Math Work Stations Chapter 8

I'm sad that this is the last chapter of the book. I have thoroughly enjoyed learning from each and every one of you. Thank you for hosting this book study and thank you to all of the teachers who have taken time to contribute ideas and freebies. Think of the amazing math stations we will be doing this year! I'm so excited!!

I have been using Kathy Richardson's book for my measurement centers. She has many of the same measurement workstations that Debbie Diller lists in her book. I was happy to hear that I am following the right path from two wonderful authors. You can find these ideas in this book:

Although I have about 4 weeks to teach measurement, I do feel that it is something that I do all year long. The students love to measure their own height and weight in an All About Me unit. We measure pumpkins, apples, plants, shadows, rocks, elapsed time, just to name a few. When you think of all the science lessons that involve measuring, measurement is easily integrated into these science lessons. I took an AIMS workshop this summer that was absolutely amazing and it was one of the best workshops I have ever attended. It was a 3 day workshop and it teaches how to integrate math and science through fun hands-on experiments. Although their material is copyrighted, I would love to share a lesson that involves measurement and lead you to their website to purchase these units or books if you so choose.

This is an AIMS weight measurement activity called Balancing Bean-Y Babies. Students will make their own adorable bean-y babies out of a knee-high stocking. You stretch a nylon over a paper cup and fill with beans. Tie off the end and roll the top down to make the beanie, put a rubber band around the neck to make a head and add eyes and a ribbon. The students will use these on a balance scale to compare weight. They use their hands to guess whose beanie is heaviest and put them in order from lightest to heaviest with the other classmates they are working together with. They actually get the weight of their own beanie baby. Then they find something that is heavier, lighter and the same. Here is a picture of the beanie I made during the workshop.

I think the students will have so much fun making these. All of this activity and forms can be purchased for $2 at this link:

Balancing Bean-Y Babies

They also have measurement activities for sale here:

Measurement

Another fun activity the children enjoy playing is from Bridges and it is called Frog Jump Measuring. The students pretend to be frogs. I even have a frog picture that I have made into a necklace that they wear during this station. They guess how far they can jump and then the jump from a line and measure their distance. They also can compare their distance to their partners. For some reason, the kindergartners love to play this over and over again.

Link up with Lory and other wonderful teachers for more great ideas.

Math Work Stations Chapter 7

I love teaching geometry to students. I mainly use the Frog Street Press songs to help the students learn their shapes. We make many TLC art activities and talk about the shapes. We always end up singing about Suzy Square and how we can turn her into Cindy Circle by rounding the corners, etc. 

They love learning shapes and I use the Shape Song book and song from Heidi's Songs as a culminating activity. You can watch the YouTube video here: 

The Shape Song 

This is found on Heidi's Little Songs for Language Arts (which has many other wonderful songs and projects) and can be purchased here:

Heidi's Songs Little Songs for Language Arts

Ok, I am not making a commission from either one of these two, but I highly recommend them.


Here's a game that my kinder class really enjoyed last year. It is called Attribute Trains. You can download it by clicking on the picture below:

The Attribute Train Game

This game can also be differentiated by having them change 2 attributes before they play the next piece too. There is even an online game that you can play to include technology into the workstations and it can be found here:

Online Attribute Trains

For more great ideas, link up with Mrs. Patton