Maths Station Teaching Ideas

This post is about how I structure and plan Maths Stations for my class.

There are many reasons why I feel station teaching is hugely beneficial to the children. These are just a few:

-more child led than teacher led

-allows me to work with smaller groups and give them more reinforcement or challenge them further

-peer learning 

-a chance to tackle problem solving 

-makes Maths FUN

-chance to use concrete materials 

-ICT can be integrated easily

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Structure:

Once per week (in an ideal world but not always the case.)

Two Teachers

It is a lot easier to have a second teacher (usually a Learning Support Teacher) to help you but I have done it myself too.

3 x 10 min slot: 

This year I am hoping to do 3 x 10 minute slots on a Friday. (With the emphasis on the Language Curriculum this year, it is hard to find more time to allocate) In the past, I have spent up to 1 hour at station teaching.

Planning

Grouping

This can be mixed ability or by ability depending on your preference and your class.

 This year I have 5 groups of 4/5 children in each.

Stations

I have six stations organised that the children will work at over a two week period (3 per week). Again these change a bit depending on the topic but here is an idea of how I break it up:

1. Teacher Led (Class Teacher)

The children work with me on a topic we are currently working on such as steps to long division. It gives me a chance to see if the children have any difficulties or if they are ready to move on.

2.  ICT

Using iPads/classroom computer, I will set out 2/3 games on a particular website for the children to try. It will be linked to the topic we are covering or developing tables. In September we will be using www.crackingmaths.ie 

3. Card games

This month we will practice multiplication and place value using cards.

4. Problem Solving

Our school invested in these Maths Boxes (4 levels) a few years ago. It also comes with a CD so you can put them on the IWB. 

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5. Maths Boardgame

Again, we invested in these board games to reinforce maths skills in a fun way.

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6. Teacher Led (Learning Support) 

The Learning Support Teacher will also work with groups so that each week the children work at a teacher led station and two independent stations.

Maths Starters The Students Love

Here are a few ideas of games I often start Maths lessons with to reinforce Maths skills.
Last year, I introduced these game when we were doing place value in September but they continually asked to play them throughout the year!

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Digit Bingo

I find it is a very useful way to recap on Maths vocabulary they have learned (factors/product etc.) and develop place value skills.

I usually hand out the whiteboards to the children and ask them to write down a four digit number (can increase or decrease the amount of digits depending on the class level). Sometimes we just do it in our copies if under time constraints. I then read out a list of clues and they mark off their numbers until someone has all of them marked off.

Examples of questions:

-If you have an even/odd number in the thousands mark it off.
-If you have the product of ___, in the tens mark it off.
-If you have a multiple of ___, in the hundreds mark it off.
-If you have the answer to 3x3......
-If you have 3 squared.....
-If you have the second square number....

(As I read out clues, I write down the possible answers on my grid to check their answer at the end.)

Alternative Ways to Play

-use it to develop a sense of tenths/hundredths/thousandths.
-if you have a split class, both classes can compete against each other 
-allow the winner to call out the clues for the rest of the class (which allows you to observe and see which clues/vocabulary the children are still finding challenging).

The Target Number

This is also a great game to revise vocabulary and to develop maths skills.

Again, I usually use the whiteboards for this activity but the copies also work perfectly.
I call out a four/five digit number for the children to take down and I give them 10 questions based on the number.

Examples of questions

-Make the largest/smallest four digit number from the digits
-is it odd or even?
-will it divide by 2/3/5? (They begin to know without even doing a calculation as the year progresses when they learn strategies such as any even number will divide by 2, if you add the digits and the answer is a multiple of 3, then 3 divides into it etc.)
-add all of the digits
-find a prime/composite digit
-find a square/triangular number
-list the digits that are a multiple of __
-Add 2000 to the number
-subtract 1200 from the number
-round it to the nearest 10/100/1000

Alternative Ways to Play

-allow the winner to call out the questions for the rest of the class (which allows you to observe and see which clues/vocabulary the children are still finding challenging).