This year we are required to do a math workshop during our math block. I am pretty good at reading workshop, but math workshop is greek to me. Please let me know any ideas you have or any good websites for math workstations. I would like a system that is easy to implement. Student would only have about 20 minutes in their stations after a whole group lesson. I was thinking of these 5 workstation, Fact practice (flashcards); problem solving; Workbook lesson; whiteboards (? not sure yet); games; and meet with teacher group. The simpliest way I see it is to only rotate through one station per day. Let me know what you think. Please help...let me know how students hand in work, how you group. etc.... Thanks . Please reply
I use math stations as often as we have time. I start with a 15-20 minute lesson and then students are ability grouped. One group meets with me to review, another has work time on homework, and the third group plays games that relate to our topics. They rotate through each of the stations (about 15 minutes). Just to give you an idea of the games, our first chapter is place value, adding, and subtracting, so the games are FACTO (basic adding and subtracting), Number and Decimal Top-It (making the biggest number), and Expanded Form. I think I got most of the game ideas from the boards here though that was several years ago. Hope that helps!
My teachers that follow more of a workshop model tend to do the following: 10 min. mini-lesson/intro next 45 minutes: group time (3 groups, created based on unit pre-assessments, not general ability or teacher intuition) The groups are often listed on the board, with their schedules. e.g. RED GROUP (Jamal, Ekaterina, Sophia, Owen, Caleb, Bella) 1. meet with teacher 2. independent work (related to lesson, from the math program -- in this case, Everyday Math) 3. Games (either choice or a specific one is listed) The next group will have a schedule, too, but maybe it's independent work, then meet with the teacher, then wrap up and games. The period closes with 5 minutes of summary, synthesis, and reflection, as in reading workshop. This is only one model, with pros and cons (as with anything). I've seen it work well when the structure is taught explicitly in the beginning of the year, and the teacher is very thoughtful about the differentiation for each group. Kids are comfortable following the schedule, and the teacher announces transition times. If you google Everyday Math games, there are lots out there. Also check out the "Fundamentals" series from Origo -- lots of mental math/number sense games that are a lot of fun. I am sure others can suggest some great math workstations websites, too.
