A peek inside the 7th Grade Math Spiral Review

Whether you’re preparing to teach seventh grade math for the first time or the fifteenth, there are always decisions to make. One question you might be asking yourself is how best to ensure your students get the opportunity to review the important skills you teach them as the year goes on. If you’re looking for a math spiral review 7th grade students will enjoy or just hoping to learn more about why it’s important to include a spiral review in your daily routine, you’ve come to the right place.

What should a 7th grader know in math? 

By the 7th grade, students are expected to be proficient in computation, which includes working with fractions and decimals. At this point, they are building the foundational skills that will carry them through their remaining middle school math classes and into algebra and geometry. 

The seventh grade math curriculum tends to have 3 major math concepts it focuses on proportional relationships, negative numbers, and linear equations. When mastered, these three topics will facilitate an easy transition to more difficult math in years to come. 

Here are a few of the skills a seventh-grader should be able to do:

• Convert fractions to decimals 
• Understand  proportional relationships and use them to calculate rates and unit rates
• Solve real world problems involving scale, area, volume, and surface area
• Compute with decimals, fractions, and percentages in and out of word problems
• Solve single-variable equations and inequalities
• Determine the area and circumference of a circle 

What is math spiral review & why is it important? 

 Math spiral review is one piece of a well-balanced math curriculum. The concept of spiral review focuses on providing a regular review for math skills and concepts that have been taught in class. The goal of a math spiral is to keep offering opportunities to practice key skills and strategies needed to master grade-level content. 

Build it into your daily classroom routine for best results, but remember your spiral review is not a replacement for seventh grade lessons. Instead, it should supplement the work done in the classroom.

It can be morning work or a bell ringer activity. Use it as a component of a whole group lesson.

Work through it with small groups or as partner work. You can even assign it as homework that is reviewed together each day. 

Spiral review is important for a number of reasons. First, it allows students multiple exposures to a concept in order to build mastery over time.

While some students will grasp the material quickly, many others will need these repeated exposures to begin to internalize the complexities that are introduced in the 7th-grade math curriculum. 

Similarly, this helps build student confidence because each exposure builds familiarity. As the work becomes easier, the learners feel more capable in their abilities to complete it accurately and independently. 

A third benefit is that it offers quick, easy-to-gather data on student progress. Use the formative assessment data to quickly decide when additional instruction is needed to best meet the needs of your learners. 

Math Spiral in 7th Grade – Getting Started Guide

Whether you are new to teaching 7th-grade math or just looking to add a math spiral to your current seventh grade math curriculum, it is important to start by figuring out how you’ll implement this in your classroom.

Since consistency is such an important factor, you’ll want a plan in advance. Be sure to consider: 

• Which spiral review format is best for my learners? 
• Does this align with my district’s seventh grade math curriculum?
• When students will complete the review
• How will students be allowed to work? In groups? Independently? 
• What will your plan be to review and discuss the day’s work? 
• Where will students keep this work? Will you designate a folder? Use a digital version? 
• How will you monitor the data to determine who may need support? 

There are many different options for math spirals available, which makes it important to spend some time finding one that is going to match your instructional style and learner’s needs. For example, we designed the 7th-grade math spiral with struggling and low-confidence learners in mind. 

Each week covers 5 key math skills. Students practice these skills each day using similarly formatted questions. The goal is that even if a student needs significant support to work through the problems on Monday, he should be more independent on the skills by Friday. 

An overview of the 7th Grade Spiral Review 

The Math Spiral Review for Grade 7 includes 36 weeks of standards-aligned daily seventh-grade math practice to cover 180 days of instruction. 

Each day’s work includes 5 questions covering five different math skills. Early in the year, these questions focus on reviewing important 6th grade standards.

Soon students transition to daily practice with five seventh-grade standards. Near the end of the school year, students are introduced to a few eighth-grade standards to help bridge the transition to a new school year. 

Here’s an example of one day’s work from near the middle of the year. 

You’ll notice that in this week’s practice students are expected to practice a number of seventh grade math skills.

First, students need to have an understanding of operations and be able to divide fractions with unlike denominators. Then, they must be able to apply the distributive property as a precursor to more intense work with algebraic equations. They also need to write one-step equations and have an understanding of angles and their measurements. 

Printable Version

The printable version is a single printable math worksheet per week. The daily work is clearly labeled to help students stay on track with what needs to be completed, and the problems are clear and easy to read. 

Each week has a reflection question to support metacognition and build executive functioning skills. Questions include goal setting, considering areas of strength, planning and evaluating, and more. 

Since many teachers like to use Friday’s work as a formative assessment or quiz, there is also space for teacher comments and an area where students can correct mistakes if they struggle with the work. 

Digital Version

The digital version of the 7th-grade math spiral is available in Google Slides. While the work is the same as the printable option, the formatting differs in that each day’s questions are provided on their own slide. This makes each week’s work a total of 5 slides. 

One advantage of the digital version is that it offers more opportunities for students to physically manipulate the digital components and manipulatives. It can also be less visually overwhelming for learners who may struggle when given a full page. 

Display the digital slides using a projector or assign them in Google Classroom or another online learning platform.

A printable answer sheet is provided for teachers who choose to display these for students to work through.

Skills addressed in the Math Spiral Review 7th Grade Edition

This math spiral aligns with Common Core State Standards and Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills. In addition, there was a purposeful effort to build in opportunities for exposure and practice with math language. While students may have an understanding of math, if they do not develop the language of algebra as they move through middle school it becomes difficult to keep up. 

Here are just a few of the important 7th grade math objectives practiced throughout this resource. This bundle covers each objective multiple times throughout the year.

Students will: 

• calculate with complex fractions, decimals, and percentages.
• convert decimals to fractions to solve problems.
• evaluate an expression for a given variable.
• calculate percent change with decimals
• determine the circumference of circles given their radius.
• translate written inequalities into algebraic equations.
• solve multi-step word problems involving percentages using simple equations.
• use the distributive property to solve multi-step equations
• complete negative number operations
• translate a verbal expression into algebraic expressions. 
• apply order of operations (PEMDAS)
• solve one-step equation word problems

Teacher Supports included in this Resource

In addition to the tips and suggestions for preparation and implementation, an at-a-glance scope and sequence outlines the skills addressed each week.

Each week includes pre-written student objectives aligned to the daily questions and a list of Tier 3 academic vocabulary. (Learn more about why academic vocabulary is so important in this article: Vocabulary is Destroying Your Test Scores)

Finally, you’ll find answer keys to help save you time and speed up the grading process. 

How to purchase this Math Spiral for Your 7th Graders

If you’re looking for the best resource to help your students master 7th-grade math standards and you’re hoping to avoid frustration for your struggling or reluctant learners, your search is over!

This 7th Grade Math Spiral Review is available in my shop, along with additional options for grades 1-8, and is a great addition to any seventh grade math program.