Tuesday, September 20, 2011

September Math Work Stations

My math work stations seem to be coming along pretty well. A few times a week I take a couple minutes at the start of math station time to introduce a new game or activity. This way I just change out one station at a time and don't have to introduce 10 new stations to the kiddos all at once! Last week I changed stations 1-3, this week I am planning to change 4-6, and so on. So, after about 3 weeks each bin has a new activity. Not sure if that description makes sense-but I hope so!

I am also still taking about 5 minutes each day at the end of math station time for my students to come together and reflect on what went well and what they need to work on the next day. My students decided on 3 rules for our math stations time and we have been working on reviewing these rules every day.

1. Work quietly
2. Do your station the right way (I swear they can turn any math manipulative into a toy!)
3. Be nice to your partner (The kids like to call this rule "No Fighting")

Here are some of my current stations:


Station 1: Harvest Time (This fun game is from Mrs. Wills Apples Math Work Stations Pack. Click here to check it out. Students take turns rolling a dice and using a unifix cube to cover up the apple basket with the corresponding number on the game board. This is a total class favorite!)

Station 2: Bear Patterns (Kids make patterns with bears. They can make up their own pattern, or recreate patterns they see on one of the cards-I think I found these cards at my local teacher store a few years ago).


Station 3: Number Order Mats (Students take a number mat and fill in the missing numbers with magnetic numbers. This is surprisingly challenging and I often hear the kids couting quietly to themselves to try to figure it out! Click here to check out this free resource from The Toddler House.) 


Station 4: Geoboards (Students are doing free exploration with the geoboards right now, but there are lots of great free resources to make this station more challenging next month. Click here for my free geoboard task cards. Click here for geoboard templates from Making Learninging Fun that show how to make letters on the geoboard. Click here for templates for making numbers on the geoboard-they even have a blank geoboard template you can print out so that students can draw their own geoboard creations!)

Station 5: Brown Bear Color Graph  (This game is from Deanna Jump and Julie Lee's School is Fun: Math and Literacy Centers for August and September Packet. Click here to check it out. Students spin an animal on the spinner and record what they spin on the graphing sheet. This game is especially popular since we read the Brown Bear book earlier this month)

Station 6: Don't Miss the Bus (This game is from Mrs. Wills' Back to School Math Work Stations-Beginning Number Concepts Pack. Click here to check it out. Students take turns rolling the dice and tracing the corresponding number on their paper. Great for math skills and handwriting practice!) 


Station 7: Rock and Roll a Block (This game is from Deanna Jump and Julie Lee's School is Fun: Math and Literacy Centers for August and September Packet. Click here to check it out. Students roll the special pattern block dice and color in the shape they rolled on their graph. Students use the pattern blocks they roll to make a picture and color it at the bottom of the sheet.)


Station 8: Spin a Shape (Students spin the spinner, name the shape, and then cover up that shape on their game board. First player to cover all of their shapes wins. Click here to download this free game that I made).

If you have any fun math work station ideas for September-please share! Interested in what other teachers have been up to this past week-check out Clutter Free Classroom's "A Peek in my Planbook: Week in Review" Linky Party.


5 comments:

  1. Looks like it is going well. We are in our third week and are still exploring.

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  2. wow, they are doing a great job! Are you using a task chart to rotate the children? Or, do they know they must complete a certain number of stations each day?

    I was looking at your classroom pics the other night, drooling over your centers and space! I hope we can get together this year!

    Http://read-write-sing.blogspot.com

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  3. I love your work stations! I just gave you the Versatile Blogger award, come by my blog to pick it up!

    Jennifer @ Herding Kats In Kindergarten

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  4. Thank you for posting about my math stations. I am so glad your kiddos are enjoying them!

    Mrs. Wills Kindergarten

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  5. Hey Chrissy-yes I use a task chart. The kids check the chart to see which stations to go to that day (2 math stations a day). They are pretty good at using the chart since they also use it for our literacy stations.
    ~Meredith

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