Math StationsMath StationsHow to Improve Problem-Solving How to Improve Problem-Solving

Skills & Incorporate Differentiated Skills & Incorporate Differentiated Learning into Math ClassroomsLearning into Math Classrooms

What’s your biggest challenge as a teacher?• Time• Responding to an increasingly

broad spectrum of student needs, backgrounds, and learning styles

• Differentiating

Differentiated Instruction

• Enables teachers to reach the needs of diverse learners

• Activities based on essential concepts and multiple ways to display learning

• Challenging and engaging tasks for all learners

• Provides opportunities for students to work in varied instructional formats

• Meets curriculum standards and requirements

Why Use Math Stations?

• Stations is a strategy that allows students to work on an ongoing assignment directly relating to the curriculum

• Can be independent throughout a unit or semester

• Logical extension of learning during a unit• Extension work and intervention needs can

be met with the use of stations

Purpose of Math Stations

• Provide meaningful work for students to work at their own level of learning

• Used to differentiate on the basis of student readiness, interest, and learning profiles

• Allows students to work more in depth with concepts to enrich their skill development

• Can be used as a management strategy for working with smaller groups

• Can be used as an opportunity to make a classroom more student centered

Questions to think Questions to think about before creating about before creating

Math StationsMath Stations

How do I decide what concepts to include in my

stations?• Basic / Pre-requisite Skills• Enrichment Skills – use the 6H to

7H correlation and extension maps (county created)

• MSA review materials• Problem Solving Activities that

incorporate several concepts

How much time do I allow students to work on the

stations?

• Teacher discretion based on time• Once a week for 45 minutes• For those Fast Finishers

• Differentiate based on student needs

• Per Unit / Semester – students have certain stations they must cover but can complete in any order as long as they turn in required stations

How much choice do the students have on what topic

they work on?

• Know your students modality and learning preferences, ability and readiness, interests

• Differentiate • Be flexible

How to meet the needs of all students?

STATIONSSTATIONS

How to run the stations?

• Locate stations in different spots in the classroom

• Frequent or occasional, formal or informal

• Flexible grouping/time – not all students need to go to all stations for the same amount of time

Possible Station Topics• Problem Solving Stations• Geo Boards• Time• Data & Probability• Decimals, Fractions, & Percents• Estimation• The Travel Game

Planning your stations• What are your learning objectives?• Start Simply: One of the stations should

be familiar and an all class activity• Emphasize student responsibility• Is the time flexible or fixed?• Each station should have a recording sheet• What is the plan if a student gets stuck?

Differentiating Stations• Vary the particular operations• Vary the degree of difficulty of

activities based on students strengths and needs

• Complexity, duration, group composition, and skills required

Management Tips• Explain the activity, model and practice

with whole class• Take 10 minutes to introduce 1 station

per day before beginning• Be clear on expectations – establish a

clear policy for accountability, evaluation and value

• Develop the ground rules with the students

Station Assessment• Check recording sheets 1x a week• Check student folders every 2

weeks for completed activities• Some stations – students may

check with an answer sheet and write a comment on how they did and what they learned

Station Folders• 1 folder per student

• Every folder has:– 4 step Problem Solving Plan– Math stations record sheet– Question sheet

Another Version of Stations

• Use your school resources – IAs, Math Specialist, Special Educators, etc.

• May use one or all • Create a rotation of “Stations,” which each

participating member does curriculum– Example:

• Math Classroom Teacher: New Content Material• Special Education Teacher: IEP Goals / Basic Review• Math Specialist: Extension from previous content• IA – Independent station – practice

Station Ideas:• Math & Literature Connections

• Map Skills• Geoboards• Estimation• # Sense

• Math & Art• Basic Skills (+, -, x, /)

• Time• Graphs

• Place Value• Problem Solving

• Geometry• Data & Probability

• Fractions• World Tour

Contact InformationKristen Wolf

New Market Middle SchoolEmail: Kristen.wolf@fcps.org

Website: http://www.fcpsteach.org/hp/usersites/kristen_wolf/New_Market_Middle_School_Math_/NMMS/

http://nmms.sites.fcps.org/kristenwolf

Let’s Try Some:• The Travel Game

• Decimals In between game (Investigations game – adapted for MS)

• MSA Lesson• Leap Frog – Problem Solving

• Probability with Dice • Crossmatics