Hello again, Friends!
I have been super busy this past few weeks starting up a new math system, and I am so excited to share it with you! This was inspired by one of the new teachers on my team, and she and I and one other new teacher decided to team up and split the planning (don’t you love that!?!), so I am looking forward to THAT!
The concept isn’t a new one, just one that I haven’t embraced before this year. I wanted to make sure I could fit in Math Stations with the elements of my personal math program that I felt were extremely vital and didn’t want to give up. So, here is what my new math schedule looks like:
Monday
Mini Lesson & 1 Station
Tuesday
Mini Lesson & 1 Station
Wednesday
(always a shortened math time for me since I either have Counselor Time or we dismiss 2 hours early for PLC time twice a month)
Fluency Testing, Prickly Problems* or Math Tub*
Thursday
2 Stations
Friday
Fun Friday Math*
*I will blog about these important math times at a later date….stay tuned!
Below are the plans I have been using for Math Stations the past two weeks. I have to say that they are going very well so far! The students are enjoying having a lot of hands-on math activities to practice, and they are learning how to work with a group (always an important but challenging skill for 6 year olds!).
If you click on the pictures, you will be able to access hyperlinks to the activities I used.
The first week, all of the activities were from one unit- Anna Brantley’s Common Core: Numbers to 120 and More.
Last week, I actually took pictures of our stations in action:
Storyboard Addition: This station used old storyboards I’ve had for years and years, snap cubes, and blank paper booklets for the students to record their stories and number sentences. This little cutie said, “Two bats lived in a cave, then one more flew in. Now there are 3 bats in the cave.” Adorable!
Sticker Addition: What kids don’t love stickers! And who doesn’t have oodles of leftover tiny stickers? It is a perfect match!
Cupcake Addition: From one of my favorite units I bought on TPT years ago, Liv to Teach’s Common Core Sweet Addition Math Games
Ways to Make a Number: This one didn’t work out the way I had hoped, but it was a good reminder that this early in the year, the kids need a lot of hands-on time to explore the manipulatives. Instead of working on addition skills, we just built our number sense instead. Still a win in my book!
Here are my plans for this upcoming week:
We will be working on Touch Points. Are you familiar with Touch Point Math? I am a fan of using it as one possible strategy. It really clicks for some students and they love using it, and others end up relying on other strategies such as number lines, knock and count, etc.
We introduced the Touch Points a few weeks ago and have been reinforcing it during calendar time, just preparing them so they have the touch points memorized before trying to add with them. This method usually works well. Here are the posters we used to introduce the Touch Points:
Remember to click on my Math Stations plans to find the clickable links to the products we will be using. Honestly, some of the products are designed for Touch Points, and some weren’t, so I just used my Sharpie to add Touch Points to the cards before laminating them. 🙂
And, last but not least, my lesson plans for this week- I am afraid I can’t link everything I am doing since my student teacher is taking over more and more! (not sure what we’ll be doing for apples during science, but I know it will be FABULOUS because that is just how she rolls!).
As usual, a BIG part of our week will be spent learning short o:
from my Chunky Monkey Short Vowel unit found on TPT:
Thank you to these wonderful artists for the fonts and clipart on all of my lesson plans:
I am linking up with DeeDee for her Peek at My Week! Make sure you click on the icon below to check out her week and many, many others! Have a wonderful week of school!
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