Math Work Stations Ch. 3 - Revisited

I recently posted my thoughts about Math Work Stations after using them in my classroom for a year.  Many of you, commented how you plan to get started with this math style this year.  To help you, I am going to "revisit" these as well.

Chapter 3 is about Getting Started.  To read the original post and the links of other bloggers who joined in this virtual study, go here.

My Reflections Now:

  • I started and introduced a few games at a time.  
  • I loved having my students work with a partner.  We changed partners about once a month.
  • I love dice! They can be used for so many skills.  
  • The same can be said for all the Oriental Trading and Target Dollar Spot erasers, I have collected over the years.  Change the counter and it instantly becomes a "new" game.  :)
  • Kids requested games that they wanted me to keep.  I also instantly knew when a game was a flop.  I got the "I'm Done" teacher.  
  • My original plan to have each tub categorized by standard was too overwhelming for me.  Numbering the boxes was easier.  
  • I was able to incorporate Common Core Standards as well as teacher "the book" all year long.
  • Math Work Stations became easier to plan as the year progressed.  
  • I loved that I could incorporate games that perhaps, my kids did not have at home like Connect Four, Hungry Hungry Hippo, puzzles, etc.  They each had mathematical value in our classroom.  
As I plan for the upcoming year, I know that I will "tweak" things about Math Work Stations.  I plan to reread the book again this summer to see how I can fit some skills in more frequently like geometry and measurement.

Happy Teaching and Learning!

5 comments

  1. I love the idea of the erasers making things "new"! Thanks for sharing.

    Elizabeth

    Fun in Room 4B

    ReplyDelete
  2. I followed the book study last year and tried to incorporate it through the year. I'm glad you're revisiting because I want to start the year off with Math Stations this year. Thanx

    ReplyDelete
  3. I followed the book study last summer then got the book and read it so quickly. It's fabulous! I will definitely use it next year but I too need to add games and tweek some. Thanks for the link to last summer's posts. I'm going to re-read some of those too.
    _Chrissy
    First Grade Found Me

    ReplyDelete
  4. I also followed the book study last summer. I was scared to say the least to start out the year with the 10 Math Stations! I started slowly with maniplatives and modeled new games slowly...this was for me as much as for the students! It went great!!! I also used numbers for my stations with pictures of the students. My problem was that we did one rotation a day and so my changing of the stations were not all at once...some times it ended up changing one a day for a few days. This made it hard for use with my seasonal games.Did you do two rotations a day? And did you change all stations the same day? If so, how did you model the new skills?

    ReplyDelete
  5. We only had time for 1 rotation. I did change many of the stations every few weeks. To avoid the long introduction, I tried to play games that I wanted to put in MWS whole group

    ReplyDelete

Back to Top