Math Centers - Differentiation
What are Math Centers -
Math Centers provide an opportunity for students to practice and apply skills and strategies taught within the classroom. While students are engaged in purposeful centers, teachers have the opportunity to work individually or with small, flexible groups to meet the individual needs of students.
Centers should be designed to:
Math Centers provide an opportunity for students to practice and apply skills and strategies taught within the classroom. While students are engaged in purposeful centers, teachers have the opportunity to work individually or with small, flexible groups to meet the individual needs of students.
Centers should be designed to:
- be an integral part of daily instruction for all students;
- provide meaningful, independent practice based on the standards, curriculum objectives and students’ needs;
- include a variety of activities differentiated to meet the needs of students;
- change regularly according to the needs of students;
- hold students accountable for the work in which they are engaged;
- allow teachers to assess students’ math skills, strategies and understandings
How I Set Up Math Centers -
Students would move in groups through the different centers that involved working on the math workbooks, playing math games and using computers for math.
It was important to build a community of learners so that students would be able to work independently at centers since I was engaged with other students during this time.
Students would move in groups through the different centers that involved working on the math workbooks, playing math games and using computers for math.
It was important to build a community of learners so that students would be able to work independently at centers since I was engaged with other students during this time.
When introducing Centers for the first time I tried to:
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These SMART Board slides helped focus our math centers. Students could refer to them to know what group they were in or what their next center would be. The points system helped motivate groups to stay on task and follow the center rules.
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Students were scheduled at centers using a rotation system. Depending on the day and the amount of time available for math class students had 10 - 15 minutes at each center before moving on to the next. I chose to use a rotation system instead of a self-selection system where students are able to pick their own centers, because I wanted to strategically form the center groups. This way I was able to pair stronger students with students that required help and minimize behaviour distractions.
Why I Used Math Centers -
The center activities worked well to engage the students and differentiate the math based on student needs. The activities were designed to reinforce concepts we were learning or to help students practice their basic math skills.
Groups were formed strategically by pairing strong students with struggling students and to help minimize distractions for some students. While students were self-directed moving through the centers, it allowed me the time to work with small groups of students. I could focus on helping students that needed extra help with particular concepts or challenge students that were advanced in the subject.
Some Examples of the Centers We Used -
Why I Used Math Centers -
The center activities worked well to engage the students and differentiate the math based on student needs. The activities were designed to reinforce concepts we were learning or to help students practice their basic math skills.
Groups were formed strategically by pairing strong students with struggling students and to help minimize distractions for some students. While students were self-directed moving through the centers, it allowed me the time to work with small groups of students. I could focus on helping students that needed extra help with particular concepts or challenge students that were advanced in the subject.
Some Examples of the Centers We Used -
At each center along with the materials, an instruction handout was provided for students to refer to on the instructions of the center. These handouts are shown as files that can be downloaded below.
Jenga Math
Students would take turns pulling out blocks. On each block there would be a basic math addition/subtraction question that they would have to answer.
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Fly Swatter Math
In pairs or small groups, students would flip over a math flash card. Whoever swatted the correct answer to the card first would win.
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Bead Patterning
After we learned about attributes in patterns the students practiced making bead patterns with a certain number of attributes that changed.
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Place Value Toss
In a small group students took turns tossing bean bags into bins that had a place value. The other students would keep track of what bins the bean bags landed in and would record the number on whiteboards.
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