Math Center Activities

hi i'm jamie from not so wimpy teacher and I'm doing a video series for you about how I taught math so I already have videos about what math workshop is and the components you need for a successful math workshop I talked about the whole group lesson in one of my videos and then I did a lesson all about the small group lessons that you can do with your students to help them to grow yesterday I talked about math Center schedules and I talked about in that video about how I have four groups but I only do two rotations per day so that I can have longer to meet with each of my groups waste less time on transitions and I passed in today's video that I would discuss the different center activities that my students do in their rotation so that's what today's video is all about about the different activities my students did during their maths interests let's get started alright this is that math workshop model we've been talking about where we start with their mini lesson and then we spend the bulk of our math time doing small groups and centers so I would do two 30-minute rotations if you have a smaller shorter math block you might be doing two 20-minute rotations but I do have four groups so I have a total of four rotations it's just they're only going to complete two each deck these were the rotations that I ended up settling on after trying a lot of different things actually this is what I ended up really liking I have of course a meet the teacher rotation every students in a small group that meets with me twice a week I have a technology rotation another rotation that I called independent it's not a very creative name you could name it something else if you if you wanted to but I don't I don't name my centers with acronyms like math math facts and at your seat teacher I don't do that one because I don't have an accuracy center I like my kids to be allowed to work wherever they're most comfortable and secondly I hate naming a center just for the sake fitting it into an acronym rather than just naming it what it really is it helps my students more if I just call it what it is so I called it independent because that will Center and they knew they had to do it all by themselves and then the other center rotation that I used was not fax so I'm going to go into more detail about the technology independent in mark fax I'm not going to talk about meet the teacher again because it already did a whole video about that if you missed that one make sure you head back to that video let's start with technology I was not one-to-one I did not have technology or every student to be on at a time but that's what meat groups good because I did have six Chromebooks and I was able to use those certain centers so if you have any type of technology that you could use during a Center this would be a good rotation for you if you don't have any technology at your disposal you might change this center out for something like an interactive notebook rotation all right these were just some websites I thought of and I've used some of them most of them when my students my school did purchase I ready you know and it has its pluses it has its negatives just like any site but it was it was something that was differentiated to my students level and they worked wherever they were at so just because we were doing division in class didn't think they were doing division in lessons and technology and that's fine that's what makes the center more valuable for them because they're doing what they need to do and if additions where they need to be than that that particular program would start them there so CERN I really like to CERN CERN goes along with the arica engage New York curriculum and so the computer lessons kind of mimic their strategies and that was really nice again alright let students work at their own pace instead of like assigning the lesson and telling them they had to complete it that week and then checking on time for that and to be real honest with you the best part about Center rotations is that it's differentiated and so all my students aren't working on the scenes are in lesson same time or the same case but they're working on a lesson that they need at their pace mowing accident that a good one I used the free version my kids really enjoyed it so that was another one where you can choose you can choose math or reading and you can choose different domains and they work through it at their own apiece extra math is really just for Memphis and so you could choose to do that during your Technology Center - it really only takes five minutes so it might be one of the things we have your kids do the extra math and then log into Moby max or do your extra math and then log in discern whatever just so that they are getting extra practice those math facts I really like extra math for math facts it's differentiated again the kids take like an assessment it figures out which facts they know and don't know and then it introduces me the fact that they don't know introduces it them to them in practice and continues to assess them until they know I really liked the program instead of a kids especially since they only do it for five minutes and then it's like you're done how did you want to have it tried before but it's one that's been recommended a lot in my Facebook groups and they did go to the site and it looks very similar to something like Moby max so these were just some ideas and I know your school might buy licenses for others so if you have technology this will be a great time to use in the center okay I went ahead and did meet this one of my rotations kids just like technology naturally and so it was easy to get them engaged in this rotation all right math facts math next can be a little bit boring okay but I want to play center rotation for my facts to be fun I you can if you don't like worksheets that they do you can have them do those you could have them do some of that like timing yourself and drilling yourself me that's the first part they do but I did like to mix in some games into my math tech centers and one react when they on suggests is just to teach a game and introduce and then wait a while to teach a new one so you're not wasting a lot of class time teaching a whole bunch of games at once that they forget the rules too I also suggest that you practice these games whole group before you just put it in a center especially the beginning of the year later in the year you can typically just teach a new game and throw it in there or you can even teach the game during your small group time if you would prefer but maybe it's something you teach during a brain break time it doesn't even have to be in the middle of your math lesson but here are some games but I like to use or just some activities I like to use for backpacks first of all flashcards I mean I grabbed these flashcards at Target or Walmart ages ago and I know that I'm at the dollar store but flashlights can be really it could be a good activity to maybe start them with I paired my kids up and hop on how I wanted them to do your flashcards I taught them that they would show the card and if the person didn't get it quickly they put it in one pile if the person got wrong they put it in the pile if it got right and fast and put in a dimmer filing I just taught them how I wanted them to go through the flashcards and they didn't complain because we also added in some games okay so some of the games that I love to play with my kids pop I grab some popcorn bags wouldn't you know they have plastic ones too fact it's like cool containers I've got these from the dollar store and I have these cards that say pop you would have multiple cards as a pop and then you would also put some cards in there that just have whatever you stick them in the back you've got you can have a small group play together or just partners I tend to think they behave better when it's just partners and then if you have an odd number of kids in the group you give them permission to have a group of three or you can have a little group play together if you feel they can handle it and some kick in so what happens is these kids take turns and they pull a card out if it's a mad fact they answer it if the answer it currently they keep the card they answer it incorrectly they put it back in the bag or the next person grabs a card if they pull out a black card they have to put all the cards they've collected so far back in the bag the winner is the person with the most cards when time is up so when it's time to switch her key to a new rotation then anything about this is it's a bit of chance and a bit of skill you have to get the multiplication factor this touchback correct to be able to keep the card but you couldn't grab a pop at any time which means even like you're a Laura learner who's struggling a little more with as matter of facts can end up winning from time to time because they happen to get a fact right right right before the rotation changed while their partner got a pop card and so it's kind of fun because you just really never know who's going to win it's not like the kid who's just super fast with his multiplication facts is always going to win there's lots of opportunity for others to win so that's one thing I really like about this game so I call pop another fun thing to do this just this is just so simple there are even some like kid board games and seriously I seen third fourth fifth graders get excited about this because it's different grab some Candyland game warts or some sheets and ladders oh four in a row is fun checkers checkers are fun grab somebody you shouldn't get a pat you used like new stores secondhand stores you can get her back garage sales and these games also tend to be fairly inexpensive new from Walmart so grab them and grab some flashcards boom you have a math packet game they already know how to play the board game so it doesn't take long to teach them how to play this which is good you have a lot of time to teach how to play right how I use it they have flash cards when it is their turn then you have to answer the fact on flash card if they get it correct they get to take the normal turn on the board game playing it how the game rules are so it was katie'll and then I think they pick up a card that have the colors on it that tells them where to move so in order to earn their turn on the game board and answer the math back quite and then the winner it's just you know the winner of the board game playing by the rules of the game so all you're doing is adding in the like you're gonna make any man but in order to take a turn you never get a mask that correct I also have tried Jenga and I do love it and I would put it in sometimes but maybe not the first couple weeks to school and maybe not a day go headache but take your chicken Jenga game right math facts right on the wood blocks they pull it out the answer the fact and then they put the thing on top it's you're just playing Jenga but you're making him answer math at the same time they actually think this is really fun because you're doing a permission to play board games and during the math and so they get excited about it so look for those used board games asked on your Facebook page of any of your friends have work games that they're wanting to get rid of most people have like a collection that they their kids have outgrown that they might be willing to donate to your classroom to I I like to use this game this is really exciting to add this is called four in a row and I made it but you could sum you could easily make it two or I'm gonna give you mine for free if you do multiplication you do another if you're doing addition subtraction or division you'll have to make them on your own because I only have two multiplication but here's how you play it's so simple if you can import four I'm like if they were working on times eight and this is so easy to differentiate because you can have one group doing the times to board another here doing the times eight board you give them two dice when it's returned they roll the dice they add them together and then they multiply that sum by whatever number of them on the board so if they rolled a 2 and a 4 they'd add it together at 6 6 times 8 is 48 so they would look for a 48 on the board and sometimes there's multiple but they can only choose one so I see that there's a couple they choose one and they color it or you can have them cover it with like a square tile or they can if you laminate it they can color it with a dry erase marker and the idea is the first person to get four in a row wins it's a pretty simple game but they're practicing their math facts at the same time okay and they they like it and switch it up just be simply switching out the facts here is a really simple idea that involves the flashcards but makes it just a little more fun take your flashcards and give them to dice or even just one if you want after they they take turns they take a flashcard to answer it correctly if they answer it correctly they get to roll the two dice add them together and not so many points they get for getting that math back correct and so they can just keep tally of their points and how they're actually adding to and just see who gets the most points yet really they're still just doing they were doing flashcards but now you're just letting them earn points for doing the flashcards gets a lot and then the roll of two dice and like they get a six and an eight they got to add that up to know where they get a six and A six they got to add that up so it's 12 and then they got to keep adding their points so maybe they're adding 12 to 2 to 6 and they gotta keep adding so you're throwing in a little extra computation in there too but it's like you're taking something that was a dollar throwing in a couple dice and just at making it slightly more engaging also like I mentioned we talked about technology you could use technology for math facts too if you have enough technology for students in the technology rotation to be using it and to have some form a fax it could be cool to have your kids do their extra math and then let them go play a game I want to do that but again I wouldn't put a ton of games out I would teach them one and then maybe add another maybe pull one out another just to keep it interesting pull a game out for a couple months and then put it back in and it's all brand new to that so your games can be super simple you don't have to buy something really fancy all right I have free games for you I have those four and a row game boards outs on the pop cards I even have a fidget spinner game for you so I'm going to go ahead and put a link to that blog post in the video description so if you're interested you can go and grab those free the fact game all right so I had a rotation with technology and a rotation for now fax my last rotation was the independent rotation I have to say this was the most important rotation really and it was one of my students favorites for sure I used my math Center resource for this grab the cards or a lot I mean now it was so important in that they are consistent so we went use the multiplication set and then later use the division set and later use fractions and later use measurement but they all have to sing look and feel and very similar directions so once you really taught students how to use them you don't waste a whole bunch of time week in and week out teaching them new center activities but it's not just giving them like one activity and ask them do it over and over again because each that comes with ten different centers and so it keeps some engaged they're different there's some that are matching some that are sorting some you're rolling dice I'm you're creating weird problems Amir you need to color are certain numbers they're different it's not just a bunch of task cards okay so the consistency is there and yet they're still engaging there's still different enough to be engaging hope that makes sense alright here's like kind of a look at it each one of them each set comes with a recording book and the recording book actually has these in it to complete all ten of the centers in that unit so this is from a fractions unit for third grade and so the booklet is where they would store their answers for ten centers I generally ate my students about three to four weeks general about long to complete the ten centers I found that with my rotation schedules amount of time had an sinners that's about how long it took the majority of my students to finish if you have lower learners they might take longer and that's okay one thing that you might do you might cross out two of the signers and saying you know I don't want you to even worry about five and six and just have them focus on the others that way it's differentiated for them and they don't have to feel like you're always behind but all ten Center activities are completed here in the one booklet and I love that because it's easy for my students to keep up and they don't have to make new copies our free week this one booklet is a month of math centers and it's really only three pieces of paper so that is a score for me three pieces of paper the home of the math Center is right here in this one booklet but they keeping a math folder in their desk if they were to lose this they would have to redo the center's as well as there would be some sort of consequence for me having to make it a copy I did not have a problem with students losing these I didn't have them ever take them home so it really wasn't anywhere from to go so this worked out really well and they got to either cross off or hole punch I put a sticker on the center once they finished it because here's the thing there's choice there's ten different centers oh my there's 10 this is the fraction set for third grade there's ten different centers in here this isn't how I would organize it for my students but this is rather how I have organized on my shelf right now not in use tomorrow's video is all about organizing the centers so students could go up there and they can grab this one this is Center six I can do that first and then when they're done they could bring it back and grab maybe Center two they don't have they don't have to do it in order they they pick they just come up there grab it take it to their desk or to the floor wherever they're most comfortable complete that activity in their booklet bring it back stick it back in the bucket and grab when they have not already completed so they can kind of reference the back and say oh I haven't done number seven and it's here there's ten centers and since I only have like six or seven kids in a group there's always one here that they can even though everyone else is working independently but they have their choice and they have Direction cards on them so students can be successful without me because I'm busy little bit my small group and so that's what's so nice about them is that they are engaging and easy enough for them to independent is mine for spiral review and I find this to make the center's even more successful when we finish our fractions as a whole group and mini and mini lessons and a small group that's when I would throw fractions into my centers so they've already learned about fractions whole group they already had support for me small group maybe some homework some assessments fractions are not new to them but they still need to review them and because they've already had so many lessons they're able to be much more independent in sex sex it's successful but it's also challenging for them and it keeps them on their toes thinking okay so I liked using the spiral you don't have to you could use the unit you're currently working on if you prefer but I found that my kids were just able to be more independent and it was more of a review so I started the year with a set called back to school which is actually a review of skills from the previous grade and that way it gives me time to start my first lesson my first unit when I'm finished with my first unit whatever it might be maybe it's place value maybe it's multiplication then I would stick in that next set and like I said it takes about three to four weeks from most of my learners to finish these centers when they are finished I do have math menus that might my gas finishers can work on and I'll leave a link to those but some of my kids won't finish and that's okay you have to make a judgment call is that they're not finishing because the skills are still genuinely difficult for them but they worked hard in that case I just grade for grade what they did complete did they not finish because they were messing around not using their time wisely in that case I'm gonna grade it and I'm going to mark off for every one they did not complete it will speed them up and give it more focused in the future but I do grade this booklet at the end of the month we do lowered learners you may even have them bring the booklet with them to small group one day so you could go through it and see if they need any support you can always have a time during class my my time was during the bell work I said if you ever have a question during the work or during snack come ask me about it that way I can help you or schedule a time when I can you know I don't contaminate then I will schedule a time when I can't help you so with your lower learner's you can do that but if it is a spiral they tend to already be more successful because you've already taught the lessons to them and you again could cross off a couple of more higher-order thinking questions are somewhere there writing their own word problems and maybe like that one might be really challenging for him and you just know it and that's not necessarily where you want them to focus their time on you'd rather than be comparing the fractions or something so this was my independent Center what I loved about it was identity CH new center procedures directions every week I taught at the beginning of the year and then the rest of the year they were able to be independent I was able to get a grade for their work it was able I was able to get a spiral review in there the kids were super engaged and interested in the activities they were not getting bored it did not require a lot of extra things I mean sometimes like a center might require a ruler sometimes kids did better if they had fraction bar or some base ten blocks but it did not require a whole bunch of extras which made it easy for me to prep in fact it would be really super easy to print laminate and have them prepped for the whole year during the summer and not have to write a whole lesson plans her for sinners be able to search constantly for center activity to cover certain skills throughout the year I found that to be very time-consuming and how I used to do it so those are nice and her rotations I'm going to be talking tomorrow about how I organize them how I put them together so make sure you tune in for the - video but I did want to let you know that if you are watching this video today which is Wednesday the 27th I have gone ahead and discounted my mouth sent her bundles for the date of June 27th of June 28th so if you're watching them now you can grab that deal otherwise I always offer a discount on bundles and so it's always a better deal to grab the bundle than the individual sets I always give you a break any day okay so I hope you enjoyed getting a little look at what math Center activities I use in my classroom I'll be back with a new video about how I get these independent math centers organized for my students all right bye guys

Channel: Not So Wimpy Teacher

Views: 19,528

Rating: 4.9203186 out of 5

Keywords: Not So Wimoy Teacher, Math Centers, Math Activites, Math, 2nd grade, 3rd grade, 4th grade, 5th grade, second grade, third grade, fourth grade, fifthgrade

Id: mryh8vOzhgg

Length: 23min 59sec (1439 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 27 2018