About a year ago, I heard about the BUILD basis for Math stations and I. Was. Hooked. So simple to implement and it covers everything! And best of all, my little bits LOVE it. Seriously. We have music class on Thursdays, and our BUILD time is cut short (only 1 station) and they always ask to do their second station in the afternoon.
So what is BUILD?
Buddy Games
Buddy games are playing in pairs (or occasionally groups of 3, when I am introducing a new game.) They can incorporate a variety of math skills.
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| Scat! is a favorite game in my classroom! We have a different version each month. This month, we have Snowman Scat and the children are working with irregular 10 frames to practice subsidizing skills. The game is very simple to play - I teach it in September and set out the new cards each month! My little bits love it! It is available in each of my monthly math station packs (Get the January pack here) |
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| Board games are another classroom favorite! We sometimes have games like Trouble, Chutes and Ladders and checkers. This one was teacher made (from my October Math stations pack). The students were practicing ways to make 5. This one pops in and out of rotation for several months while my students build fluency! |
Using Manipulatives
Manipulatives are great for developing spatial recognition, geometry sense and fine motor skills.
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| Mental Blox is a favorite manipulative. It is a 3-D puzzle game. This one frequently comes into rotation - and is a popular choice during STEAM as well. |
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| I very rarely have product based stations for "U" stations - but measuring is such an important skill! These gifts are in my December packet. They are a variety of sizes. Students measured them with both Unifix cubes and paperclips. This was great for introducing standard units of measurement! |
Interactive Notebooks/Independent Reading
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| Interactive Notebooks are such an important piece of our math block - not only do the students get to practice a variety of math skills, they also get much needed practice cutting. The best part for me is that the notebooks give me TONS of data. Students are required to visit this stations 3 times a week. |
Learning about Numbers
Learning about numbers is practicing number recognition and writing, counting and subitizing, addition and subtraction and place value. It is VERY differentiated and is usually a station where I work with students individually, or in small groups.
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| Working on place value using Montessori Golden Beads. These are similar to base 10 blocks, but use beads. The number cards that came with my set are great for helping understand place value! |
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| Roll and cover is fun and easy to set up. I use the differentiated cubes I found on amazon for this and it's another center that we always have out, but change the skill monthly. This time they were working on ten frames, rolling and covering the right apple with an ant manipulative. This month, our roll and cover station has addition problems for 4, 5, and 6. |
Doing Math
This is the only station where I typically have a designated "product" or worksheet. My little bits call this "big kid work" because they are the only class at our school that gets worksheets. ;) (We only go up to Kindergarten!) This is another station that I spend a lot of time in during rotations, working with small groups or introducing a new activity. These often take students more then one 15 minute block to complete. They put unfinished work in their math folders and go back to that station later in the week.
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| Hot chocolate numbers have been a hint. Here, they are counting the tally marks and coloring in a space that has that number. These are in my January Math Station pack. |
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| This is our write the room center (at the time, we were packing up our classroom to move to another room so the cards were just on the table) She is looking at a number, and then filling in the 10- or 20-frame. |
I change our stations monthly. Yes, I said monthly. I put out 3-5 activities for each option. The shelf is labeled with the letters for each option, and the corresponding activities also have a label on them. (Interactive notebook pages get added weekly, but I print them all at the beginning of the month when I am setting up our math stations)
Students get to choose their own stations (although sometimes if there is a particular child or group I want to work with, I will suggest an activity for them). I love that my students get to choose their areas - they are so much more engaged in activities that they get to choose!
I usually try to work with students individually during this time. I teach a whole group math lesson prior to our station time, and if I notice there was a student REALLY struggling with it, I will work with him or her. Other time, I notice that a student is working in an area, and seems to have mastered the skill, but is ready to take it to the next level. I might also spend 5 minutes with that child as well. I do not usually work with the same child for the entire station time.
I hope you enjoyed this post on our math block! It really is one of my favorite times of day!
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