Meaningful Small Groups in Math, Grades K-5

Target the Math…Support the Students…Provide Access for All

The need for focused small group math instruction has never been greater. Today’s education landscape is fraught with learning divides unlike anything we’ve faced in recent years. We need new ways of teaching students who have remarkably varying levels of understanding and vastly different needs.

Meaningful Small Groups in Math, Grades K-5 offers practical guidance on how to meet the diverse needs of today’s students. Written for K-5 classroom teachers, math interventionists and instructional coaches, this user-friendly, accessible book provides guidance on the necessary components of small group instruction in math, trajectories for small-group instruction on specific concepts, and practical steps for getting started. Readers will find

• Checklists and templates for implementing small group, sample lessons in the major content domains
• Emphasis on flexible groups
• Intervention and extension ideas for differentiating learning
• A chapter devoted to developing small-group programs across a school or organization

Small group instruction in mathematics has not been as well-developed as its counterpart in the reading world. In K-5 math classrooms, small-group instruction has typically been reduced to learning centers and rotation stations, with little emphasis on differentiated, small-group, teacher-facilitated learning. To meet the needs of today’s students, a more focused approach is needed.

Kimberly Rimbey is an author, inventor, entrepreneur, speaker, consultant, coach, mentor, advocate, and, proudest of all, a teacher through and through. Kim currently serves as the Chief Learning Officer and CEO at KP® Mathematics and an Official Building Thinking Classrooms Consultant alongside Peter Liljedahl. A life-long teacher and learner, her heart’s work centers on equipping teachers and helping them fall in love with teaching and learning over and over again. 

Always a teacher at heart, Kim has held several leadership positions, including Executive Director of Curriculum and Instruction, Chief Learning Officer, and Mathematica Program Area Coordinator. That said, everything Kim has done in her career is based on what she learned during her 18 years as a mathematics coach and classroom teacher. 

Kim is National Board Certified in Early Adolescent Mathematics, and she is a recipient of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics Teaching. Kim is the co-inventor of KP® Ten-Frame Tiles and has authored and co-authored several publications, including the Mastering Math Manipulatives and Meaningful Small Groups in Math for Corwin, Math Power: Simple Solutions for Mastering Math for the Rodel Foundation of Arizona, and, most recently, The Amazing Ten Frame series for KP Mathematics. 

Kim earned her BA in Elementary Education and Mathematics from Grand Canyon University, her M.Ed. degrees in Early Childhood Education and Educational Leadership from Arizona State University and Northern Arizona University, and her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from Arizona State University. Kim lives in Phoenix, Arizona, where she continues to inspire teachers and their leaders.