Math Centers

Mountain Math

Dollar store bins + labels = organization!

 I turned vertical bookshelves on their sides, added a cushion, 

and used the space underneath for math manipulative!

Each bin is labeled with a math concept.

There are file folders of my old Everyday Math printable games. They are organized in hanging pocket folders. When I get low on photocopies, a kiddo will let me know.

I organized my envelope math games and baggie games from Really Good Stuff by concept in this rolling cart. I actually bought the rolling cart at a garage sale for $3.

I keep all math manipulatives and games in one area of the classroom.

The labels are really awesome! I'll have to check which website I downloaded them from!

You can never have too many dollar store dice!

Hot Dots are the coolest! More about these to come!

In college I used these clear and white drawers to organize my jewelry -

Now I use them to organize my math manipulatives!

We call this the meeting area. It holds all math manipulatives and games...

PLUS it's the meeting area we use for Daily Five.

Whiteboards and Expo markers are necessary during math!

So, I like to be super organized, and these pictures are just from my meeting area in the classroom. The meeting area holds all things math related. It is also about ten feet away from my Smartboard, where I teach math lessons, so I can see how my kiddos are working, but we aren't bothered by their quiet chatter. (We call quiet chatter a Level One Voice Level.)

My math is taught in two small, flexible groups. Yes, I use the CCLS Math Modules from EngageNY. No, my school didn't adopt them, so I have some leeway. I teach the application problem and problem set to both groups. I call the higher students over for their lesson first, while everyone else works on their math center folder. The higher kiddos do not need an hour long lesson. They also do the exit ticket independently and I check it before they go. When I call the lower group over for a lesson, I have about 45 minutes left in my 70 minute block, so I can take my time and teach more of the lesson to them.

These groups change all the time. That's the beauty of flexible heterogeneous grouping. The kids don't think of the groups as high and low...they think of them as fast and regular. Plus, when my lower students do not understand a lesson, I either anticipate that and pre-teach the lesson's concept development in our Academic Intervention Services (AIS) block, or I reteach it. We have AIS every afternoon from 2:30-3:00, so I service the kiddos who failed both Math and ELA state tests in third grade. Kiddos who only failed ELA leave the room for ELA, kiddos who only failed math leave the room for math instruction, and the small handful of kids who passed both receive enrichment in both ELA and Math. PHEW! That was a mouthful!

Anyway, I love my math block. The kiddos are hard workers because they LOVE math. We all work really hard and learn a lot!