[00:00:00] Patti Firth: Okay, so you want to run math centers but the thought of organizing. The chaos that we perceive math centers are going to be is somewhat daunting and overwhelming. So in today's episode, we're gonna talk all about how to organize your math centers so that they run like clockwork.
[00:00:15] Welcome to the Ignite Your Teaching video podcast. The show to inspire teachers to level up how they teach using simple systems and time-saving tools for their classrooms. I'm your host, Patti Firth, mom of three, wife, and a teacher. Who has spent the last 10 years transforming my love of teaching into helping other teachers learn how to fit it all together. Through innovative resources and solutions for elementary classrooms over at madlylearning.com. So are you ready to ignite your teaching?
[00:00:43] So the first thing we need to do is, we need to get a system to store the stuff. Math centers, and math in general has lots of stuff. We have manipulatives. We have worksheets. We have centers activities. We have games. All of those things need a place. They need a home in our room and a place that we put them. Students need to know what they need. How to get it? Where it goes? And where to put it back?
[00:01:15] So we need bins. Lots and lots of bins. Now I prefer bins that have lids and that are stackable. I'm really liking the 12 by 12 craft paper bins that have the attachable lids that you can put stuff in. These are great for manipulatives. Especially if you have your manipulatives grouped in little baggies so that one student can just go into the bin and grab a baggie of stuff. They don't need to take the entire bucket of say counters to their desk. Then go into the bin, they can grab the baggie or even grab a little cloth pencil case that's inside. If you've got a clear pencil case or clear little pouch, that's even better.
[00:02:01] But they don't need to grab the entire bucket. They can grab one set of manipulatives. So inside these clear buckets are students' sets of manipulatives. So you can have sets of linking cubes. You can have sets of pattern blocks. You can have sets of counters. All of those things where a student can go into the bucket. They can take the lid off. Go into the bucket. Grab a set. Go back to their desk. Work with it. When the set is finished, they go back and they put it in the big bucket. So you have a bucket with smaller packages on a shelf. The shelf is labeled, so we know where everything is labeled so that we can match it back to the bins belongs in.
[00:02:47] So if you have pattern blocks, they have a label on the front of the little baggie and they have a label on the box and the label on the lid. So that they, all of those pieces go together. When all three of those things are labeled, then it will help. It's not gonna be perfect because you're still going to have kids that I don't know what they do with their stuff. They throw them in whatever they want. But you have an easier time at reassembling it. Once everything is labeled properly. You also want to have a space or a shelf to hold it all. And this is going to be helpful to figure out what you need.
[00:03:23] And if you have no furniture to store and you have a budget to be able to purchase things, I highly recommend checking out the Trofast system from IKEA. These are great little bins and buckets that slide out and you can fully remove the bucket itself and slide back in. And they're also really handy to label. So I really like the Trofast bins for that purpose. So you could go and label the bins with all of your manipulatives. And then students could slide them out, grab their baggie, go, and then come back. It's almost like a drawer. But it's also a basket at the same time, which is why I really like it.
[00:04:01] I like using a Trofast system for language. And I like using one for math as well. You can also pick up some of the Trofast solutions. You can probably pick a few of them up on say Facebook marketplace secondhand. Because they're going into the classroom and some of their wood. You can get wood ones or white ones, but they last pretty long. And they're pretty durable for the classroom. So I recommend if you're going to invest in something, check out those because they think they're going to be really handy.
[00:04:26] Now another place you want to organize is going to be your walls. I love having one dedicated space in my classroom. That wall becomes the math wall. Maybe not a full wall, but maybe just a portion of the wall. And that space in the room is dedicated to math. So when we're in math, that's where we look. It's where I store this command center where I have all of the center's activities organized and have some anchor charts students need to reference. I also have another area next to it that will allow students to have larger chart paper version, anchor charts of things that we're working on. So I normally have spots for, say two spaces on the board that allows for those anchor charts to sit.
[00:05:10] So that students can reference those anchor charts as we need them. As we're learning, as we're doing stuff together. This week's anchor charts are going to go up there. So I have a place for those as well. I also want to have a Center's Rotation Pocket chart. I really like using a pocket chart to help rotate through the centers, because I can just put the cards in little pockets. And then I just rotate the student group cards, and I don't necessarily have to like unpin anything or move things around, you can see it through the clear pockets.
[00:05:39] So I really like using a pocket chart, I specifically like the ones that have actually a little folder pocket at the bottom, so I can shove any extra cards in there. So I really like being able to use the pocket chart. Have a space for anchor charts, as well as using the command center where I have the M, the A, the T, the H, and then all of the materials students will need for their center right up on my board. And there's one solitary place to look in the classroom for all of that.
[00:06:08] Now another aspect you need to organize is going to be organizing your students and deciding which notebooks you're going to need for math. Whether you need notebooks, duotangs, and binder. It's really going to depend on what works best for you, and what's going to drive you crazy the most. If papers flying out of binders and having loose papers all over the place is going to drive you crazy. The baby don't use a binder. But if the notebooks are going to be hard because you just want students to be able to hand in one page or you think there's going to be a lot of pages. You're gonna be photocopying, then a binder might work or a duotang.
[00:06:43] The thing about a binder is you can do loose-leaf paper, and you can do printed pages. But again, there's no guarantee that students are actually going to put all of their materials in their binder. So the alternative to is to duotang for all the handouts and a notebook for all of the handwritten stuff that students are going to do. I personally am thinking about moving into a binder. I've done in the past where I have had a duotang for their morning work. A duotang for all my handouts, and then notebooks. So that's three books for students. So I have my handouts, my morning work, and then a notebook for students to do their work in.
[00:07:26] I'm thinking about moving to binders where students have those three sections, and they just put the pages inside the binder. And then when it's done, I collect them. So if I have a bin hanging file folder bin, that when they're done the week. They staple it and put it in their folder. So that the only thing that's really in their binder is going to be the papers from this week. And at the end of the week, we collect them, staple them, put them in the folder. So that I keep track of everything that's older than a week. They keep track of everything that's just this week.
[00:08:01] So that's how I'm thinking about how to move forward and how to organize it, is using a binder system, but not giving them access to all of their stuff. So that I have it and it's organized into sections. And then I keep it in a file folder. So if I needed to send it home later, I can. I can show parents what students have been doing. Because I have all of that sitting in a file folder. It means I have access to. So that if I need to mark it, I can just like take home the bucket. And it's all sitting there organized by student name. So this is where I'm thinking of how I plan on organizing for September.
[00:08:36] Now the other thing is, regardless of what you do, whether you have binders or do things. There really is no right answer has to work for you. But you also have to have a hand in bin. A place for students to put their materials when they're done with them. And you also want to be able to teach them how to use it. No system, no process that you put in place is going to work. If you don't reinforce it and expect it to work. You have to teach them how to use it. Teach what you expect and constantly be reinforcing it consistently.
[00:09:10] The minute you try to accept something else other than the routine you have established. Then it causes confusion and chaos for your students. Because they don't know is it going to be the day you want them to do one way or is it going to be a day that you're not going to want them to do one way? So we really have to think about how it is we're going to have them use things.
[00:09:28] So the next piece is going to be how to organize yourself. Because the idea is that all of this is happening in your classroom but you yourself have to be organized too. And I love using a binder system to help organize myself as a teacher. So I like to print out all of my materials that I'm going to need. Number one, because I want them at my fingertips is going to make it easier. I'm so last minute all of the time to have to run and photocopy something. So if I have to print it inevitably the printer is gonna be down or my computer is not gonna work or the printer is going to be out of ink. If I need to print it that day, it's not gonna happen guaranteed. And then I'm left scrambling trying to figure out what I'm gonna do.
[00:10:09] So I want to print one unit at a time. And I'm gonna have it in a binder so that I can access it. So that if I need to go and quickly photocopying something I can. I have the master copy with me. But I don't just want to put all the pages in the binder because that's one way. But I also want to organize it further from that. I wanna have different envelopes. So you can get the little, they fit in your binder and they have a little zipper closure or a Velcro closure so that you can open it up and you can shove sort of loose parts in it.
[00:10:38] This is great. If you've got things you need to prep like task cards or activity pages or something that's cut and paste, or even an example or a model. You can take that and put it into these little envelope folders that are with your lessons. So that you have all of those things ready to go. Then when the unit is over, you just put the binder back on the shelf. And you're back to business using the next one.
[00:11:02] I also like adding in little flags. So if I want to remember where certain pages are. So if I want to know where the guided reading lesson or guided math lesson is. I can put a flag. I can put a flag on where the lesson plan is for the day. I can put it to day flags that I know where I am today in the overall lesson plan so I can just flip to it. So although I have my plan book where I write my daily plans, I also like to have the unit binder that tells me all of the things that I'm going to be using.
[00:11:31] This is specifically helpful when I'm using the Ignited math program because it allows me to flip through that I have all of the big lessons. I have all of the worksheets and then I take that and decide what am I actually gonna do this week in my plan book. Because I have to take what's there and I have to customize it for my own students. So I have to take it and tailor it and individualize it for my own needs. I can't often just take something with straight out of the box and use it.
[00:11:58] But I've already 75% of the way there because I just open up my unit binder and I go, Okay, great! I'm going to do this lesson. This is how I'm going to do it. This is what my students are going to do. And we're good to go. So when I have my unit binder already prepped and planned, it makes my lesson planning easier when I'm putting things in my plan book.
[00:12:16 ] I have all of my materials that I'm going to need to photocopy. I can prep those the full week before during prep. And I have everything flagged and tagged and organized in that binder, so that it's easily at my fingertips ready to use. It's also super handy if you have to go and a supply teacher has to come in because they have everything at their fingertips too. So I hope this gives you some ideas on how you can organize yourself in your classroom to get ready for centers.