Math Centers vs. Math Stations Part 1

I recently received a question about how to incorporate Math Centers into classrooms outside of the Elementary Building, and thought I'd share some of my research with y'all! There are two different ways to approach grouping of this sort, Math Centers and Math Stations, but both are excellent ways to differentiate instruction for students. There is a little more preparation involved on the front-end for these lessons, but day-of, I promise you will feel like you're on vacation while your students are working like crazy!

Math Centers

• Different activities setup around the classroom. Activities can be linked to one skill or standard, or can be setup as a review of many skills or standards.
• Students visit every center round-robin style.
• Students will be paired or put into groups that will work and move together.
• This set-up is what we typically think of when we think of centers.

Math Stations

• Different stations with different purposes setup around the classroom. Each station's activities should be linked to one skill or standard.
• Students only visit the stations they need practice with. This will be determined by the teacher ahead of class.
• Students may be paired or grouped, but their individual needs should be properly addressed, so grouping should be like-with-like.

There are many different ways to set up both Centers and Stations, but for this post I am going to focus on Stations. I will do a "Part Two" and address Centers in the next blog post I do. I feel like we as educators are more familiar with Centers, thus the delay in addressing them.

Some teachers use Stations for every lesson, with students in set groups that rotate through the Stations depending on the day. I've found a few examples of how they set up their schedule, and I'm linking to their blogs for those interested in this approach. Other teachers use Stations depending on which unit they're teaching. Whichever approach you decide to take, make sure you start small and model one station at a time for the students so there are no questions as to what is expected of them when it comes time to do them all in one day.

Station Setup Example (taken from an excellent post from Montgomery County Public Schools):

The Teaching Station

• Students receive direct instruction from the teacher.
• Focus lessons, guided practice, reteaching opportunities.

Proof Place

• Students use concrete or pictorial representations to explain and defend their work.
• Students will document their work.

Practice Plaza

• Students practice concepts with which they need additional experience.
• Students will check their work with a calculator or provided answer key.
• Students complete a self-evaluation and leave signed and dated work at the station.

The Shop

• Students work with math applications. Mr. Fuddle, who always seems to need help, runs the shop. Items in the shop vary from time to time, as do the tasks.
• Students leave notes for Mr. Fuddle explaining the problem he has and what he should do to solve it or what he should do next time to avoid the problem. The notes are left in Mr. Fuddle’s mailbox.

If you have students who tend to finish quickly, create one more station than you have groups. For example, if you have 4 groups of students, create 5 stations. This way, there is always somewhere for your students to move to. This will help with timing issues, as well as allowing you a period of time to assign every group to one other than the Teaching Station so you can circulate around the room to help students if needed.

If you have technology available in your classroom, you can incorporate it into your stations. However, do not succumb to the pull of math games. These are not skill-specific and tend to be less about math and more about the game. There are lots of free iPad apps available for virtual manipulatives that can be used by students to help solve problems. Additionally, sites like ixl.com and Khan Academy can be used in these stations, as it is easy for you to select specific standards and skills for the students to practice.

What are some ways you've incorporated Math Stations into your own classroom? Share them in the comments!