Launching Math Workshop in 5 Days

The first five days of school can truly set the tone for your entire year in math workshop. While it’s tempting to jump straight into curriculum and academic content, I’ve found that slowing down and intentionally building routines first makes a HUGE difference later on. If you are reading this later into the school year, that’s okay too! Just replace the activities below with similar activities that have very little academic focus.

During the first week of school, my main goal is simple: establish strong math workshop expectations and routines without overwhelming students academically. By focusing on procedures, collaboration, and classroom structure first, students gain confidence in the workshop model before rigorous math instruction begins.

Here’s exactly how I structure my first five days of school to start math workshop strong!

Why I Focus on Routines Before Academics

Upper elementary students thrive when expectations are clear and consistent. Math workshop involves multiple moving parts — whole group instruction, small groups, independent work, transitions, materials, and collaboration.

If students don’t understand those systems early on, workshop time can quickly become chaotic. That’s why I dedicate the first five days to building classroom community, teaching expectations, practicing workshop routines, developing independence, and creating positive teamwork experiences.

The best part? Students are learning the structure of math workshop without the pressure of difficult academic tasks!

Days 1 & 2: Supplies, Expectations, and Get-to-Know-You Activities

The first two days are all about building the foundation for a successful classroom environment.

During these days, I focus heavily on organizing classroom supplies, practicing basic procedures, learning classroom schedules and routines, building relationships, and introducing workshop expectations. Rather than expecting students to automatically know how our math block will run, I explicitly teach the expectations of our classroom. 

Introducing Workshop Model Expectations

In order to prepare students for the workshop model and get them into routine, I go over the three groupings we use the most; Whole Group, Small Groups, and Independent Work. 

For whole group instruction we practice where students will sit, what active listening looks like, how to participate respectfully, what turn-and-talk looks like, and finally how to ask questions appropriately. I model exactly what successful whole-group learning looks and sounds like.

My small group instruction practice focuses mainly on voice levels, collaborative skills, how to share materials, and problem-solving and disagreeing respectfully. These conversations are essential because small-group instruction becomes a major part of the math workshop throughout the entire year.

Even though we do not do independent work daily in math workshop, it is one of the most important routines to establish early. We discuss and practice working quietly, staying on task, what to do when they are finished, and how to ask for help. 

The more time I spend practicing these routines now, the smoother math workshop runs throughout the remainder of the year. 

Days 3, 4, & 5: STEM Team-Building Activities in a Workshop Format

Once students have a basic understanding of expectations, I begin introducing the actual workshop structure using STEM activities instead of academic math tasks. This is one of my favorite back-to-school strategies because students learn the routine of math workshop without the stress of math content.

Each day includes a different STEM team-building challenge (these are all included in my back to school team building resource). Day 3 is Marshmallow Towers, day 4 is building Oreo Towers, and finally day 5 is the paper chain challenge. Students LOVE these activities, and they naturally encourage teamwork, communication, and problem-solving.

How I Structure Each STEM Workshop Day

The format stays consistent all three days so students begin internalizing the workshop routine. First, we start out with the mini lesson, just like we would normally! I introduce the STEM challenge in the whole group setting, on the carpet. I go over the challenge in detail including all materials, team work expectations, and the step-by-step procedures that are in the challenge packet.

This format mirrors my typical mini lessons in math workshop, therefore, students begin learning where to sit, how to listen, how transitions work, and how I will give directions while in whole group.

Following our mini lesson (the introduction to the STEM challenges), we have the active engagement portion where students participate in a short discussion before beginning the activity. During this time, I show them I expect them to raise their hands, answers questions, and even turn and talk. Some questions I ask during this time are: 

• “What makes a successful team?”

• “How can we solve disagreements respectfully?”

• “How can we encourage each other?”

• “For the task today, turn and talk with your elbow partner an idea you have that you think would work.”

  
  

Students share ideas and practice discussion routines while building classroom community. This step is so valuable because it gives students ownership in the classroom expectations we are creating together.

Finally, we get to center time! For days 3, 4, and 5, the students complete the STEM challenges in their groups during center time. These STEM projects allow students to practice collaboration, transitions to and from centers, problem solving, communication, and center time expectations, all while also getting to know their new classmates. 

Meanwhile, I can observe student behaviors, identify leadership qualities, and reinforce expectations in real time. Normally, I would be pulling small groups at this time, however, walking around assisting and making sure expectations are in place and understood is more important for a successful year.

Because the activity is fun and low-pressure, students can focus entirely on learning the workshop process instead of worrying about academic performance.

Why This Approach Works So Well

Using STEM challenges during the first week creates the perfect balance between structure and fun. Students are learning routines, practicing expectations, building relationships, developing teamwork skills, and becoming comfortable with workshop procedures all without the heavy academic demand!

By the end of these first 5 days, students already understand the basic flow of math workshop. We have practiced the mini lesson, active engagement, center work time, transitions, and clean up multiple times! That familiarity makes it much easier to begin academic math instruction the following week. 

Starting the Year Strong

The first week of school is about so much more than content. It’s about building a community and creating routines that will support your classroom all year long. Taking the time to intentionally teach math workshop expectations during the first five days helps students feel confident, prepared, and successful from the very beginning.

And honestly? It saves SO much time later in the year because students already know exactly how workshop works, we just have to be consistent with it! 

If you’re looking for a way to start math workshop smoothly, incorporating STEM team-building activities into your first week can be an absolute game changer!