The Learning Chambers: math centers

Today I wanted to share a few of my go-to simple math stations for my second graders. They can be easily differentiated for your students and the best part is that they are low prep. That's right! I said, "low-prep" isn't that the best word for all of us tired teachers!

#1 - Velcro Number Line
I don't know what it is about number lines, but my students always seem to struggle with ordering numbers on an open number line. I wanted to create an easy to use, giant, number line for my students to work with. One day when I picked up my kiddos from music class, I noticed that the music teacher had a giant music staff on her carpet. I totally had to ask how she did it! To my surprise, she had just used two strips of sticky back velcro and stuck both of the strips together.

Then, she velcroed the clingy part to the carpet. It sticks to the carpet perfectly y'all ... and it's easily moved to another spot in the room! No sticky residue left behind either! Genius!!

Then, I wrote numbers on index cards and placed a small strip of velcro to the back of each card. The kids take the cards and order them as part of a station. I also have cards with question marks to have them identify the missing numbers on an open number line. To differentiate, I have a variety of numbers for the students to choose from. They can work with 1-digit, 2-digit, or 3-digit numbers.

#2 - UNO Cards for Greater Than and Less Than

I love using sentence strip stations because they are easily differentiated. My students can choose to also use 2-digit and 3-digit numbers by building them with the Uno Cards. They play with a partner and one partner draws the first card and then the second partner draws the second card. They record their work in their math workstation journal and I do random quick checks through the week, to make sure they are completing their work. I also have sentence strips with just the > and < symbols.

#3 - Roll and Show Place Value Game

Roll and Show is another math partner game that can be easily differentiated. I also have another dice in the station, so that the kids can build 3-digit numbers. The kids roll the dice and then build the number using the base ten blocks. They record the number in their journal in standard form, word form, and expanded form. Super simple but great practice for a hard math concept.

I hope you enjoyed these 3 super simple easy prep math stations! I would love to hear how they work in your class.

Hi guys. My name is Ashley and I am super excited to be a guest blogger this week. I am taking sometime off from my own blog, Anchored in Learning, to help Stephanie out during her move. Before I locked down a tenured track position in my current district I spent some time bouncing around as a long-term maternity leave substitute. This gave me insight into how others organize and manage their classrooms. In the primary grades there are many small math manipulatives that can easily be lost or broken. I have seen these manipulatives organized and disorganized many ways. This week I want to spend some time discussing helpful tips for organizing Guided Math centers and manipulatives.

One of the most helpful things you can do to keep things clean and organize is to involve your students. Let them take ownership and responsibility over their materials. I know, I know, easier said than done. My students would be lost without picture labels. Label all of your bins with pictures and words so the students know how and where to put things away. A quick search on Teachers Pay Teachers will lead you to many free or cheap labels. Next organizational tip... Math Bags. Each of my student has a Math Bag(Zip Bag or Manila Envelope) to store their materials and a small check sheet to so they know what supplies should be in there. If they discover something is missing they can go over to the labeled supply bins and retrieve what they need. When it is time for independent practice or Guided Math Centers the students take their Math Bags out and can get straight to work without wasting instructional time passing out supplies.

In the beginning of the year I involve the students in the distribution of the math materials. I split the students up into teams and then have them sort the counting cubes by color and then into towers of 10.Each student selects a tower of 10 to add to their Math Bag and the rest get stored by color in Freezer Zip Bags for the future. The students also add dice, counting chips, a spinner, shape blocks, and of course a pencil to their Math Bags.

This is a great team building exercise because students attack the challenge differently. Sometimes each student picks a color or object to sort by , sometimes they sort altogether, and yes sometimes they argue and require some conflict resolution. Either way you get a glimpse at how the students work in groups. Now that all of your manipulative are organized for the year it's time to start introducing your Guided Math Centers. If you are unfamiliar with Guided Math Centers or Math Workshop there are a million great resources out there that explain different ways to get started. Like many others I use the acronym B.U.I.L.D. for my Math Centers. BUILD stands for...

Buddy Games,
Using Manipulatives,
Independent Practice,
Learning with Technology,
Doing Math with the Teacher.

Each center corresponds with a different cloth bin housing all the activities needed for that week. If the students are at the Buddy Game center they take the "B" bin and can get started playing Buddy Games that correspond with the chapter we are focusing on. When it is time to switch centers, all the materials go back into the appropriate bin so that the next group will be ready to go. Click the link below to grab your own copy of my B.U.I.L.D. labels. I Love Freebies