The folks at the Adult Numeracy Network (ANN) have built a webpage to help adult education teachers bring instructional routines into their math classes.

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All of the Instructional Routines in the ANN collection:

• are accessible and challenging, respecting students as sense-makers
• are adaptable to students at any level
• can be approached in multiple ways
• promote understanding through discussion and center student voices
• make student thinking visible
• make math visual

At the time of this review, there were supports for bringing the following 34 instructional routines into your classroom:

Notice/Wonder	Three-Act Math Tasks	My Favorite No?
Dot Talks	Always, Sometimes, Never	Clarify, Critique, Correct
SPLAT!	Solve Me Mobiles	Information Gap
Fraction Talks	Clothesline Math	Going on a Number Picnic
Number Talks	Can You See It?	Menu Math
Number Strings	What Math Do You See?	Number of the Day
Test Talks	SAME or DIFFERENT?	Number Boxes
Visual Patterns	Would You Rather?	If I knew… then I could…
Estimation 180	Unit Chats	Look, Think, Talk
Which One Doesn’t Belong	Convince Me That…	Off You Go
Slow Reveal Graphs	Push & Support Cards
Numberless Word Problems	Wrong Answers Only

What are instructional routines?

Instructional routines are specific and repeatable designs for learning that support both the teacher and students in the classroom… enabling all students to engage more fully in learning opportunities while building crucial mathematical thinking habits.” Kelemanik, Lucenta, & Creighton (2016) 

Instructional routines are predictable structures that encourage thinking—not just right answers. Unlike one-off activities, instructional routines are meant to be used again and again. They create a rhythm that helps foster classroom environments where students feel safe exploring ideas and teachers can focus on understanding and guiding student thinking.

How do instruction routines support math teachers?

1. Instructional routines help teachers plan their lessons

• Provide ready-made structures that reduce planning time. Teachers can use instructional routines to organize their lessons. Teachers don’t have to decide on the structure or flow each time.
• Offer a predictable format that can be easily adapted to different content
• Help teachers align activities with clear goals and learning targets
• Allow flexibility while maintaining a strong focus on mathematical thinking.

For example, in a Unit Chat, the question is simply “How many?” Students can decide how they want to answer. Looking at this image, some students may count the avocado pits, some may count the number of avocado halves or of whole avocados. A student could even count the number of cutting boards in the picture or speculate on how many calories are shown. There is room for varied student thinking as well as potential connections to arrays, multiplication, fractions, and more!

2. Instructional Routines help teachers focus on student reasoning

• The routines in the collection center student thinking and encourage multiple solution strategies
• Create space for students to explain and defend their ideas
• Promote active listening and peer-to-peer discussion
• Help teachers assess understanding through student talk and work, not just answers

3. Instructional Routines help teachers introduce new concepts and material

Instructional Purpose	How Routines Help
Activate Prior Knowledge	Many routines start with accessible questions that every student can contribute to. This helps draw out students’ knowledge, build a collective understanding, and connect new ideas to what they already know. Example: Before a lesson on ratios a teacher can  show a photograph  of two ratios from the supermarket — like “Apples 4 for $3” and “Apples: 5 for $7.50” —  and use a routine like “Notice and Wonder” or “How is it the same? How is it different?” to invite open observations and questions, setting the stage for proportional reasoning.
Encourage Exploration Before Explanation	Routines create space for students to notice patterns, make predictions, or play with numbers before formal instruction. Example: A teacher might show students a completed function machine or a prime factor tree without explanation and ask, “What math do you see?” or Notice/Wonder.
Promote Meaning-Making	So many adult students return to our classes with past experiences of memorizing steps without truly understanding why they worked. Instructional routines provide opportunities to shift that experience—to slow down, think deeply, and connect ideas.
Create Low-Stakes Entry Points	Routines introduce unfamiliar content without pressure to get it “right” immediately. Example: In “Which One Doesn’t Belong?”, show students four equations, one of which involves an exponent (e.g, 23 = 8). Even if students haven’t learned exponents yet, they can notice a lot about the structure and notation of the equations. They begin engaging with the concept without needing to master it on the spot, building familiarity and confidence.
Provide Repetition Without Repetition	The structure stays the same, but the math changes. Students encounter new math in a routine they already know, so they can focus their attention on the mathematics rather than figuring out the task structure. This allows students to stay engaged through familiar formats while exploring new ideas and making deeper connections. Example: You can use Fraction Talks to build fraction concepts and then repurpose them to explore areas.

4. Instructional Routines help teachers incorporate other math topics during your semester

Routines allow teachers to bring in or spiral content —at various times during the semester—without needing to teach a new structure every time. For example, a teacher can use Menu Math during a unit on linear equations, and then use the same structure during a unit on geometry or statistics.

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How do instructional routines support students and classroom culture?

Instructional routines help reduce students’ cognitive load and increase their capacity to do and learn mathematics.

1. Clarify Expectations from the Start

Instructional routines clarify expectations and reduce uncertainty, allowing students to focus on math—not directions. A routine like Which One Doesn’t Belong? always begins with comparing four items. That helps students know what to expect so they don’t have to guess about the process or goals each time. Students can focus on reasoning and justification instead.

In a Number Talk, students learn to expect a process: Silently solve. Share answers. Explain thinking. Compare strategies.

Through repetition, this structure becomes familiar and automatic. Students don’t have to consciously remember what to do—they can dive right into the math.

2. Reduce Working Memory Demands

A routine like Visual Patterns walks students through a predictable thinking sequence: Notice patterns. Share observations. Make predictions. Draw. Generalize.

Since students don’t need to remember the process each time, they can use their working memory to make observations and explore the math deeply.

3. Lower Anxiety

Routines used consistently signal to students how the activities will go. This lowers anxiety and helps students settle into a mathematical mindset. The calm predictability helps learners, especially those with math anxiety.

4. Make Space for Complex Thinking

Because these routines have no “correct” answer and follow a familiar pattern, students can stretch their thinking—asking questions, exploring patterns, and connecting concepts—without worrying about doing the activity “wrong.”

5. Create a Sense of Safety and Belonging

When students know how a routine works and feel successful with it, they gain confidence. This emotional stability reduces stress and lets them persist through more challenging parts of the lesson that follow. Many routines also provide opportunities for students to share their ideas and hear others’ ideas. These conversations help students grow in their belief that their ideas matter and have a place in the classroom.

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Some advice on choosing an instructional routine:

• Start small. Choose one or two to try over the course of a semester and reflect on the impact on your students. What did you learn about your students’ ways of thinking? Did you notice any shifts in your students’ independence or self-concept as math learners? How did students respond to the structure of the routine—did they seem more settled, curious, or willing to take risks? Did the routine help you focus more on student thinking than on managing the activity?
• Try each one a few times. Routines become more powerful when students know what to expect. It will take a little time for students and teachers to get used to a routine. Be patient. Don’t be discouraged if routines don’t go well the first time you try them. This is common.
• Don’t limit routines to warm-ups. They are even more useful when connected to the core concepts and content you are exploring with your students. When sense-making routines are used separately from the actual content of the lesson, teachers run the risk that (a) students get the message that their sense-making is not “real math” and (b) the confidence students build through the routine doesn’t connect to the core content of the lesson.

Ready to explore?

Browse the full collection and start integrating instructional routines into your math classroom today. You’ll find routines you may already know, along with some brand new ones. Several routines were even created by fellow adult education teachers. If you have a routine that’s not listed, you can add it using the form at the bottom of the page!

Let your lessons become more predictable, more powerful, and more student-centered—with routines that truly work.

If you have any questions or comments—or if you’d like a thinking partner to talk about bringing instructional routines to your math students—please reach out to Mark Trushkowsky, Math Professional Development Coordinator, CUNY Adult Literacy Program. 

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An earlier draft of this review was published in the Minnesota ABE Connect newsletter.