Hello! Thanks so much for checking out my blog!
Welcome! Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read this post! My name is Julia Park and I am in my senior year at Millersville University as an Early Childhood Education major. I have been writing multiple blog posts about my experiences and information I have learned by being at Millersville! I am thoroughly enjoying being able to share my thoughts with you all.
In my last post, I shared a few ideas for activities parents can do with their children at home to enhance their learning! In this post, I will be discussing the use of learning centers in math class.
The Benefits of Math Learning Centers
Learning centers are typically designed for independent and small group work designed to extend students’ learning. Students participate in activities or work on assignments related to curriculum content. These centers have a variety of benefits for students.
Centers often have multiple tools that students can use to enhance their learning, such as manipulatives, books, games, and more! By using these tools and other materials at the center, students can have interesting, exciting, and engaging experiences that will help them understand and better retain mathematical skills and ideas.
Students can practice having mathematical discussions in a low-stress environment with their peers through different activities provided at the center.
Teachers can differentiate the materials at the center to support the needs of all students. Since centers are with smaller groups, teachers also have the ability to work closely with students to meet their individual needs.
Educators can create materials that are for independent work, including a self-checking assessment. This will help students to work up to becoming independent learners.
Centers can be used as a way for teachers to assess students’ understanding of concepts and monitor their progress. Teachers can use the information they gain from observing the children at centers to modify and differentiate instruction when necessary.
Check out this website for more information about differentiation in learning stations!
Example of a Math Learning Center
Now that we have discussed the benefits of utilizing math learning centers in the classroom, I wanted to share my own learning center that I created! I created this center to be an individualized experience due to the pandemic. While I would love for this to be a group activity someday, I wanted to make a safe choice for my fourth graders!
Construction
This center is winter-themed to pique the interests of the students and to relate it to the current season. I did not want to make it holiday-specific considering not all students celebrate the same ones. I wanted to make the center fun, so I included gift bags, little present boxes, winter-related images, and bright colors. I laminated all paper included in the center to make sure it is durable to last longer. There are direction sheets for each bag. All materials fit in one bin very neatly, which is great because it is so important to stay organized!
Differentiation
The goal of these activities is to build six snowmen out of three pieces for each one. All the pieces will be scrambled in a box in each bag. Students will be reviewing their understanding of place value. Each bag is a different learning level. The teacher can decide if they want to choose the level for the student or if it would be better for the student to choose their own level. The following is a list of descriptions for each bag:
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- Blue Snowman Bag: This bag is for students performing at grade-level, but might need extra support and practice. This level includes numbers with digits from four to five. Three snowmen represent the thousands place and have the number on the hat, the expanded form in the center, and the number in base ten manipulatives on the bottom. The other three represent the ten thousands place and have the same top and middle as the others, but the number is written in word form on the bottom.
- Snowflake Bag: This bag is for students performing at grade-level. This level contains numbers in the hundred thousands place. Each snowmen has a number on the hat, the expanded form in the center, and the number written in word form on the bottom.
- Reindeer Bag: This bag is more challenging and is for students performing above grade-level. The numbers on the snowmen are in the millions place. The snowmen have a number on the hat, the expanded form in the center, and the number written in word from on the bottom.
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Example of the Activity (Snowman Level)
I apologize that the images are a bit blurry! Please read the descriptions above to get a better understanding of what is displayed on these snowmen!
Assessment
This center is self-checking, which is awesome for students developing their skills of independence. There are answer keys with the correct snowmen for the students to see if they organized all snowmen correctly. The answer keys are paper clipped to the back of the bag.
The students had so much fun ywith this activity and I loved seeing their processes of placing all the snowmen parts together!
Thanks so much for reading!
Math learning centers are great for providing students with interesting experiences that will enhance their learning. I had a blast making my learning center and I hope you enjoyed reading about it! Thank you for reading! Stay happy and healthy!
-Julia 🙂