Math Work Stations Chapter 4 - Beginning Number Concepts

I started this post almost a week ago now but spent some time creating activities to share. I'm sorry this post is so late in coming ... I went to three days of professional development workshops this week and just ran low on time.

It was really exciting to read through Chapter 4 of Math Work Stations by Debbie Diller and come up with ideas for math work stations in my classroom. Debbie poses some interesting questions for reflection at the end of the chapter.

1. What investigations and partner games can you use or adapt from your core program or trainings your district has provided to develop beginning number concepts stations? Use what you've already got!

I look forward to going through my math curriculum at school now and seeing what I can create now to make the partner games more exciting and organized for my kids come fall. I'm planning on going to school later this week to grab it.

2. What kinds of counting opportunities do your children need next? How can you make these experiences with numbers meaningful and authentic?
I had an aha moment while reading this chapter. I'm not sure I really thought before about children attaching meaning to numbers. I've provided activities in the past that will help them to attach meaning to numbers, I'm just not sure if I've thought about it in this way. I had several students this last year that had difficulty in math and it's leapt out at me while reading this chapter that they may not have had enough experience attaching meaning to math concepts. It helps me to realize that there are more ways to help support students in attaching meaning to numbers.
3. What beginning number concepts stations are currently in use in your classroom? Which are most effice? Why? How do you know?
One activity I have used in the past was using playing cards to practice more than/less than by playing war. I've also had my kids play memory games to match numerals with number words as well as with dot stickers. Reading this chapter has given me so many more ideas to implement as a part of this station.

I have posted my first activity I created to TpT to download for free. This is the first time I have posted anything on TpT so if you have any suggestions please leave them as a comment here.

The first game I created is called Coin Battle. I created a math mat and math talk cards to use with this game. You can use money flash cards already in your classroom. If you do not have any already in your classroom, the sites below have printable flashcards you can download for free.

http://www.tlsbooks.com/moneyflashcards.pdf

http://www.havefunteaching.com/flash-cards/math/money-flash-cards.pdf

http://www.math-salamanders.com/support-files/math-money-flashcards-1st-grade.pdf

In order to differentiate this work station I would use different sets of cards depending on the readiness of each student. They could use a set of cards that only have pennies, nickels, dimes, or quarters or students could use a set of cards that have mixed coins.

If you would like to download this game click here.

While reading chapter 4 I was thinking about what other ways I represent numbers for my kids. Debbie Diller talked about using base ten blocks to compare numbers. I decided to create some cards to use to practice.

There are many more ideas shared at Kindergarten Crayons. Click on the button below to go there.

Math Work Stations Chapter 3

Debbie Diller does a great job in chapter three of outlining ways to manage math work station time. I envision in my room it looking very similar to Daily 5. I believe it will be very important at the beginning of the year to teach the kids what work station time will look like, sound like, and feel like as well as write I can charts together. I will use a T chart similar to what I use for Daily 5 in which we brainstorm together things students will do and things the teacher will be doing during work station time.
At this point I'm thinking the beginning of the year will be exploration as kids begin to build stamina for length of time working quietly in pairs in one place in the room using only one tub. As I begin teaching new concepts, activities I have used to teach will be added to the workstations. I think it is incredibly important to teach the activity before placing it in the workstations and will do so in regular lessons as well as remind kids how to play during mini lessons.
In the past my math schedule has been calendar math followed by three math rotations in which groups of students take turns coming to the teacher, doing practice work, and doing independent work. This next year that schedule will change.
I spend about an hour and 15 minutes on math. I will have three math rotations again of 20 minutes a piece but in between each rotation we will have a math mini lesson. I will teach each of three groups while the other two groups rotate through workstations. The key is going to be the time spent at the beginning modeling, modeling, modeling.
In the past I have not had a board showing kids where to go for their next station. For literacy and the daily 5 I had a table made up that I marked off each kid's choice each day to keep track of where they chose to go and make sure they had made various choices within a week's time.
I think I'll have to do something a little more concrete for math. I kind of like the idea of rotation circle posted by Jayne at KindergartenRhode. I might go with that. Or if someone comes up with something I like more, perhaps I'll change my mind. I'm not sold on any one management board at this point.
I do like the idea of working with a partner at math workstations. I have never had my students work this way before but think it will work well to assign partners for students to work with to give students the opportunity to use Math Talk to talk about what they are working on and learning. I don't see much difference between doing stations this way and teaching students what it looks like, sounds like, and feels like to do read with a partner. I think it will just be important to really train well those first few weeks before starting meeting with small groups.
The thing that I'm really wrestling with is that if I don't start teaching small groups for math right away at the beginning of the year but wait a month much like I do for Daily 5 and reading then how will I ever get through all the concepts I need to cover for math during the year. For reading working in small groups using the Daily 5 I have seen all of my kids grow as readers very quickly many of them moving up by 2 or 3 grade levels within the year at an instructional level using the IRI and I have the freedom at my school not to stick to the curriculum so its no big deal if we don't finish everything. For math I more often stick to the curriculum with what I'm teaching but teach at different speeds to each group depending on their needs. Because of this I feel more pressure to get moving with the material to make sure I make it through all the concepts first graders should learn. The question I'm kind of asking myself is will this not starting right away teaching small groups work the same way it works for reading. And if not how do I need to make up for that in whole group instruction before I am able to start small groups.
I will be using math talk cards and I can posters but am not going to post any here tonight. I've seen a few people already create their own for this linky party and I think I'll go with what someone else has made on this one rather than reinventing the wheel. When we get to some chapters where all our creative juices can be put to use to create new games to work within a concept area, then I'll put more into what I can share with you all. But for now, it's been a long day of listening to a speaker at a workshop, reading blogs, and spending time with friends.

Math Work Stations by Debbie Diller

I am really excited for all the learning I'm going to be doing this summer! I'm participating in two book group discussions; on math work stations and Sharon Taberski's new book Comprehension from the Ground Up. I'll be attending several PD workshops offered by the special school district of St. Louis. I might also have the opportunity to attend Sharon Taberski's workshop on July 6th. I just heard about this last opportunity this morning and I'm hoping it works out.

I've never done one of these linky party things but I'm really excited about this book and how I can teach math more like Daily 5. I think by blogging my ideas it will give me a chance to really think through what I want to do and plan to do and hopefully by entering my voice into the discussion that will not only help me but also maybe help a few others. I've been teaching math within a workshop model for the past two years but my work stations have been more like centers than stations and not quite organized enough.

To follow the discussion of chapters 1 & 2 link over to Mrs. Wills Kindergarten by clicking on the button below.


Here's my thoughts ...

In figure 1.2 on p16 Debbie shares the differences between work stations and centers.
1) Materials are used by the teacher and students during instruction first. ... I do this most of the time. But because I teach three different math groups at different levels of instruction and often times on completely different concepts because they are ready to move on at different rates, there are often items in the math area for independent use that not all of my kids know how to use. I like the idea of differentiating materials within the station area. My class is relatively small compared to most classes (topping out any year at 18 - next year my class size right now is around 10) so I might be able to have some stations designated for each group and a few to share with differentiation within the station box.
2) Stations do not change weekly. I already do this. Although sometimes I keep too much at the station and just add more. I've seen this past year with some kids that when having too many choices, kids are overwhelmed and can't make a choice at all.
3) All students go to workstations daily. For the past two years what I've done is have a rotation with three different groups of students: the red, the blue, and the orange. Each group would take a turn with me, doing independent work, and doing practice work which was part of or the whole worksheet that went along with the lesson I taught. I'm a little hesitant to go completely away from worksheets. I realize that hands on learning is integral to understanding and retaining what each child learns but I wrestle with taking away worksheets completely and kids not knowing how to answer questions through that media when needed.
4) Materials are differentiated for students. This has been a struggle in the past - I look forward to maybe doing the different boxes for different groups idea and differentiating by colored sticker within shared boxes.
5) Teacher observes individuals at work or meets with small math groups. Done.

For the past two years I have kept my math stations on a book shelf and under a table at the back of my room. Hopefully a video I created at the beginning of this past school year will upload so you can see what it looked like before it began morphing this school year. I have a small space in my room and its actually a large room that was once two rooms so it still has a divider in the middle and is awkward in creating little spaces because it is so narrow and does not have so much wall space. I hope to change up a little how I organize my math work station area for next year. I will probably use this same book shelf but put the stations in numbered containers rather than just putting all the manipulatives out and expecting the students to remember what to do with them. Because I have less students next year than I had this year I hope to move my computers to the tall table and have them available more often next year with math and word games.

There is a closet right next to this space in which I have organized all my math materials. I'm naturally a very organized person and like to keep things that way. So I have all my materials already sorted by topic and in bins that are easily stackable. My problem comes when things don't fit in the bins and I have to put them next to the bin, then I usually forget that I have them.

I don't have any pictures of my math area right now and it's not a very good time to take them since I am in the process of cleaning up and putting away everything in my room. Maybe I'll take some and upload later.