Math Work Stations Part 3

Today I'm going to share the kinds of activities I put in my tubs.  At the beginning of the year my tubs looked a lot like the tubs I used when I did Math Their Way.  I had a couple of tubs with patterning activities.  One tub had pattern blocks and then pattern cards for the children to copy and extend.  I had access to a die cut for the pattern block shapes so I also put in some paper pattern blocks and black construction paper for the children to record a pattern they created.  All supplies were in the tub; glue sticks, white crayon to label the pattern and the blocks.  Another tub had small toys and junk with pattern labels like ABC or ABBC.  The students would use the objects to create these patterns.  Other tubs held counting and sorting activities.  I have a lot of different counters so I put them all together and let the kids sort them.  The math talk at this station included stating the sorting rule.  Another tub simply had objects and numeral cards.  Each person would select a numeral card and count out that many objects.  I  included counting books in this tub.  I also used some board games like Chutes and Ladders and Hi-Ho-Cherry-O for counting practice.
As we introduced new concepts in large group, I would add a station to practice that concept.  I found a lot of activities through the online book study of Math Work Stations I followed last summer.  These talented bloggers shared some fabulous activities.  Here's a link to check it out:

http://learningwithmrsparker.blogspot.com/p/math-work-stations.html

Included in these activities were variations of more and less games, war and counting games that were perfect for the first part of the year.  Deb Diller included a lot of simple activtiies in her book as well.

Where did I find activities for the rest of the year?  Everywhere!

• www.mathwire.com
• Every Day Counts Partner Games
• Our math textbook Texas Mathematics from McGraw-Hill.  I assume most textbooks will have activities suitable for work stations.
• Blogs- I spend WAY to much time blog stalking!
• Teachers Pay Teachers and Teachers Notebook
• Marcy Cook Tile Activities- A former teammate attended one of her workshops a few years ago and was given money to purchase a ton of these cards for our team.  Love them!
• Shari Sloane's website http://www.kidscount1234.com/- My kids loved the casino bottles!



Photo from www.kidscount1234.com





• I also discovered I liked creating games and activities.  Here's an addition practice game I made to go with our first grade "Wizard of Oz" theme for this next school year.



There's No Place Like Home





I have discovered that sometimes the simplest activities are best, like the casino bottles above and games like BUMP.   (Here's one I created.)  I tried to add a couple new activities every couple of weeks or whenever the kids were ready to work independently on a concept.  I would also bring back old favorites sometimes for review.  Add new activities gradually and make sure you model each one completely.  Do not make my mistake and try to put out a whole set of new activities at one time because you just bought the cutest unit on TPT!!!!
What do you have in your math stations?  Where do you get your ideas?
Carol