Stations Archives - Beyond the Worksheet with Lindsay Gould

Math Stations in Middle School: A Blueprint for Differentiated Learning

Lindsay — Thu, 16 Nov 2023 05:26:00 +0000

Hello, math mavens!

Remember the excitement of musical chairs as a kid? The music, the rush, the… occasional bumped elbows? Well, math stations are kind of like that, but with fewer bruises and more algebra. They’re a dynamic way to ensure every student gets a slice of the math pie (and who doesn’t love pie?).

Ready to set up your math stations? Let’s dive into these five tips to make your classroom buzz with mathematical energy:

Theme Your Stations:
- Just like a good party has a theme (80s, anyone?), your math stations can too! Whether it’s “Space Fractions” or “Geometry Jungle,” a fun theme can make tasks more engaging and memorable.
Rotate, Rotate, Rotate:
- The key to successful math stations is movement. Set a timer, and when it goes off, it’s time to switch! This keeps energy levels high and ensures students experience a variety of tasks. Plus, it’s a great way to burn off that pre-lunch energy!
Incorporate Hands-On Activities:
- Some students learn best by doing. Include manipulatives, puzzles, or even math games. It’s like sneaking vegetables into a smoothie – they’re learning, but it feels like play!
Peer Teaching Stations:
- Ever noticed how sometimes a student can explain a concept in a way that just clicks? Set up a station where students become the teachers. They’ll gain confidence, and their peers might just have an “aha!” moment.
Feedback Folders:
- At the end of each station, have students drop a note in a feedback folder. What did they love? What confused them? This way, you can continuously refine and improve. Plus, who doesn’t love getting mail, even if it’s just across the classroom?

Setting up math stations might seem daunting at first, like trying to fold a fitted sheet or understanding almost anything about teenagers. But with a bit of planning and creativity, they can transform your classroom into a vibrant learning ecosystem.

So, roll up those sleeves and set the stage (or station!) for a differentiated math experience. And remember, in the grand dance of teaching, it’s not just about the steps but the passion you bring to every move.

Keep rocking those math stations, and may your students always find their rhythm in numbers!

To read more about stations, head to these blog posts!

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Spice Up Your Holiday Teaching with Editable Puzzle Stations!

Lindsay — Mon, 07 Nov 2016 16:45:28 +0000

Teachers, get ready to make some holiday magic in your classroom with our Editable Puzzle Stations! They were a runaway success for Back to School, and now they’re here to brighten your holiday season. Why settle for the same old drills when you can add a dash of festive fun to your teaching?

These stations are the ultimate in teacher-friendly resources—they’re 100% customizable to fit any subject, from 3rd grade all the way to 8th, covering Science, Spelling, Math, and more. All you need is PowerPoint, and you’re set to customize your content, station titles, and even the color schemes!

Here’s where the fun begins: You can opt to use the accompanying coloring page as a traditional color-and-pass-along activity, or amp up the engagement by cutting it into puzzle pieces. Imagine your students buzzing from station to station, collecting pieces and piecing together their holiday masterpiece. The possibilities are endless!

Ready to transform your classroom into a holiday haven of learning? Hop over to my TPT store and grab your Christmas and Thanksgiving sets. And don’t forget, I absolutely adore seeing these stations come to life in your classrooms—send over your photos and share your festive learning journey!

Get set to deck your classroom halls with interactive joy and snag these innovative puzzle stations today!

Could you use a webinar that dives deep into Making Stations Work in the Middle Grades? CLICK HERE for more information!

The post Spice Up Your Holiday Teaching with Editable Puzzle Stations! appeared first on Beyond the Worksheet with Lindsay Gould.

Kicking Off the Year with Engaging Math Stations

Lindsay — Sat, 06 Aug 2016 17:25:43 +0000

There’s no better time than the start of the school year to introduce and master the art of implementing stations in your math classroom. The first days of school come with their own set of challenges, primarily with setting the tone with new rules and procedures.

Why not make the most of this time by seamlessly integrating stations into your teaching regime? Stations offer a dynamic way to manage time, encourage student interactions, and make learning more enjoyable.

The Power of Starting with Fun
When it comes to stations, it’s important to acknowledge that they can be tricky to manage effectively. You’re juggling time management, student movement, discussions, and assignments, all at once. However, the trick to making stations a hit lies in their introduction.

Kick off with a non-content, fun activity that captivates their attention, making them more interested in the activity than the procedure itself. This ensures they are more likely to follow directions attentively and be eager to move to the next station.

Transitioning to Content
Once you’ve run stations a couple of times using engaging activities unrelated to your content, it’s time to transition to subject-specific stations. Guide them by saying, “Remember when we worked on that exciting puzzle together? Today, we’re going to use the same format, but this time we’re diving into our math problems…” Your students will recall their previous experience, allowing for a smoother transition into content practice without spending additional time explaining procedures.

A Universal First-Day Activity
I’ve designed a versatile activity that works across multiple grade levels and can be adapted to any content area, making it a perfect fit for the first or second day of school. This activity encompasses 6 distinct stations, providing an interactive way for students to either create an “About Me” poster/coloring page or assemble an “About Me” puzzle.

Coloring Page Option: Provide students with a blank coloring page and let them navigate through the stations in their small groups to discover what they should draw, write, or color in each section. The beauty of this option is that the order of stations does not matter.
Puzzle Option: For a slightly different twist, cut the coloring page into puzzle pieces (a swift job for a paper cutter). Instead of carrying a coloring page from station to station, students collect and complete a puzzle piece at each stop. Once finished, they can piece their puzzle together on a blank sheet of paper.
Outcome: Regardless of the chosen method, each student will end up with a personalized “About Me” page, showcasing their interests and unique qualities. This finished piece not only serves as a great conversation starter but also makes for a fantastic display on your classroom wall to start the year on a high note. Ready to grab this activity? Click here to make your purchase!

Deep Dive into Making Stations Work: Intrigued to learn more and ready to transform your classroom with effective station management? I’ve got you covered! Join me for a professional development opportunity where I delve deeper into the nuances of making stations work flawlessly in the middle grades. Click here to register and take the first step towards a more engaging, collaborative, and fun-filled math class.

Happy teaching, and here’s to a fantastic start to the school year with stations!

The post Kicking Off the Year with Engaging Math Stations appeared first on Beyond the Worksheet with Lindsay Gould.

Making Stations WORK in the Middle Grades

Lindsay — Mon, 01 Aug 2016 16:55:29 +0000

I am SO very excited to share that I have a FREE webinar available for Making Stations Work in the Middle Grades!

The webinar covers :

Why stations work in the middle grades
How to get started with stations in your classroom
Options for station setup
Station prep and storage
Classroom management
Ways to use stations for differentiation
Other uses for stations
Additional options for station resources

Those of you who complete the webinar will receive a webinar completion certificate, station signs and a free set of stations!

CLICK HERE TO ENROLL!

The post Making Stations WORK in the Middle Grades appeared first on Beyond the Worksheet with Lindsay Gould.

Three Rookie Mistakes – Middle School Math Stations

Lindsay — Thu, 21 Jul 2016 03:07:31 +0000

So, you’ve been thinking about trying out stations in your middle or high school math classroom. There’s a lot to learn for sure, but once you get them situated and they become part of your classroom routine, the possibilities and benefits are endless.

As with any new idea or concept, there is a little bit of a learning curve. Stations are not something you can “print and go” the first time and have them go smoothly. They require a little bit of prep work. Here are three rookie mistakes you may find yourself getting ready to make when getting started with stations.

Not prepping your class. So, you’ve prepped yourself – read up on stations and have everything copied, labeled, set up and ready to go. You get super excited to share this new idea with your students – give a few directions and send them off. You anticipate great things – collaboration, movement, lots of “a ha” moments. Instead, you get confusion, chaos, lots of questions and blank stares. Your students need to be prepped just as much as the stations themselves. If you have never done stations before, you’ll need to start from scratch. Explain what you are doing, why you are doing it and how it is going to work. This should be done BEFORE the station activity is scheduled to begin. Preferably, the day before – or even weeks before. You can easily ease your students into stations during back to school by setting up some “review centers” or “get to know me” around the room and have them move around and review old skills or get to know one another. Think of stations as another classroom procedure. Practice makes perfect.
Using stations as “busy work”. Stations have SO much value. They shouldn’t be used as busy work – something for a substitute (oh please don’t do that) or something for the students to do while you catch up on grading. If stations are used incorrectly once, your students will probably hate them. They are smart and they know when they are doing something that has real educational value. By seeing you up and moving around the room, encouraging discussions and asking questions – they’ll get the hint that this is not just another worksheet or activity. If you make stations seem valuable, your students will see them the same way.
Using stations ALL the time. Let’s be honest. When we find something that works, we want to use it all the time. Your students however, probably don’t feel the same way. Stations are most effective when used sporadically. If you use them daily – they’ll become “just another thing” your students do. If you want stations to be something your students enjoy and really get something out of – use them occasionally. Maybe once or twice a unit.

My best advice is to (1) don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone and give stations a go but (2) don’t overuse them and (3) don’t quit if they don’t work flawlessly the first time around! If you would like to try out a set of ready to go, low prep stations, grab one from my store and let me know how it works out! Interested in learning more about stations? Click here for more blog posts.

The post Three Rookie Mistakes – Middle School Math Stations appeared first on Beyond the Worksheet with Lindsay Gould.

Spin to Solve and Roll to Solve Math Games

Lindsay — Wed, 04 May 2016 23:14:39 +0000

I’d like to introduce to you a product line that is PERFECT for skills review – especially at the end of the year when the last thing your students want is to be handed a worksheet. These activities can be used either with dice {Roll to Solve} or a spinner which has been provided {Spin to Solve}. The math games can be played independently or with a partner – which is my favorite! Take a look at the various ways you can use these in your classroom.

You can find all of the ones I have available by CLICKING HERE. And stick around until the end of the post because you can get a free sample activity!

What are these activities?

Each pair needs a game board and one spinner or two number cubes. They take turns spinning the spinner or rolling the number cubes to determine which two fractions they will add, subtract, multiply or divide {this skill will vary based on the content of the set of cards}. A student worksheet has been included (whole page and two per page versions) – or you can simply have them use plain paper. Since each card focuses on a different version of a skill, differentiation is a BREEZE!

Use Them As Stations :

You know how much I love stations. I recommend laminating the cards on colorful paper and have each color belong to a specific station. For example : you can have the green station, blue station, yellow station, etc. Students would only need to travel with their answer page (or piece of paper if you’d rather them not use the provided answer sheet), a pencil and a calculator if you allow. For the Spin to Solve cards, I recommend printing the cards two per page and cutting them. You can then laminate each card onto a station page with a copy of the spinner. This not only preserves the Spin to Solve cards, but also the spinner!

Perfect in Interactive Notebooks :

By printing two cards per page (or four cards if you don’t mind them being small) you can have students cut out the cards and tape/glue them into their interactive notebooks. They can do the work directly on the page below each card. The Roll to Solve cards would work perfectly for this as individual practice using dice. If you opt to use the Spin to Solve cards, I would again recommend laminating the spinners.

Multi-Skill Practice :

Each card practices a single skill (e.g. Adding Fractions, Dividing Decimals, etc.) and sometimes you want your students to work on multiple skills at once – especially for review. What I suggest in this case is to print four cards per page and have students roll/spin to solve on one card, then work clockwise around the page to roll/spin to solve on the next card. By doing this, they rotate through skills. Again, laminate those papers so you can use them over and over again! You can actually laminate them two sided so you can preserve 8 different cards on one sheet of paper – WIN!

Another idea for multi skill practice is to use math operations dice and cover up the center of the card that tells students to add, subtract, multiply or divide. Students roll the operations dice to get the operation and then spin twice or roll two number cubes to get the columns to use for their problem!

Use as Task Cards :

Task cards are SO versatile. Printing two to four per page will give you multiple cards that students can use in a variety of ways! Need some task card ideas? Check out this post… or this one!

So, welcome to my new product line! I’m so excited about these because they can be made to fit just about any skill! The BEST news? If you own my grade level mega bundles or are a member of Absolute Access, you’ll get these for free! They are added to the grade level bundle for which they fit best! Be sure to follow me on TPT so you can get notified each time I post a new set!

Want to check out an activity for FREE?

Have a great day!

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3 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Use Math Stations In The Middle School Math Classroom

Lindsay — Wed, 27 Apr 2016 19:35:45 +0000

Are you contemplating whether math stations are a good fit for your classroom? While many teachers rave about the benefits of math stations, they may not align with every teaching style or classroom dynamic. Let’s explore a few reasons why math stations might not be the best choice for you.

Preference for Worksheets: If your students thrive on traditional worksheets (do they do that?), stations might not resonate with your teaching approach. While worksheets offer structured practice, they often limit opportunities for collaboration, creativity, and movement. In contrast, stations provide a dynamic learning environment where students can engage in hands-on activities, work collaboratively, and explore math concepts in depth.
Time Constraints: If you prefer spending weekends grading stacks of worksheets, math stations might not be for you. Stations streamline the review process by offering concise activities that cover multiple skills on a single page. With easy-to-grade answer sheets and included answer keys, math stations simplify assessment and grading, freeing up valuable time for other classroom tasks.
Preference for Independent Practice: If you believe independent practice holds more value over collaborative learning, math stations may not align with your teaching philosophy. Stations emphasize collaborative learning, allowing students to work together to solve problems, discuss concepts, and support each other’s learning. This interactive approach fosters deeper understanding and engagement compared to traditional independent practice methods.

While math stations offer numerous benefits for skill practice and instruction, they may not suit every classroom environment. However, if you’re open to exploring new teaching strategies and enhancing student engagement, math stations can be a valuable addition to your instructional toolkit.

Ready to dive into math stations? Explore my collection of pre-made stations covering over 35 different skills, or learn more about implementing math stations in your classroom by checking out these two posts.

Unlock the potential of math stations to transform your classroom into a dynamic hub of collaborative learning and exploration!

The post 3 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Use Math Stations In The Middle School Math Classroom appeared first on Beyond the Worksheet with Lindsay Gould.

Mastering the Art of Math Stations in the Middle Grades

Lindsay — Thu, 22 Oct 2015 01:22:18 +0000

Have you been contemplating incorporating stations into your classroom but feel overwhelmed about where to begin? Wondering if your older students can navigate stations successfully? Puzzled about the difference between stations and math centers? Concerned about potential behavior issues and chatter? Fear not, because I’m here to equip you with all the necessary tools and insights to turn stations into a classroom hit!

Demystifying Stations and Centers:

First things first: stations are not synonymous with math centers. Math centers are typically pre-prepared, straightforward activities sorted by specific skills. You might have centers focused on fraction operations, decimal operations, rounding, and so forth. Students pick a center and immerse themselves in the activities related to that particular skill.

Stations, on the other hand, are all about fostering cooperation and teamwork. They allow small groups of students to dive into different facets of a broader concept. Using Fraction Operation Stations as an example, you could have stations for adding fractions, simplifying fractions, and multiplying fractions. At each station, students tackle a handful of problems, honing in on that specific skill.

Why Stations are a Game-Changer:

There are countless reasons to adore stations! First up, the power of collaboration. Sometimes students need a break from teacher-led instruction and thrive when engaging with their peers. Secondly, stations encourage movement. If your classroom setup allows, students can traverse the room, staying active and giving those legs a much-needed stretch. Thirdly, stations provide laser-sharp focus. Each station zeroes in on one particular skill, and I love to include hint cards to guide students, reducing confusion and enhancing concentration.

Setting Up Stations – Your Options:

Option 1: Room-Roaming Stations My preferred method involves scattering stations throughout the classroom. Each station is clearly marked with its number, and the materials for that station are readily available at the spot. This could include problems printed on vibrant paper, any necessary tools like rulers or graph paper, and so forth. Students rotate through the stations in small groups, solving problems and recording their answers individually. A timer is invaluable here, ensuring consistent time management and smooth transitions between stations.
Option 2: Scattered Stations Ideal for smaller classes or groups that don’t require rigid structure. Students start at assigned stations and progress at their own pace, moving on when ready. This method is especially effective if some stations are more time-consuming than others. However, be mindful of potential traffic jams and ensure your classroom has ample space for movement.
Option 3: Stationary Groups A solution for those with fixed classroom setups, such as a computer lab. Groups remain in place while the station materials rotate between them, usually contained in labeled Ziploc bags. Each bag should include the problems for that station and any required tools. Groups work through the materials, pack them up when done, and pass them to the next group.

Grading Stations: Finding What Works for You

Grading collaborative work can be tricky. You might opt to grade based on completion, accuracy, or effort. In my classroom, a non-negotiable is that all work must be shown on paper. This approach discourages copying and ensures students are actively engaged, given the time constraints of each station.

Embarking on the stations journey can initially feel daunting, but with the right tools and mindset, it can transform your teaching experience and significantly benefit your students. Embrace the adventure, and watch as your classroom transforms into a hub of active learning, collaboration, and mathematical mastery. Stations are not just a teaching strategy; they’re a pathway to enriched learning and student empowerment. Happy teaching!

The post Mastering the Art of Math Stations in the Middle Grades appeared first on Beyond the Worksheet with Lindsay Gould.

Stations in the Middle School Math Classroom

Lindsay — Tue, 14 Jul 2015 00:00:00 +0000

When you hear the term “Math Stations” you probably immediately think of an elementary school classroom where children work together with colorful manipulative and laminated stations. That’s not how stations should be perceived all the time!

When I first started using stations in my classroom it was out of a desperate need to get my students up and moving and working cooperatively. There are many ways stations can be used in a secondary math classroom.

First though, let’s talk about storage. Since many resources are digital these days, it’s easy to get in the habit of not actually keeping hard copies of things. It is very important to keep stations on hand because they can be used in so many ways.

I like to store stations in plastic notebook sleeves and often use one inch binder ringsto keep pieces together. Plastic notebook sleeves keep everything together safely in a way that can easily be snapped back into a binder. Folders are great, but it’s easy for papers and station cards to slide out!

Ways to use stations:

*Spread out the station cards around the room and include a hint card if you choose (if included). Students walk around with the student response sheet and work together in small groups to complete each station. Many stations (like the ones pictured under this list) provide a lot of information on the individual station cards, allowing you to copy them onto card stock to make them sturdy!

*If space is an issue, seat students together in small groups. Give students a specific amount of time to work on a specific station within their group. When time is up, one group member hands their station to the next group. This continues until all stations make the rounds.

*Shorter stations can be kept together for those times when your students are finished early and need something constructive to do. Keeping them in a notebook sleeve will allow your students to just grab what they want.

*Some stations (like the financial literacy ones pictured above) require students to write on the pages and require a good amount of work per station. Students can be given the pack of stations at the beginning of the week and work through it during the week as homework.

*Larger station activities can also be separated and given one station at a time to a pair of students. Once completed, a pair will join up with another pair who had the same station to discuss and compare answers.

I LOVE stations and think they can be extremely beneficial in the secondary classroom. If you’d like to subscribe to my email list, you can grab the stations pictured above for free!

Enter your info below to get the free stations!

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