Some Elves and Math Stations

Here are the rest of the elves I've hid these week! Today's elf was definitely the trickiest. They couldn't find it till about halfway through the day. I'm so sneaky!!

Now here's a look at the BEFORE sneak peek of my math stations. I'll show you how I organize it all and what I actually do for stations and maybe it'll help you out or spark a new idea for your classroom.

Trust me when I saw every class is different. I know you already know that, but honestly what works with one of your classes will not always work with your next. I thought my stations worked perfectly with my last bunch. We did 2 20 minute stations a day covering 4 areas: Manipulatives, Application, Technology and Games. I love collaborating with my fellow teachers any chance I get. So when I hear a good idea, I think "I totally want to try that!". So I decided to start the year off with 3 stations a day: Teacher Table, Fact Fluency, Partner Play. This way I would see every student in a small group setting and not have to deal with a whole group lesson where some are bored and some are lost. Love the idea... didn't actually work out how I had planned. I found having groups of 5 or more in a small group was too much for me at the beginning of the year. Then I tried to use what worked for me last year... didn't quite work this year because I forgot to take into account that I taught only Math/Science so I had an entire 1.5 hour for my Math block where this year our Math block is cut in half by Lunch/Recess. It's not the best schedule but it gives them a nice break. Anyway.. I needed something new.

So, after more collaboration with fellow teachers, the fabulous fifth grade teachers shared with me their old way of math stations. To my current students and I, it's the perfect combination of getting in those lessons, really reaching your students through small group instruction, holding students accountable, giving the students choice and making it fun and enjoyable for them. See and print the actual schedule HERE.

• Monday - Introduce new concept and activity
• Tuesday - Review new concept and activity
• Wednesday - Day 1 of Stations
• Thursday - Day 2 of Stations
• Friday - Day 3 of Stations.

Wednesday - Friday I constantly pull my kids in the back and do whatever is needed. It may be fine tuning this weeks lesson, going way back and hitting a concept we've already covered but the student is still struggling on or getting in some Tier interventions. It has been working wonders and here is are some photos that showcase how I set them up as well as picture of each station for this week. Feel free to email me to ask any questions or you'd like me to send you copies of some stuff I have. Thanks! 

Station D is computers and I have no clue what happened to the picture I took of Station B... So please forgive me. It's been a long couple of days. Enjoy and look for pictures of the "during" and "after" tomorrow!