introduce it right away and build on it day by day. You start discussing money right away and build from one penny all the way to dollars and cents!
Here’s a peek at the skills that are covered throughout the year.
Over time, students understand that doing Math Meeting is more than just doing an activity – it’s building on what they did the previous day.
And since the “Number of the Day” matches the number of days you’ve been in school, it’s meaningful. Plus, it’s easy to remember what day of school it is!
Using the Number of the Day allows your students to build concepts slowly over time. Skills become progressively more challenging as the months change and the year go on.
Skills Covered Over the Year:
- Writing the Date {in two forms}
- Filling in a Calendar
- Counting the Days
- Using a Tens Frame
- Tally Marks
- Visual Patterns
- Number Patterns
- Place Value
- Money
- 1 More, 1 Less
- 10 More, 10 Less
- Comparing Numbers
- Balancing Equations
- Telling Time
Take a Peek at the Months
Slight tweaks are added over the months to keep Math Meeting fresh {and remove the skills they likely have mastered!}
How to Set up Math Meeting
First, decide if you’d like to create a year-long Math Meeting book or create monthly Math Meeting packs.
In my classroom, I prefer to create a year-long book because it’s one less thing for me to remember to share each month! However, it’s more work upfront at the beginning of the school year.
To get started, I make a copy of the front cover, the Months of the Year/Days of the Week page, 120 Chart, I Can use Tens Frames, Let’s Count the Days, and monthly calendar pages. This is why I like having the “big book” so I only need to copy these extra pages once.
Four different versions of the calendar are included – from pre-filled numbers to traceable to blank calendars so you can pick what’s right for your class. At the beginning of the year, I always use the traceable numbers calendar and gradually release my students into the blank calendar.
One of my fellow first-grade teachers prefers to run off monthly packs. This is totally your call – do what works best for your style.
I still think it’s important to add the “extra” pages to your monthly books for your students to reference. But before copying your books, you may want to fill in the tens frame page with how many days you’ve been in so students can build from there!
For example, if you’re running off your October book and it’s the 32nd day of school, you’ll want to pre-fill the tens-frame and hundred charts with the dots and numbers up to 32. This will save your students from having to re-write the numbers/dots at the beginning of each month. On the other hand, it will give them some extra practice!
You’ll need to copy one page of the monthly sheet per day you’re in school. So, if you are in school for 19 school days in September, you’ll need to run off 19 Math Meeting Pages!
Putting the Daily Math Books Together
Remember, you need to decide if putting together a year-long or monthly book is better for you! For the students who struggle with keeping his/her desks neat, the year-long books can get ruffled throughout the 180 days!
If creating year-long books, you’ll definitely want to bind them! You can use the plastic combs, but I’d suggest the coil binder. Our first-grade team purchased one a few years ago and this is the gift that keeps on giving!
Here’s the suggested order of a Year Long Math Meeting book:
My Math Meeting Journal Cover
120 Chart Page
Months of the Year/Days of the Week Page
I Can Use Tens Frames
Let’s Count the Days
Monthly Cover
Monthly Song
Monthly Calendar
Monthly Page to Match No. of Days in School that Month
On the flip side, starting with a fresh book each month is a way to make sure all the books are a bit neater and you only need to staple these monthly books as you copy them.
Here’s the suggested order of a monthly Math Meeting Book
Monthly Cover
Monthly Song
Monthly Calendar
120 Chart Page
Months of the Year/Days of the Week Page
I Can Use Tens Frames {pre-filled with dots to match start of the month}
Let’s Count the Days {pre-filled with numbers to match start of the month}
Monthly Page to Match No. of Days in School that Month
How to Use Math Meeting
As soon as my students walk into the classroom from recess, they know to pull out their Math Meeting books.
I project the page of the day onto my Promethean and we sing the monthly song. These songs are helpful way for students to learn to spell the name of the month {and often how many days are in each month} You can also find lots of other free versions on Pinterest, too!
At the beginning of the year, I do each section with my students. The math skills at this point start out with simple things they can likely do on their own. At this point, we’re just working on the routine of pulling the book out, flipping to the correct page {which we keep track of with a post-it!}, and filling in the information with our best writing.
As the months go on, students get SO good at Math Meeting {and can finish in 5 minutes or less} For the students who struggle, I am always sitting at our small group table so they can gather around and seek out help.
Tools That Help with Math Meeting
In addition to projecting a copy of Math Meeting on the board, I also use magnetic tools on our whiteboard.
This is helpful as the year progresses. Students can simply refer to the whiteboard for the money, day in school, etc. Click to learn more.
I use magnetic tools on our whiteboard to visually show some of the skills that we do every single day.
Ten frames are a big part of the early days of Math Meeting. These are a great way to show kids different ways to add, in addition to odd vs. even numbers.
We start building with place value from day one. I’ve found that this helps students have a deeper understanding of the value of numbers earlier. These magnetic base tens blocks are a must! Each day as I switch my calendar, I simply add a new piece. On the “tens” days, we discuss how ten ones can turn into a ten. And it’s a big day on the 100th day when we can swap those ten rods for a hundred!
What is one of the hardest math concepts for you to get yours students to understand? It’s a tie between money and time for me! We start on day 1 by counting the days with money! As with place value, this magnetic money helps students to see the value of money and how it can build day after day.
Oh, and we do hit on time in Math Meeting, too! The February Math Meeting kicks off writing time! We first start with writing {or identifying on the clock} time to the hour and then move into on the half-hour. As your students master this skill, you can absolutely add in random times around the clock. This magnetic clock helps with this tricky, tricky skill!
You can check out all the tools I use here!
Ready to use Math Meeting in your own classroom? Grab it here!
You’ll be amazed at how your students grow from using Math Meeting every single day. Building on these skills one day at a time will strengthen their foundational math skills!
