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Create a space to teach math in small groups that is organized, efficient and easy to use all year long.

Here's what a teacher center is and how I recommend setting up your teaching area if you teach using a guided math format.

What is a teacher center?

The teacher center is a place to gather students in small numbers to work on math skills at their level and work on building their math strengths.

It usually is a location of the classroom that has a teacher chair, some math materials nearby and room to spread out a bit with math manipulatives.

In some classrooms - it's a kidney-shaped teacher table, a rectangular kindergarten table or in other classrooms - it's the floor.

A teacher center can take on any shape that will work for you and your classroom.

If you want to differentiate your math teaching, you most likely will need a system in place to keep all of your other students engaged and learning while you meet with a small portion of your class.

In that case, you'll want to fully explore what guided math could look like in your classroom using this ultimate guide: How to start guided math in kindergarten.

Let's take a closer look at how to set up a teacher center area in your classroom that:

• is organized
• has what you need at your fingertips
• is easy to maintain all year long

Set up an inviting area

The goal of creating a teacher center space isn't to have a Pinterest-perfect one. And the goal isn't to have every math material available you could possibly ever need to teach any math concept.

The goal is to have what you need within arms reach when you need it and to have a place to work with students.

And for most of us, this means that there won't be too much stuff in this space. There needs to be a clear work surface and space for students to sit and work.

To set up an inviting area you'll need:

• seating for the teacher
• seating for the number of students in your largest group
• space for students to work using manipulatives
• functional storage nearby

Here's an example of the space we used one year in our classroom. I put a kidney-shaped instructional table low to the ground.

I had a memory foam pillow for me to sit or kneel on and colorful bathroom throw rugs to define student seating areas.

Now, I know that sitting on the floor isn't for some of you, but it was awesome for us. When we were not doing math, this table was used all day long by my students since they had alternative seating options.

The table was placed in front of a bookshelf so I could see out to watch over the rest of the class and utilize the shelf space so everything would be within arm's length.

The following year, I didn't use any rugs and the filing cabinet pictured was moved and yet, the space was still inviting and easy to use.

Organize your materials

You generally need three types of storage at a teacher center.

1) First, plan what materials you need most often for the most lessons and find permanent places for those materials. If you're going to use it almost every day at the teacher center, you want it within your arm's reach.

2) Then create a place for you to put materials that are just for the particular day's lessons (if there are any materials you need that aren't normally stored at this center).

3) Lastly, create a place to keep any materials specific to each of your math groups. This way you can keep flashcards, unfinished work or differentiated materials specific to a group.

I'll show you what I had in each type of storage in my classroom.

Everyday materials

I stored the materials I used most often in a 3-drawer Sterilite unit and in pencil caddies on the shelf behind my teacher table.

Let me show you the contents of each drawer.

I used little Dollar Tree organization baskets and sometimes a pencil box inside to keep smaller items organized and easy to grab.

In the 3-drawer unit I kept:

• pattern blocks + attribute blocks
• ten frames (drawn on craft foam) + counting chips
• foam dominoes
• die
• number lines
• counting rods (pipe cleaners with beads)
• math mats

Now, I also used pencil caddies next to these drawers. These also held materials we would use regularly, if not daily.

The pencil caddies held:

• pencils
• dry erase markers and baby sock erasers
• bingo daubers (dot makers)
• glue sticks
• linking cubes
• crayons
• markers
• red, yellow and green craft foam (to play flashcard flash)

Pencil caddies were easy to place onto the table and clean up into.

I used pencil boxes in the largest section of the caddy to hold an assortment of crayons, pencils, and markers and one pencil case contained linking cubes.

Temporary materials

Next, I kept a medium-sized, Sterilite sturdy white basket with the materials needed for our wrap-ups, warm-ups or general lesson materials. It was a great place to card sets, a game or special manipulatives.

This basket holds things only temporarily. Once a lesson or the week is over, this basket's materials get returned to their proper place.

This basket was also big enough that I usually placed my guided math lesson plan binder in it too. That way our table stayed clear and could be used for other things during the day.

Related: How to organize math materials when not in use >>

Group-specific materials

Last, I had four purple baskets on the bottom shelf behind my teacher table to hold materials specific for each group.

These are the locker-style bins that the Dollar Tree normally carries.

Most often we kept flashcards (because my students created their own sets) or unfinished work in these baskets. Sometimes they were empty.

The baskets have a group label so that students can easily find his or her own work without digging through an entire class set or have to rely on the teacher to get for them.

Let's wrap it up

There you have it - what a teacher center is and how I recommend setting up your teaching area if you teach using a guided math format.

Remember to make your teacher zone inviting, but keep the focus on having enough seating and work area and to make it functional.

When you have a place to keep materials you'll use all year long at your fingertips, a place to rotate in temporary materials and a place to keep small group materials, you'll be set up with a system that's easy to maintain.

Read Next: How to create a guided math binder >>

If you like what I do here on KindergartenWorks, then be sure to subscribe today. I look forward to sharing ideas with you weekly.

Set up a math games and activities center in your classroom that is easy to maintain all year long.

I think that math games are the perfect fit in a kindergarten classroom. They can help your students practice math skills and learn without you physically being there.

Students can work independently which frees the teacher up to teach math in small groups - or in other words - do guided math. It's what I did in my classroom and it worked out great.

Related: How to start guided math in kindergarten >>

Here's how I set up a center during our guided math time that made it simple for me to maintain all year long.

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What is a math games center?

This center is a space where you put standards-based math games and activities for your students to play either independently or with a partner.

In our classroom, we call it "the practice zone" simply because they are practicing math.

The math games and activities are put in one location, organized for easy clean-up, differentiated and changed throughout the year.

You offer choice to students during this center - they get to pick and choose which things to work on. The choice of what to play is key to kids staying on task and engaged for the full length of your center time.

How to organize materials

You don't have to spend a lot of money to get this center up and running. I think with a couple of drawers and some Ziploc bags, you're set to go.

You don't actually need a dedicated table or play space dedicated to just this center. Let students spread out and use available tables, shelves, and the floor.

You will want to pick out a classroom space where you can set up access to 6-9 games or activities.

Make sure that where you put it won't impede the classroom flow of students working at the same time and put it close enough that students can take games or activities to a nearby floor or table space to play.

I like using these (amazon affiliate) Sterilite 3-drawer units because they are deep enough to hold regular sized paper but wide enough and tall enough to hold manipulatives too.

I like these also because:

• Students can remove the drawers to take the activity anywhere in the classroom. This makes clean up a breeze.
• You can actually stack more than three tall if your storage space allows. Just remove the lid and snap together the number of drawers you want.

But if drawers aren't your thing - you can use whatever you have or whatever system you've come to learn works well for your classroom.

Be sure to label your organization system with both words and pictures so that your young readers and non-readers can find what they need.

I mark my drawer labels as an individual activity or partner work or multiple partners using the silhouette icons.

To keep things organized, you need an easy system to get things put away.

But what about those random math pieces that are found on the floor?

If someone finds a random game or math piece and the materials are still in a drawer, they put it away in the center. Easy and done.

If I've already put away a set of materials, and the students can't go into the closet to return it, they put it into our "lost math materials" basket. Then when I have time, I put it away. Until then it stays contained and isn't visual clutter.

Just think long term - what can you put materials into and rotate materials out of that will be easy enough to change throughout the year - without hassle.

Related: How to store math materials when not you're not using them >>

How to keep it simple

If you want students to be able to use this center all year long without lots of instruction, then you want to work smart.

First, consider what activities and materials you've already taught in small groups that can go into the math games and activities center when you're done with them?

This is a smart way to reinforce the lessons you've taught.

Think of it this way - it's just like the approach we use in reading.

We need to give them ample opportunity to PRACTICE and this is a structured way for them to do it independently.

If you place materials that they used in a small group setting with you they will know exactly how to use those materials.

What to include

There are enough good games and activities are available online for free or inexpensively that you can have enough stuff to last you all year. Let's talk a little about what to put into this center.

Think about this: what if your students already know how to use the materials in this center... then that means they just have to learn how to use them to practice new content.

From quarter to quarter I try to keep similar activities where the materials stay the same but the content changes.

This way I don't have to teach and model a new set of expectations, I can simply review how to use the materials and focus on content.

That meant I had games and activities like:

• a dry erase sheet set*
• vis-a-vis marker transparency set*
• magna-doodle transparency sheets*
• a marker based activity (usually a roll/graph, roll/add, stamping activity)
• a little book activity (started whole-group and they finish independently)
• spinner game
• board game
• bump game
• memory game
• dot maker (bingo daubers) activity
• making activity (building numbers, building with tens and ones)
• playdough activity
• an I-Spy activity

For example, we always had a bump game drawer. All year long. I simply changed out the game mat a couple of times a year to match the growing levels of my students or change it to match a holiday.

Now, I loathe worksheets... so those aren't what I want in this center.

However, if you have a worksheet that is valid practice, you can make it more interactive and fun by turning it into a dry-erase mat or transparency for students to use and re-use.

Here is an example of the beginning of the year. I wanted my students to practice forming numbers. I copied pages from my Monster Numbers mini-books onto overheads. This made fun handwriting practice.

Now skip forward to after Christmas and my students are still using vis-a-vis markers... but the transparencies have changed. In this case, a student is ordering numbers to 100 using a dot-to-dot.

Keep this in mind - you don't have to find all of the games today or tomorrow - build your stash as you find items throughout the year.

Here are more example items I've made that my students used:

• Number puzzles / Dot maker activities, Playdough number mats
• Subtraction memory
• Picture directions (for games found online)
• Magna Doodle cards
• Teddy Bear Addition Number Line Game
• Hide-a-2D-shape game
• Sorting mats
• I-Spy decomposing numbers
• One more bump game
• Roll and trace a shape

How to keep it fresh

Teach them how to use the materials once and then simply change up what they use to materials for.

The beauty in keeping the materials as similar as possible means you won't have to re-teach everything every week or even every two weeks.

It's my belief (after doing this for a few years) that you really only need to rotate items that you have put out for your math centers every 6-9 weeks.

And you don't have to rotate them all out or rotate them all in at the same time.

Simply add games in as time allows and take your cue from how students are doing in groups for when it's time to retire or refresh an activity.

Keep the games low-key and focus on content. You want them to be able to play and do the work successfully by themselves.

If something ends up being super-high interest for your kiddos, repeat the same kind of activity next quarter with an amped-up level of content that matches your new standards.

Related: When to teach math standards in kindergarten >>

Teaching these games and activities into your day when it best fits you. For me, if it wasn't introduced during a small group lesson, I'd introduce it as a mini-lesson before we began guided math for the day.

In my classroom, I used the second day of our rotation (the day the journal prompt is being completed by the second half of the class) to teach a new activity whole group.

Since I'm only reviewing how to complete the math prompt and edifying students math journal examples from the previous day, I have more time to devote to introducing a new game.

This is also the same chunk of time I use to teach new computer center math games.

How to differentiate

You can differentiate work in a math games center.

If you differentiate items for students, there are two ways to go about it:

1. Label baggies with group levels and place their items in a bag. A single drawer (like your memory game drawer) can have multiple levels of memory in it to accommodate all of your groups.
2. Give a whole drawer to a particular group's activity.

If you don't have drawers... you can still use this idea. I like to use stars to differentiate levels of math materials.

Simply label the entire drawer instead of a baggie with the stars, level or group name.

To differentiate items within a drawer, which is what I did, I use preprinted star labels (little return address labels with webding font stars) and stick them onto our Ziploc baggies or whatever your activity is stored in.

For my classroom, I set up one-star, two-stars and three-stars as our group levels. More stars equals more support needed.

Let's wrap it up

Students can work independently at your math games and activities center to learn and practice skills and standards.

Remember to set up your center so that it is organized, simple to maintain all year long and easy to differentiate.

If you like what I do here on KindergartenWorks, then be sure to subscribe today. I look forward to sharing ideas with you weekly.

More math games you may like

• Making 5 fluency games
• Simple & free measurement activity for kindergarten
• Coconut roll and color - free beginning number recognition game
• What's the difference - free kindergarten math subtraction game

Guided math lessons in kindergarten can be easier if you set up a lesson plan format to follow. Let's learn how to set up an easy-to-use format so you can create guided math lessons successfully.

In kindergarten, guided math means that I'm teaching math lessons to small groups of students while the rest of the class is learning independently.

This may mean that I have a lesson plan per small group to create.

But before we throw up our hands and claim that it's "too much work" to create more lesson plans in order to reach multiple levels of students - let me share a lesson plan format with you that makes planning for multiple groups easier and not necessarily more work.

If you're new to guided math, you may want to read How to start guided math first.

Break down your instructional time into 3 parts

Let's break down the time you have to teach your small group of students into three parts.

We'll start with a warm-up activity, have a main lesson and finish off with a wrap-up task or activity.

These are meant to give you flexibility as the teacher to get in more content and allow you to teach all that you need to.

The three parts of your time with a small group do not all have to be on the same standard. They can be, but it's not needed.

If you can plug in a lesson idea, activity or exploration task into each part of the time you have with a group, you're set to go! It makes lesson planning so much easier.

Let's look at each part and see what you can plug into these times to make your time with each group successful.

Warm-up

Think of the warm-up as an activity or task that the students can do to get started learning - almost without you.

When you're teaching math in small groups, often you may need to finish directing another child, tie someone's shoe or handle a distraction before you can settle in to actually start teaching the small group of students in front of you.

The way around just making them sit and wait for you is to create a warm-up activity.

Set up an activity that they can start doing independently and you can slide in and join them just shortly thereafter.

You can change the activity, after a while, to something new but always pick something basic that they can start without you.

Here are some ideas:

• Write their numbers in order on the table using dry-erase markers and baby socks for erasers to see how high they can get before you call "Time!" but also get interrupted by counting aloud for you to 30 one-on-one (so you can assess them) while the others are still working
• Start counting to 100, touching each number on their individual counting chart workmat. Then go through a page or two of math workmats as a group (once the teacher joins) in to build up fluency for naming 3D shapes, counting to 100 or tracing numbers 11-20 when called out.
• Play flashcard flash with a partner - using their own set of flashcards

This is also a great time to cover "fluffy" standards that don't need as much time or focus to master. (I'm thinking of you 2D shapes)

A warm-up could be 5-10 minutes long. You can pretty much just call time and move right into your main lesson.

How to differentiate

These warm-ups are relatively easy to adapt to different group levels.

In most cases, you don't have to plan an entirely different activity or task for each group. Adjust the number range, amount of support materials or expectation to differentiate your warm-up activity.

Higher students could have to start writing at a number you have left on the table... say 57. Or they have to count backwards from 100 using the counting chart... or count to 100 first and then count by tens starting at 3. Their flashcards could be a higher range of numbers than your other groups are using.

Lower students could have access to a number line, or ten frames to help them build numbers and then write them. They could use a dry erase marker to color in how high they counted before needing to start over and try again to get closer to 100. Their flashcards could be a lower range of numbers than your other groups are using.

Keep lesson materials that are specific to each group (like flashcard sets) in a basket nearby with their group name(s) so they can get materials without you.

Leave materials out on the table that are not specific to each group (like your dry erase markers, baby sock erasers, and workmats) so they can get started without you.

Main lesson

The biggest chunk of time you set will be for your main lesson.

This is where you want to dig deep and spend time.

You'll be:

• talking a little
• asking questions often
• listening a lot
• and watching even more

Teach the standards that make the biggest impact on creating mathematical thinkers.

For us this meant we were usually focused on:

• Composing and decomposing numbers 11-19 (and beyond) using tens and ones
• Making 5 and 10
• Subitizing numbers 1-9 (especially 1-5)

Sometimes this part of your lesson time will be a game, an exploration or a task.

Example: use a math game to develop subtraction strategies >>

Example: use exploration to find out why teen numbers start with a 1 >>

Example: Create ten frame flashcards to make teen numbers as a task. Use them later in subsequent lessons.

Whatever you choose, focus on mastering the standards or going above and beyond the standards with advanced students.

How to differentiate

To differentiate what you do with your groups, you'll want to think about the amount of support you give, the number range students are working with and the expectations.

You may need to alter or completely change those for each group.

You have the flexibility to do that to meet their needs.

Wrap-up

Think of the wrap-up as an activity or task that closes out your time together that capitalizes on the small audience you have in front of you.

Here are some ideas:

• learn a new activity that will be in the games and activities center (the practice zone)
• explain the new warm-up activity (for the next time they come to the teacher zone)
• play a quick game to review a previously learned concept

Before you transition to see another group or end math for the day, use this time to quickly hit something that extends their time with you.

And if you don't use the wrap-up every day - that's okay. It's your classroom. Sometimes we ran out of time and I didn't get to what I had planned for it.

Conclusion

When it comes to planning guided math lessons it can be easier if you set up a lesson plan format to follow. Hopefully, you can use this three-part plan as your easy-to-use format so you can create guided math lessons successfully.

Remember what we're going for:

1. Have a good chunk of time to dig deep in the main lesson, explore, make mistakes and talk through what we're learning
2. Have a little time to cover more basic "fluffy" stuff or have time to teach a new related game or activity students will use independently

Want to see a sample guided math group with all three parts?

Continue reading: Composing and decomposing numbers: a guided math lesson plan flow >>

Learn how to create a year-long math journal center in kindergarten.

Math journals are an excellent way to work on math standards without using worksheets, allow students to show their thinking and learn how to organize written math work.

Here's why and how I created a math journal center that lasted all year long in our classroom. This center fits right into how I teach math in small groups in kindergarten.

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Why I created a math journal center

Since I teach math in small groups, I need the rest of my class to learn independently. Setting up a math journal center is one way I have students learn independently.

I knew that I'd need a math center where students would record their thinking in written form using pictures, numbers and sometimes words... because they have to learn to write during math. But I wasn't about to use worksheets.

I loathe worksheets.

So, to replace worksheets in my classroom (and I literally just hid them away in my cupboards until the end of the year when I recycled them) I purchased a set of composition notebooks for my class.

With these notebooks, we had the makings of a math journal center, or recording zone, as I like to call it. Of course, you can call it a station, zone, center or whatever you like.

Continue reading: Two reasons why I love using math journals in kindergarten

How it works

This center is pretty straightforward, but here's how it works:

1. Students watch me model a math prompt.
2. They learn how to "read" the directions using picture clues.
3. They write the date and glue in the math prompt in their composition notebook.
4. They work through the prompt choosing appropriate materials when it is their turn to visit this center.
5. They record their thinking using pictures, color, numbers and eventually words.
6. They often share their work with the class and/or it is reviewed by the teacher before it gets returned to them.

They can learn to write, draw and organize their thinking using plain notebook paper. It won't all happen during the first three weeks of kindergarten, but they will grow by leaps and bounds over the year.

What you need

To set up a math journal center, here are the basic things you'll need:

• glue (sticks or bottles)
• a composition notebook for each student
• math prompts
• two-ended bookmarks
• student pencil boxes or a caddy of writing utensils
• manipulatives
• paper to print math prompts
• Ziploc bags to store manipulatives in sets
• basket to hold group notebooks

You don't have to have a specific area where kids sit to work - they can simply do their journaling wherever it's convenient.

If you have a little shelf space to keep student notebooks in baskets by groups and a three-drawer Sterilite organizer - that is all the setup space you need.

Just label your baskets in a way that is easy to change, because the names of the students in each group should/will change as the year goes on.

How to make it last all year

In order to make math journals something they could do all year long, I needed it to bet set up as a regular routine thing. So they will know what to do with a little modeling, instruction, and praise.

You'll need to decide how often your students will visit this math center and that will help you determine how many prompts you need each week.

My students had two journal prompts each week.

To make a math center year-long, I think you need:

• math prompts that look the same from week to week
• materials available in the same location
• a grading "rubric" (and I loosely use this term)
• a plan to have students finish or redo work
• a way to share student work with parents

Let's talk about each of those components so that it doesn't feel overwhelming.

1. Create kinder-friendly math prompts

Math prompts are what students will work from each week when they come to this center.

Math prompts in kindergarten should:

• be open-ended whenever possible
• have picture direction clues
• be standards-based
• usually require the use of manipulatives
• be differentiated relatively easily

You want students to keep working at this center and completely avoid the potential problem of having "fast finishers" altogether. Make your prompts open-ended so students keep working at this center until time is done.

Use picture clues so that students can follow along visually when you're introducing and modeling the prompt. Then they can use those clues to help them recall the directions, steps and prompt when working independently.

Only pick prompts that are working towards what you're working towards - and that is mastering standards. Choose a variety of standards to hit over time, but don't feel like every standard is worthy of turning into a journal prompt.

'Cuz they're not.

Kindergarten students are such concrete learners that they should have access to and use manipulatives while they are working. They should attempt to draw their manipulatives in their notebooks to show their work. It's age-appropriate.

Format your math prompt tasks so that if you need to differentiate the difficulty for different groups of students, that it's easy on you.

I've already made a whole year's worth of prompts that fit the bill for kindergarten. You can buy them in my guided math pack.

I stored the current math prompts in the top drawer of a medium-sized Sterilite three-drawer unit. Students would take one and glue it onto the next available page in their math journal and show their work on that page(s).

2. Make manipulatives available

You'll want to have some basic manipulatives on hand to help students learn.

Here are some ideas:

• linking cubes
• pattern blocks or foam shapes
• a camera (or iPad) to take photos
• stamps
• teddy bear counters
• dice
• dominoes
• 2D/3D objects
• number lines 0-10, 0-20
• ten frames
• high-interest objects (assorted buttons, beads, keys, shape macaroni, legos or counters)
• number cards

And I've found that the key is to already have these manipulatives in sets.

I would put out a set of manipulatives students needed to complete the prompt into a Ziploc bag or if it was a set of pattern blocks or base ten blocks, those were kept in pencil boxes. If my largest group size was 7 students, I would have 7 sets of those materials pre-made.

We stored these in the next two drawers of the Sterilite organizer.

That way they could carry it to their workspace from where we kept all of our math journal materials, clean up and return them easily for the next group.

Bonus tip! Here are two ways to keep "sets" separated if needed:

If you have a set of materials like dominoes that need to be kept as a set, create quick, picture labels to keep pieces together. Print a symbol multiple times (using the Wingdings or Webdings font) onto a label or a few labels. Cut the symbols apart and stick them onto the back of each domino in the set. Label the bag or container with the symbol so all pieces get returned to the right one.

Use color to separate sets of printed materials like cards. Students have an easier time cleaning up when they can visually see that all of their purple cards have been picked up right next to their partner who was using yellow cards.

3. Check student work

When it comes to grading in kindergarten - I don't. Checking these math journals is the closest thing I came to grading.

We used a rubric and a bookmark to make things easy.

Glue a rubric onto the inside front cover of the math journal.

Use a super simple rubric

A simple emoji face rubric was an easy way to check and document work.

Students could earn:

• a smiley face - if all parts were completed and accurate
• a straight face - if only some parts were completed or had incorrect work
• a sad face - if the student didn't try their best or follow the directions

You can add words too, like to note how hard a student tried, if they are showing growth, used good organization or if they didn't stay on task. Consider it documentation for you and for their parents.

Use a two-ended bookmark

We used a two-ended bookmark to help make journaling go smoother.

The bookmark helped us find current work quickly without having to flip through a gazillion notebook pages.

Students tucked them in with the red end sticking out if it was ready to be checked (at the end of their center).

Then, after checking their work, I'd flip it to the green end so they knew it was ready to be put away.

What to do when student work isn't done, good enough or is completely wrong

Let's be real - it's kindergarten. And we're working with all kinds of kids. I won't pretend every journal entry was completed beautifully.

That's not my goal. Our goal is to use these to learn to organize their work and show work in ways that is meaningful to them. They don't exactly know how to do that in the beginning.

Now there are times when students goof off and don't complete their work. When it's chalked up to behavior or being off-task, that's an easy sad face documentation mark.

I set those math journals aside and students redo the prompt the next morning after they've completed their morning routine.

If a student gets the work wrong but did make good attempts, then I have some great information I can use and plan small group lessons around that need.

I also set those math journals aside and have the student redo the prompt the next morning if I can give them one-on-one assistance to get them back on track. Or if our morning is hectic, I hang onto it for math time and try to have them sit near me so I can help them through a couple of steps so not all is lost.

Plan to share work with parents

Parents like to see what's going on in the classroom. You can share student math journals with parents to facilitate good communication.

Since my students were no longer taking home worksheets daily, I needed a way to have students share their math journal work.

I didn't want them taking journals home each week since that would increase the likelihood some would not return - but I did compromise and send them home once each month or twice a quarter.

I sent them home in a Ziploc bag with a note stapled to the inside so parents knew how to talk through their child's work with them and to return them back to school.

You could also take photos of student journal entries (or teach them to do it) and upload them to their SeeSaw portfolios (or some other digital sharing platform like Classdojo or Bloomz).

Parents were able to use the directions on the prompts, the work, and my emoji faces to get a good feel for their child's work in math.

How to keep it simple

Okay - let's look at this from the perspective that you want to work smart and keep it simple.

You want your students to work independently, you want them to grow in their math skills and you don't want a crazy amount of work each week to keep this center running.

Well here are three ways I think you do that.

1. Differentiate doesn't mean extra work

Differentiate only when you need to, and not for every prompt.

With most math prompts, you probably won't need to make any changes. But if you do, change the number range students are working with to better fit their independent skill range.

Use symbols so students know which prompt copy is for them.

Remember, differentiating doesn't mean just giving extra work to higher students - give them work that goes deeper and is more challenging.

2. Focus on content

Pick math prompts that help you teach! Go for math prompts that require learning to write and use numbers for a purpose and eventually use words to help add clarity to their work.

Skip the traditional math prompts: "I bought 3 pumpkins. My dad bought 2 more. How many pumpkins were there in all?"

I'm not saying story problems are bad - they just fit better during calendar binder time or as part of a teacher-led small group lesson instead.

3. Introduce, review, praise

When you introduce a math prompt - be very specific about what you want students to do... but don't always show them exactly how to do it or at least the whole thing.

Begin modeling what you want to see, but leave room for students to find ways to show their thinking.

For example, if you wanted students to show how they figured out multiple ways to make 5, perhaps they could organize their work by drawing a circle around each way. Or maybe they will draw a line in between each way. Or maybe they will do each way in a different color.

If your students don't all do the prompt on the same day (I only had two out of four groups doing a prompt on any given day) then be sure to review the prompt for your students on the second day.

I planned for my highest groups to do the prompt on the first day or rotating through centers so that my students who needed more support would see the prompt twice. The would see the introduction and review.

Use student examples from the previous day to help students see ways of showing their thinking, organizing their work, being neat and find specific things to praise that you want to see others try too. Just pick one thing from each example you pick to edify.

Use the system you have in place to your advantage so your students can work independently, grow in their math skills and you aren't doing a crazy amount of work each week to keep this center running.

Conclusion

There you have why and how I created a math journal center that lasted all year long in our classroom. Plus, we covered how the benefits of sharing work with parents and keeping it simple can make the work you do to set up this center easy to maintain each week.

If you're interested in grabbing my 74 math journal prompts - I'll include everything you need to help you get this center set up! This guided math pack includes the journal bookmarks, name labels, rubric, parent note and more.