Chapter 3 Getting Started

When and where do I begin?
I use math stations in my classroom and have for many years so I feel pretty good about beginning in the fall. I do have exploration in the fall so that the children get all of the "play" out of the way. And I do model how to use the materials before putting them out, but I do not think I do enough modeling.I like the mini-lessons on how to use things and letting the children model how to work at the station. Another area that I need to work on is the sharing time. Sometimes the next day in my math lesson a child may talk about their station work. I want it to be more meaningful so I will plan a sharing time for next year.


I plan about an hour and a half for math each day.
My lesson is about 15 to 25 minutes and then I introduce math stations which now will include a mini lesson on how to use materials. And then I usually have 5 stations at the beginning of the year one of them being me. We rotate centers every 15 - 20 minutes. The children clean up and move around the room to the next station. As Debbie mentions in her book there should be some independence during stations. Next year I will add more stations as the year goes on and children can choose a station.

I will also be adding the I Can cards and the Math Talk Cards for my stations.

My main focus is going to be organization. I have taught for 28 years and my math stuff is still all over the place. Below is a picture of what my room looks like all packed up for the summer...

These are just some of the areas filled with stuff. It all has a place during the school year but packing up for the summer messes up any organization I might have had.  Below is a picture of a blue rolling shelf that I plan on using as my math station for current math stations.

The next photos are of boxes that I use to store my small manipulatives like buttons, chips, golf tees and so on. They are Chubs wipes boxes. These were the brand of wipes that were out when my children were young. They came in a box that looks like a large lego and I kept  them to store manipulatives.  They have held up for about 20 years.

Well I am excited to get started on chapter 4!

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Book Study

I joined a wonderful book study!

I am already excited about getting my math area organized for next year after reading the first two chapters.

I differentiate my stations  by using materials that the children can adapt to their own level. For example unifix cubes may be at the pattern station at the beginning of the year. One child may be making an ABABAB pattern on his own while another student may need a card that models the pattern to be made. Other students may be making a more complex pattern.

Right now I keep them on shelves along the wall but I set the materials out and the children use what they need at the station. I add materials after we have used them for a math lesson. We are moving into a new building fall of 2012 and I am hoping that I have a space that I can dedicate to only math.

Organization is where I struggle. I have a lot of STUFF. I have taught for 28 years and cannot stand to see thing thrown away. I do use most of everything but I am not sure if it is used to it's full potential because I other STUFF to replace it with quickly.

After reading these chapters I have been motivated to organize and purge!!

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Plants are growing!

We have read many books about plants and how they grow. The children have been fascinated to learn that we eat seed and roots everyday. Below are a couple examples of the way we have planted seeds.

The children painted a flower and labeled the parts of a flower and then wrote about flowers.

We will post more  plant happenings next week!

Frog build a word game

I found these cute frog candy holders. They work like the plastic Easter eggs. They come apart and inside I put letter tiles spelling some of our popcorn words. The children open one at a time and write what word it spells on the frog recording sheet below (I cannot get it to rotate??).

Each frog has a letter on the back and the student writes the word on the correctly lettered frog.

 I was surprised at how well the children did with this activity.

Growing plants

Come back tomorrow to see what we are doing with our bean seeds!

Measurement Fun!

We learned how to measure objects and people with objects are around the room. We learned to use a ruler,yard stick, and a tapemeasure.

We also learned how to weigh things using a balance.

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