Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Math Work Stations Blog Party Week 2


This week the Math Work Stations Blog Party is focusing on Chapter 3: Getting Started with Math Work Stations.
In my opinion, this is the chapter you will use the most, especially at the start of the year. The author, Debbie Diller, gave specific examples of mini-lessons, how to introduce math work stations to the class and the management of the work stations.

Below I will give my answers to the guiding questions on our Math Work Stations Book Mark that I got from Deedee Wills over at Mrs. Wills Kindergarten.

1. What should your math work stations, look like, sound like and feel like?
  • I would hope they would look a lot like our literacy centers. Our literacy centers have a management board, students go in pairs, students go the the stations every day, and stations are heavily modeled.
  • I hope it looks very child centered, anchor charts viewed and used by the students.
  • I hope it feels like the children have ownership of the stations by helping create the anchor charts and I can lists.

2. What does your management board look like?
  • I would think that my math management board would look something similar to the one on page 70 using children's pictures, math and number cards.

3. How do you support math vocabulary (math talk cards) in your stations?
  • I am not sure. I have not used math stations in the past so this is something new to me. I will be looking for lots of resources this summer. I will start by printing off the Math Workstation Sharing Time Cards (found in the appendix) onto cardstock and putting it onto a ring.

Thinking about how I will use math workstations, I will probably store the stations in a three shelf metal rolling cart.

I am also looking for tubs or bins to store the math stations. I was thinking about these Sterilite 15 qt latch box containers.


Now, I just need to find the best prices. Please let me know if you find a good deal.

A big thanks to Mrs. Parker for hosting this weeks blog party. Be sure you check out all the wonderful posts for Math Work Stations.



3 comments:

  1. Thanks for joining our discussion. I agree that this will be one of those chapters that you will refer to often. I am going to try to use the discussion cards also but may adapt them to a kinder level. I like the idea of tubs but I have found that some games may not need as much space. I am leaning towards buying ice cube storage tubs which I also use for book boxes. I like the size and ease of transport. I will post a picture and link up as soon as I get them organized.

    Can't wait to see what you decide on.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ms. Parker,
    I haven't even thought about ice cube storage tubs. I just love the ideas I am getting from everyone else. I can't wait to see a picture of the bins and how you have them organized.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I bought a few last weekend. I am hoping to try them out; we're still in school, with my kiddos before investing in more. Homework for this weekend.

    ReplyDelete