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Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Math rotations ROCK!!!!

Oh my gosh I LOVE LOVE LOVE my math rotations!! My kids also loved the new rotation board! I took in the foam board and the other pieces I made and put them all up this morning before they came in. I LOVE how cute my board looks now and it is SO easy for the to follow.

Here is a picture of my completed Math Rotation bulletin board:


Now I am trying to figure out a way to make a similar board for my reading rotations. Here is a picture of my now boring reading rotation board.

 I am not really that good with making graphics and all like so many of you are so I have to really work on it to try to figure out how to make it look good. I know what I need I just need to find the right graphics and fonts. Anyone with any good sites for fonts and graphics please share them with me!


My kids were so engaged during math rotations today, I could hear them talking but they were talking about math. At the Math Facts station I had 2 little girls using the flashcards and they made up their own game with the flashcards and their slate boards. They were all engaged. I only had to redirect 1 group, it is a group of all boys and as my students at the teacher table were working independently I got up to get my water bottle from my desk, as I walked by one of the little darlings hid his slate board, LOL they always give themselves away LOL I stopped and made them all show me their boards, the one that had hidden his board had drawn on his instead of doing the math, he was easily redirected and when given the choice to stay on task or move his clip down he chose to stay on task.

Below are some pictures I snapped of them all engaged in different stations.

 These students are doing the At Your Seat station - working on their workbooks 


This is part of the Math Facts station
They had the choice between flash cards and using a computer program called FasttMath

Teacher Table - Working independently on with their slate boards 



Hands On station - Playing a game that goes with our math series


On another note, we had another of our dreaded Data Meetings today and for the first time I walked out of the meeting without being stressed. I said to myself when I walked in the door - This is NOT going to get to me I am doing what I know works - and it worked, I left the meeting feeling just like I did when I walked in. We have our state writing test next Tuesday so that was a big focus of the meeting. At one point our principal asked us "So what will you all be doing on Monday" the room was silent, no one saying anything so I spoke up and said "Praying" LOL the whole room started laughing and it broke a lot of the tension in the room. All through this data meeting I kept thinking about my math rotations. My kids were working on decimals, fractions, and percents and I had 2 students from 2 totally different groups say to me "Mrs. Foreman I really like these rotations, I don't get it when you are teaching the whole class at the same time but when I come back here to the teacher table I totally get it." You can have all the data meetings you want... THAT was all the data I needed to know that I am doing the right thing. 

8 comments:

  1. Cindy:
    You should feel so good about this!
    YAY for you!

    Kim
    Finding JOY in 6th Grade

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    1. Thanks Kim, I have felt great the last few days! I told everyone that I am giving up stress for Lent and I think it's working LOL

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  2. I love the way you set up your math groups! I'm looking to redo mine for next year. Where did you find the cute clipart?

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    1. I love my rotation board and am trying to find a way to make my reading rotation board like it. I didn't make the pieces I got them from Clutter Free Classroom - she has the whole thing for sale on her TpT store. YOu can find it all here------> http://clutterfreeclassroom.blogspot.com/2011/08/my-math-workshop-rotation-board-setting.html

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    2. Thank you so much! You just saved me so much time over Spring Break! We follow the Daily 5 for reading so I plan on setting up a rotation board for that also next year.

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  3. Wow! I love the way your students are so focused during the rotations! Do you mind sharing a little more about your rotations? How much time do you have for math? How long is each rotation? How often do you do a whole group lesson? Sorry if that's too many questions!
    Sarah

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  4. I love your new board! It looks great! I found you though Pinterest and I am your newest follower! Come check my blog out when you get a free moment!

    Tonya
    Tonya’s Treats for Teachers
    I’m having a giveaway! Come on over!!!

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  5. I teach 4th grade and use "Math Centers" and have found them a great way for kids to help each other and for me to find the individual time to work with a small group. The math talk is all the data I need!
    Feel the same way you do about DATA team meetings. Just "smile and nod" and get through it!!

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