Math Centers vs. Math Stations Part 2

Today we're going to focus on Math Centers. While Centers might seem daunting, they really are doable, and I'm going to help you!

Centers are not just for elementary students. You can certainly make them colorful and cutesy if that's your style, but it's not a requirement for a successful Center. Really, all you need are good problems and good groups. I've done a Center that was simply problems written on chart paper hung on the walls in the hallway outside of my classroom in a Gallery Walk setup, and it was hugely successful!

Centers can either be a review of multiple skills, or a time for students to practice one specific skill, which makes them more flexible than Stations. There should be a logical connection between the centers, however, so the students feel there is a purpose to what they are doing.

If manipulatives are available, Centers are an excellent time for the students to use them. If students do not have access to physical manipulatives, there are lots of pdf versions available that students can cut out and use. Additionally, iTunes has free virtual manipulative apps if iPads are available. We'll discuss the importance of manipulatives more in a future blog post, but trust me, they are important for students at every grade level to use.

Each Center should have clear instructions for the students to follow when they arrive, and students should record all of their work on a sheet designed for the activities. When you first start out with Centers, you might need to print recording sheets for students to use until they get used to how it needs to be organized. If you use Interactive Notebooks, students can record their work there. Centers are a great time to use foldables for recording as well.

Center activities should be open-ended, allowing for multiple responses from students. This will allow students to self-differentiate. For example, instead of asking students to look at a series of numbers and determine the pattern, you can ask them to list the first 5 numbers in a pattern of their choice, then describe the pattern rule. Counters could be provided for students at this center so they can model their pattern. Asking open-ended questions will also cut down on the number of parallel tasks you need to create for each Center.

Grouping should occur before the class starts. Consider the types of activities the students will be engaging in before deciding whether the groups should be high-low, high-high, low-low, etc. Also consider personalities when grouping students. The battle should not be able who doesn't want to work with each other, but about the fact that students are sad that class is over and they want to do more math! One of the best things to do with groups is to give each student a job within the group. The jobs must be meaningful to the students. You must also be able to hold each person accountable for their jobs. This will help cut down on classroom management issues, because students are policing each other for you!

Examples of Student Jobs:

Volume Control -  Makes sure group does not get too loud. The first time the teacher has to address the group, it's a warning. The second time, the group loses their treat (a piece of candy, a pencil, or bonus points seem to work well).

Question Manager -  All questions the group has must go to this person first. If students are still confused about the directions or the problem, this person is responsible for asking the teacher.

Topic Guru -  Makes sure group stays on topic. The first time the teacher has to address the group, it's a warning. The second time, the group loses their treat (a piece of candy, a pencil, or bonus points seem to work well).

Materials Manager - Makes sure all materials are put away when the group is finished at that Center. This person is also in charge of making sure all student work is turned in with names!

Make sure you set clear expectations before allowing students to begin their Centers. Also, understand that this is going to be a learning experience for everyone, students and teacher alike, so be a little flexible the first few times if things don't go exactly how you thought or hoped they would. Learn from each mistake and improve the process for the next time! You might find that you need an extra center to help with the flow. Or you might need a desk set off to the side with a worksheet or textbook on the skills that are being covered in the Centers for students who aren't able to participate in a way that is conducive to learning. Make sure you hold the whole group accountable if the whole group is not on task, but also remember that if there's only one student in the group that's having issues, only that student should be addressed. Something as simple as a group change might fix it. Other times, removing them from the fun of the Centers once or twice is enough to change the behavior.

With Centers, there is plenty of time for you to move around the room and check in on groups. Use this time to praise students for their hard work, their perseverance, and their ability to work together!

How do you use Centers in your classroom? Share your stories in the comments!

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!

Making Number Talks Matter

I've just finished reading a great book called Making Number Talks Matter by Cathy Humpreys and Ruth Parker. Number Talks (or Math Talks) might not be new to you, but just in case they are: A number talk is "a short, fifteen-minute daily routine, in which students... mentally solve computation problems and talk about their strategies."

I know that 15 minutes is not actually a short amount of time in a classroom setting, and that for those of us who only see our students for 55 minutes a day, those 15 minutes are precious. But hear me out before you decide this isn't going to be a helpful part of your daily routine.

Raise your hand if you've ever bemoaned your students' lack of mathematical understanding. Raise your hand if you've ever wondered what your students have been doing in math class all those years before they got to you. Raise your hand if you've ever heard "You have to put the bigger number on top when you subtract." Raise your hand if seeing your students use their fingers to do any type of math makes your blood boil while also making you sad. Raise your hand if your students freak out when fractions come onto the scene. Did any of these things make your hand go up? Well then... Let's look at number talks and see if they can help with these things.

The fact that this happens in so many classrooms across the country does not indicate a lack of good mathematics teachers, or a wealth of students who aren't "math people" (not a real thing, by the way), but a problem with how mathematics has been taught. We have been taught that using the procedures and rules correctly and quickly is math, without anyone trying to have that process make sense.

This is where Number Talks come in! Number Talks are all about students and their ways of thinking. Number Talks allow students to tackle a problem mentally, and explore the methods they used in order to solve it. This often leads them to discover certain mathematical properties, and allows them to see the logic and connections between different strategies. They become more willing to persevere when solving complex problems and become more confident when they realize that they have ideas worth listening to.

The previous post, with the dots, is an example of a Number Talk. No matter what grade you teach, using dot cards is a great way to start this routine with your students. There is no arithmetic to scare students off, and all they have to do is describe what they see! Now, I know that this has been a long post, and the book I recommended is also pretty long, so I've created a PowerPoint that works as a companion to the book. I recommend checking out the PowerPoint, and if you feel like it would be helpful, check out the book! It's filled with great transcripts of classroom number talks to give you an idea of what it looks like in action.

Making Number Talks Matter - The Four Basic Operations