Math Workshop: Organization

I've tried quite a few different ways to set up math workshop, and so far, this year's set up has been my favorite. I mean when I hear "Ms. Wilkie, we're NOT going to do math stations today?!? *groan*" I KNEW that this was something good! Here's a snapshot of what a typical math day might look like for me.

For my math workshop, I see every student, everyday. Sure there are some exceptions, but for me, this is what worked.

Time	Activity	Examples
10-15 minutes	Mini Lesson on math objective for the day/week	read aloud, foldable, math notebook, vocabulary, new game
20 minutes	Rotation 1	developing: team meeting bubble: math stations advanced: current event
5-10 minutes	Mini Lesson	Can be a mad minute fact practice, problem of the week, address problems you saw going on
20 minutes	Rotation 2	developing: current event bubble: team meeting advanced: math stations
5-10 minutes	Mini Lesson: Calendar	Something new. Maybe something like HERE or HERE I'd LOVE more suggestions!
20 minutes	Rotation 3	developing: math stations bubble: current event advanced: team meeting
5-10 minutes	Closing	Share things that were easy/hard, math write, share what they learned today

My schedule follows something similar to Daily 5. I also use I-charts during the math workshop launch to describe behaviors. That makes it a great connector of classroom expectations throughout the whole day. This is just a rough idea, my students and I always make new ones each year. I make I charts for Math Workstations and Current Event.

 

 When it is time for a rotation I use a chart like the one below. Each of my three math groups has an animal name, and are flexible (Ooooh buzz word!!)! Students do not stay in the same group all year. I've found my students have different math strengths and slide in and out of groups. During the day, I will move their animal cards so students have a visual on which station they will be going to next. All students will go to all three rotations in one day.

 

You will notice orange numbers. Those are my different math stations. I'll go more into what I do for math stations later in the week. Every day I move the math numbers down so students will be going to a new station each day. The white cards are my students who will be going to that station. I pair my students up with a partner so that they always have someone to work with. The chart on bottom shows how I might move the orange station numbers the next day. It takes students over a week to cycle through all the stations. I try not to double up students in math stations unless I HAVE to. So in other words, two students per math station. If there was an odd number in my classroom, some students could have a group of 3.

 

Here is what I store my math stations in. I LOVE this effing thing!!! I  bought mine on craigslist for 20 dollars- which makes me love it even more!!! Each bin is a different numbered station with all the supplies kept inside. I of course put them in all nice and neat, and if you can believe it, my second graders sometimes have trouble putting their station back as neatly as they found it. Okay. Let's be honest. This happens MOST OF THE TIME. To help with this problem, I invented a stations inspector as one of my classroom jobs to help keep it tidy. They make sure everything was put back at the end of the day and will give tickets to those who left their station messy.

 

Next time I'll talk a little more about what I do in each rotation and how each of them might look. If you have any questions please feel free to ask! Or any suggestions that might fit, I'd love to hear them! As I'm rereading Guided Math, there is more I'm ready to tackle and try to put into my workshop. But it's a slow (and slightly overwhelming) process.

On a personal note I'm home visiting my parents for a few weeks. It's so nice to be home and pretend I'm a child again with no worries or responsibilities in the world! Well... a child who gets to drink lots and lots of wine with their mama! And who doesn't love to do that?