Reflect
Read the center overview page linked below and then take a look at the MANY centers linked on our new math site. Choose one (or four!😉) centers recommended for your grade level and play it with someone!
Consider
- What are your thoughts about incorporating centers into your math time? How might you organize them so that they are manageable for you and easy for your students to access?
- What center did you play? What did you think of it?
Respond and Interact
After exploring some of the centers, please post your response to one {or more} of the prompts above. Read our colleagues' reflections. Feel free to respond to someone by sharing a comment, insight or interesting possibility.
The center I explored was "How are they the same?" stage 4, which addresses a grade 4 standard in geometry. What I noticed about this center, and many others in IM, is the additional opportunity it gives students to use math language and vocabulary. In this particular center, students look at several different shape cards and choose two that have an attribute in common. Students must name that attribute and get a point if they name an attribute that no other player names. I can see using centers like this one as a fun way to prepare for state testing. This past year, I tried to teach about one new center a week following a math lesson, and giving students more time to play the centers during our WIN time.
ReplyDeleteIn fourth grade, I found that many of the centers were a good activity for a morning entry task a few times a week. I was also able to post the digital centers in google classroom, so students could easily access them when they had a few extra minutes throughout the day. Students can play the digital games against the computer or with a partner, which was nice when they finished work early. Next year my goal is to make time for center activities outside of math class 2-3 days a week.
ReplyDeleteI played “Find the Number”. The stage one version of this game was a great way to practice finding factors of numbers. Students definitely need extra practice with this before the Unit 1 assessment. In stage two, students can find factors or multiples of a number. This would be a good way to practice distinguishing the difference between factors and multiples. This game is also a way to practice multiplication facts. I think this will be a center to introduce in the first week or two of school in fourth grade.
In MAP we are starting with Centers that have a focus on Operations in Algebraic Thinking, and Numbers in Base Ten. These are such foundational skills for students and we want to make sure we are supporting these area for our students first. With such limited time in groups we want to play games that will build on concepts and support students with they are learning in their classroom. I looked at , "Five in a Row" for third grade. Since third grade jumps right into multiplication, this center will help support students with factors and multiplication facts. This is a great game for our students to play in pairs!
ReplyDeleteI work with 4th and 5th grade students in the resource room and can see that using these centers could be very helpful for kids as an additional point of access in understanding concepts. At the end of the overview of centers it states that "Centers can also be used as support for students when practice with prior grade-level standards is needed." I am very interested in seeing how these centers will impact learning for these students. As far as organizing, I think that most of the centers could be set up and accessed by both 4th and 5th grade so I would not need to have double the containers, hopefully! I looked at the Target Measurement game and think that would be fun and challenging, kids would get hands on practice with measurement.
ReplyDeleteThe Centers have been a hit in our early implementers' classrooms. The kids don't want to quit playing. 😊 I especially love how the centers meet the needs of most (if not all) of our math learners. Our students who tend to struggle with math can find entry points and the centers offer our high achieving mathematicians opportunities to go deeper with the content and really THINK as they strategize.
ReplyDeleteRenae, do you think that I may want to incorporate centers more often than suggested for 4th & 5th?
DeleteI'm not sure, Christi...I believe that the centers are a very important component of the program and really help students build their fluency. However, I also know that our 4th & 5th grade early implementers had a difficult time fitting in all of the centers because the lessons required their full math block. We'll need to work together to figure out what is the right balance for students in our resource rooms.
DeleteI played Find the Number grade 4. I think centers are a tool that all students seem to participate and enjoy, build community and it is so very important to build their fluency. I dedicated center games to be played once a week based on lesson during the week but I also continue to use quick fluency games for the first five minutes of each class to continue building their foundations and fluency math skills.
ReplyDeleteI played Five in a Row, Stage 4 (Three Factors) against the computer. This game is wonderful for building fluency and helping students consider strategies and reasoning for how they manipulate the factors. I struggled to include centers last year due to time constraints but am always so impressed by student engagement with games, so I started using the centers more near the end of the year during WIN time or if students finished a lesson/task early. I love that IM added the option for students to play the games on the computer. They can play against the computer or with a friend. This coming year, I plan on selecting two to three centers for each unit, teaching them to the students and embedding them into our week. A few ideas are to make one WIN time per week designated for centers and/or start one or two math lessons a week with a center activity. Last year my students' favorite centers were Rectangle Rumble, Rolling with Fractions, and How Close.
ReplyDeleteI explored most of the centers and found most of them can be changed in a way that a SAILS student can participate also. I was surprised to see some that had already seen played in the classroom. So much fun and learning without knowing it.
ReplyDeleteI am excited to see how can modify the same games for different grade levels and hopefully see the kids use this centers in the classrooms and be able to play/practice these concepts at home as they are fun games and not boring! The more fun we bring in the learning experience the better the kids seem to learn and are willing to try harder concepts and new things. I really like the Find the number as a fun game and takes the scariness away from the word Factor.. and makes it into a really fun game.
ReplyDeleteI chose the 'Find the Number" center for 4th grade. I like that it was a fun way to work with factors. Every time I incorporated games into our lessons last year, I saw that the students got so much from it compared to answering questions in a textbook. They were engaged, doing more work and having fun with math. These centers look like they will be a great tool in getting students problem solving more.
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ReplyDeleteIn my class, I found that doing centers during our morning work time or during WIN worked the best. Sometimes we could squeeze in a center after students completed their cool down, but I found this to be distracting for the kids who were trying to complete their work. Next year I am going to create a digital choice board with the digital centers, that way my students can access them easily and quietly play against the computer until all cool downs are complete.
I chose to play the digital center “Five in a Row. The stage one version of this game is the first center that pops up in the IM curriculum and is a good skill builder for practice with fact fluency and factor pairs. Last year, my students really needed a lot of practice with their multiplication and this game became a fast favorite with my 4th graders. I plan on introducing it again this year, but adding on the digital component will definitely give my kids more access to the center, as we build the stages.
Since I work with students in grades 1-5 who are struggling, I found these centers to be very useful. These types of activities help to motivate and engage my students to enjoy learning math. I particularly liked the "Centers Navigation Tool" because it shows all the grades that each center would be used with. Also, the center overview sheets were helpful since they listed the common core standards that connected with each stage of the center. In MAP we have been organizing our lessons and materials into the common core standards as well as using these standards and data to direct our instruction.
ReplyDeleteI tried out three games: Mystery Number, Number Puzzles: add and subtraction, Shake and Spill, and 5 in a Row: multiply and divide. Due to my position I choose games that had stages that crossed grade levels. I think my favorite was Mystery Number because I liked how it was adaptable to multiple concepts and skills. I do think that I will need to pay close attention to the vocabulary since my students are behind and some concept or terms may still be difficult for them to understand. As well as, I am not yet familiar with when each concept is introduced in this new program and at each grade level. For example, when will 4th graders be introduced to prime numbers? I need to look at this still. The Shake and Spill game was a little similar to the Shake the Beans activity I have been using. However, the stages and concepts have more depth and progression to them. The other two where similar to activities that I tried to create in the passed but these are so much more focused and already done and ready to use. I am excited that I will be able to use all of this soon.
After reviewing the centers, I can see myself utilizing them on flex days, during morning/arrival work time (perhaps in stage 2 or 3 so that they have experience with the center from stage 1), or even during WIN time as a learning choice. I could even see these centers being used during math small group time as well. I played "Can you build it", and really enjoyed the collaborative feel of the activity, as well as how all of the centers are staged to be used by students multiple times as their understanding of the concepts deepens.
ReplyDeleteThe centers are engaging, and fun, and also students could run themselves as an individual activity for small groups. It provides an opportunity for students to practice ad apply skills and strategies taught within the classroom.
ReplyDeleteThe center I focused on was secret fractions. I remember when my oldest daughter was in fourth grade and the 2020 pandemic hit. She was just beginning to explore fractions in depth and had very little understanding of what they were. It was one of the biggest struggles in school we shared together at the time. Since that, every time I cook a pizza for my family, I have to painfully review what fraction of the pizza I am giving out, and what fraction of the pizza remains. She rolls her eyes every time, but it has caused my younger daughter to have an early understanding of fractions. This center reminded me of that. It starts with the unit fractions, and students have to use those unit fractions to make their secret fractions before their opponents. This is a great way to develop that understanding of fractions, which can be so complicated for many students.
ReplyDeleteI think we are all pretty well versed in the benefits of gamifying learning. Centers are definitely a huge part of that. The overview page didn't T up the resource for grade four in the strongest way; "center time is in addition to regular class time." We already know the challenge of adopting a new curriculum, adjusting to new routines, finding a flow for managing time during the lesson...my gut tells me centers are going to be hard to pull off in year one. That said, if I can make them available, I absolutely will. Having the print resources readily available will help - easy PDFs ready to add to an email for print shop.
ReplyDeleteI didn't fuss with many of them for this week. I did click around and look at some noticing the required materials and number of players. Just getting the materials ordered in a quick and easy fashion would allow me to add these to my math area making them accessible to early finishers etc.
I would love to make centers a more integral part of my classroom this upcoming year. Assuming I will be able to get through lessons with time to spare, I can see myself using them as "may do" activities for when they are done with classroom work. However, I think I may try to introduce them as morning work as "soft start" options. I played compare at the different stages. That one feels like it could be easily incorporated as morning work and as easily accessible and engaging activity as Farkle.
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