Math Stations

Hello!  It's been awhile, but I hope to be here from time to time.  I don't have much time between working all day and going to grad school.  I just wanted to share a little bit about math stations.  The way I use them over the past few years has evolved, but they are usually used daily after the whole group instruction and independent practice time.  I can pull up kids for reteach time as necessary while others go to their assigned station, for about 20 minutes.  It works pretty well.  I can also differentiate by assigning kids to different tubs.

Here is a picture of how they are organized.  They are labeled by color and number.  The activities are review from past units of study and current units as well.  A group of these stations lasts about three weeks (we don't always have time to do them every day).

On the side is the rotation chart.  I move the clips to the right one time at the end of each day.  It works well for me!  Kids can be partnered off according to needs or interests.

Cuteness at best... flower pens!

I'm sure you've seen flower pens, but have you seen them like this?  I first saw this idea many years ago, and decided to make some for my desk.  Here's the cute part: they are in a jar of magnetic letters.  Is that perfect for a teacher or what?  I *love* that detail.

If you want to make some here's what you need:

-Artifical flowers (about half a dozen)

-Pens

-Floral tape

-Hot glue

-Jar

-Magnetic letters to hold up the pens (or beans, but I love the letters!)

-Ribbon

Basically you wrap each flower around the pen with the tape, and secure the tape with a drop of hot glue.  Set them inside the jar with the letters or beans.  Viola!  They are easy to make and cute.  Did I mention how practical they are too?  Now when you have open house, people will never accidentially walk off with your pens.