Last week, we kicked off a special routine in our classroom that will hopefully guide our math instruction for the entire year:
Math Centers!
After using the first few weeks of school to become familiar with what math is and how we use our math "tools", the children were finally ready to break off into different areas for our math block to work on specific skills.
Each week, Monday and Tuesday will be our non-center days where all students learn our new concepts together and partake in some sort of two-day hands-on project. This week, we created pictures of us with a certain number of apples on our heads as a response to Ten Apples Up on Top. This helps us in counting out a quantity when given a number.
Wednesday, the big day arrived. We had a long talk about trust (which is a recurring word that often comes up in our student/teacher relationship)-- "Can I trust you to do your job during centers?" We made a list of what math centers look like (working in specific math areas, only using math tools) and sound like (students working together, counting, etc.). Finally, the students were ready to be introduced to the first 6 of 9 centers that they will be working in for the remainder of the quarter.
Centers Not Pictured Here - Number Writing: Students practicing numbers on white board or paper - Computers: Students playing math games on the computer. - Cube Puzzles: Students seeing how many cubes they can fit on puzzle pieces. |
My nerves were high as I released the students to the centers for the first time. It was something new and there is at times comfort in having all students sitting and doing the same thing. However, there is much more excitement and learning when students are allowed to explore with different items that are suited to meet their needs. There were a few, "Mr. Ellzey, where do I go now?" and "She's not in the right center!" but that is of course expected in the first week. Each week, we will become more and more independent with these tasks. I can't wait to see all that we accomplish!