Math Center Management

I don't know about you, but it seems that every year I am trying to streamline my math centers.  I want to not only make my life easier, but I also want to make it more manageable and meaningful for my students.  

This year I tried something a little bit new.  

First of all, I have my math center rotations on a SMART notebook so I can easily put it up on my SMARTboard.  No more finding a spot in the room for a rotation chart that we use once a day.

Each day I just move the circles to the next center and then save the changes to the notebook before I close it after center time.

Secondly, I bought these drawers last year and decided they would be perfect for my math centers.  I have them numbered.  They also easily come out.  I have my students take the whole drawer to their table.

Lastly, in order to make things easier for myself.  I have kept the centers somewhat similar in each drawer.  Here is what my math centers look like:

Center 1 - pattern blocks

Center 2 - matching game and/or CRASH

Center 3 - changes each week

Center 4 - iPads

Center 5 - roll & color games

Center 6 - spinner games

As you can see, my students know instantly what they are doing at each center each week.  I don't keep the exact same activity in the drawer every week, but they are somewhat similar.  In my pattern block drawer, I use Elizabeth Hall's pattern block activities from her B.U.I.L.D. math centers.  (You can grab them here)

The centers change with each theme I am teaching, but the way to play the games/centers is usually the same except for center three.  I like to have one that I can change up.  I always teach that center whole group before I ever expect my students to do it on their own.  

During the time my students are doing math centers, I am pulling small groups.  I pull a group who needs some reteaching and I pull another group for enrichment.  I love having the opportunity to pull these students.  

Do you do math centers?  If so, I would love to hear how you manage them.  Sound off in the comments below!

What Worked Well Wednesday: Math Journals

Hello Friends!  It's Heather from Learning with Mrs. Langley and I'm excited to bring you What Worked Well Wednesday

It's that time of year when we are implementing all those procedures in the classroom.  Math Journals are something that we have been trying to encourage in our district for a couple of years now and if you've never used them they can be difficult to start.  I hope I can inspire you to give them a try today!

First: Where to start? 

I use regular composition books for our math journals.  If you get them during back to school sales they are good and CHEAP!  They last all year and can stand up to a Kindergartener.

I have a half day schedule so I have 2 sets of math journals.  I keep them in separate bins so I can keep them straight!

Once we have our books labeled with names I go over our expectations.  Just like everything else in Kindergarten you have to tell them EXACTLY what to do.....step by step.

• Open up to the next new clean page each day.
• Write your name at the top of the page (this is not necessary, but I like the extra name writing practice).
• ONLY write on the page for the day (no flipping through the book)
• Draw a picture to solve the problem and write the answer at the bottom of the page. 

This is where we start.  Our routine builds throughout the year but this is what it looks like through August and September.

Next:  What do we put in them? 

We use our journals to SOLVE PROBLEMS but at the beginning of the year we need to learn how to record our thinking and write our numbers.  My very first lesson starts with counting items and recording them.  We actually do this for a few weeks to get into the routine.

Once we have our routine in place and we are really good at counting items, recording them, and writing our numbers we start addition problems.

I write all of my own problems for Kindergarten.  We start with addition problems and explore unknowns in all positions.  

To make it EASY PEASY to put the problem in their journal I have 2 solutions for you. 

#1 You can write the problems as a label and print out a page of labels for every problem.  (I did this for years, it works great!)

#2 Write the problems out on a grid, print them out, cut them, and have kiddos glue them into their journals. (This is how I do it now, it takes a little training!)

Here is an example of the grid.

Why go through all the trouble?  It is SUPER important to write your own problems!  Really it is!  Use your kiddos names, use their interests, talk about your class....whatever! If they are PART OF THE PROBLEM then they are EXCITED to be part of the SOLUTION! Engagement goes up 10 fold when you write problems to match your kids.

THAT'S WHAT WORKS FOR ME!  Do you use math journals in your classroom?  What works for you?  If you haven't ever tried journals I encourage you to give them a try this year.  August/September is a great time to start!

Now it's your turn to link up.  We would love to hear what works for you in your classroom.  Link up here to share!  Be sure to visit a couple of the teachers that linked up to share a little Kinder Tribe love!

An InLinkz Link-up