Class change, the time when students from your previous class leave to go to their next class and your students from your next class come into class. This can be a very chaotic time. Using math warm ups for middle school students is helpful in making the beginning of class more manageable.
Why Use Warm-Ups for Math?
Early on in teaching I realized I needed to have something for my students to work on as they entered the classroom. I also needed time for me to get organized for the class. To solve these problems I started using warm ups in math.
By having my students complete math warm ups at the beginning of class, I reduced behavior problems. It is also a great time to have students review concepts in math or problem solve. While they are working on the warm up, I get all of my materials ready for the class.
Things to Consider Before Starting Warm Ups for Math
Before you start using warm ups for math you need to think about how you want to implement them. Here are some things to help you plan.
Where will students keep their math warm ups?
Where will students keep their math warm ups? Should they keep it in their math notebook or in a special notebook designated just for warm ups. Will they keep them in a folder that is housed in the classroom and passed out at the beginning of class and taken up after the warm ups are complete? Think about what will work best for you and your students.
How will they be graded?
How will you grade your warm ups for math? Will it be a classwork grade? Quiz grade? Students need to know how they will be held accountable for their work. I gave my students a classwork grade every week for warm ups. As long as they tried, they received a 100. They had to record any answers that were missing as we went over them. If they left questions blank they lost points.
How will you organize your warm ups ?
What types of warm ups will you have each day of the week? There are many ways you can use warm ups in your math class. You can decide what will works best in your classroom. I followed this schedule:
Monday – Problem Solving or Review
Tuesday – Spiral of previous math topics
Wednesday – Problem Solving or Review
Thursday – Spiral of previous math topics
Friday – Problem Solving or Review
What will you use for your math warm ups ?
Here are some suggestions/ideas for warm ups for math.
1). Review math topics taught the day before or a topic that has been taught recently.
2). Open-ended questions, where students write to explain how they solve something.
3). Spiral topics from the previous grade or from topics taught earlier in the year.
4). Number Talks
5). Logic problems/problem solving/puzzles
Conclusion
Using math warm ups for middle school students is a great way to get students engaged in math. There are so many types of activities you can use for them. Be creative and make it fun!
Check out this FREE lesson on integers!
