Are you looking for a better way to organize math stations? Are you struggling to keep your math stations together after students use them? Look no further than this post for ideas on how to organize math stations for increased student productivity.
Why Organize Math Stations?
Short answer: the more organized your math stations are the easier they are to use. Making stations easy to use mean they become part of a powerful math routine which keeps your students learning.
Math stations offer hands-on practice for students which cement new and old concepts. Stations are used independently, with a peer partner, or with a small group under teacher guidance. No matter what environment you are using a math station in, students get valuable practice allowing them to work towards mastery.
When you organize math stations the number one priority should be to ensure students have everything they need to be successful. If a student has to stop their learning to hunt down a missing piece it disrupts the learning process. By making sure all parts and pieces of the math station are available from the get-go students are free to learn uninterrupted.
How Do You Set Up Math Stations?
I prefer to set up math stations based on the standard we are studying. By doing this, students are able to see a concept in multiple ways and practice towards mastery.
However, this means having multiple stations with similar content which can make it difficult to keep items separate. We usually have about ten math stations ready to go at any time.
To organize math stations I take each set of stations by standard and make a copy of the station on colored paper. Each station gets a different color. This way it is readily apparent which pieces, parts, or cards belong to each station. All the pieces are then laminated and placed in plastic folders such as (affiliate link) these that can be found on Amazon. I prefer to use folders over plastic containers because they take up much less room and I can keep them in the folders rather than switching containers with each unit.
When we change units I simply put away the last set of folders and pull out the new ones which are all ready to go!
Where Do You Find Math Stations?
There are a plethora of math stations available and you can make your own too!
Since I prefer to use math stations based on standards I needed to find some. So, I created these sets of ten stations per standard for second through fifth grade. These sets each come with ten stations based on a single standard. They are sure to keep students engaged in their learning.
They are created entirely in black and white to save on ink. This makes it even easier to copy on colored paper to keep them organized.
You can check out these stations by standard here.
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