Station Activities

This year I will be starting "Station Activities" in my math classes (Geometry, Precalc and Math for College Readiness).  Two of them will be set out for each class each week.  Students will take turns working on them during the week.  Most, but not all, of them will have accompanying worksheets.

This activity is to review the properties of quadrilaterals.  It consists of the orange paper, which has 7 quadrilaterals listed, and the business cards, which have the properties printed on them. Students will go through the cards and place each one in the correct rectangle beside the quadrilateral name.  All properties are represented as many times as applicable.  The sheet in the folder is the worksheet (2 to a page).  On the backs of the cards are numbers.  When all the cards are distributed, the student will turn them over and record their numbers on the worksheet for each quadrilateral.

I found this idea on Pinterest.  So far, I have only made 8 of them, mostly for Geometry.  I used a (scrapbooking) circle cutter to cut colored paper that I had already laminated into 7.5 inch diameter circles.  I wrote on them with a Sharpie which dries out the marker quickly.  In the future, I will cut, write on, then laminate.  Some have an inner circle that contains a drawing (see below), all are divided into 8 sectors (but I am working on some that will have 16).  The problems are written in the sectors and the answers are written on clothespins.

Here's one that has an inner circle.

In this example, I decided to include 3 incorrect answers.  They are answers the students would most likely get if they did it incorrectly.

Another Pinterest idea...the other side of the chip says "add"...

Below is the half-sheet worksheet to go with this station.

These are soap containers from Walmart.  I labeled each one from the inside with the name and on the end with how I plan to use it.

I will hand these out as students arrive and have them call out what is on their card and the simplified number.  This will be used as a review.

Students get one when they come to class.  After bellwork, I will tell them to line up at the front of the room in order from smallest to largest, without talking.  They will have to simplify the rational expression before lining up.  There are a couple that are the same number just in a different form (-1.25 and -1 1/4).  I can't wait to see how they will handle that!

This is my Student Function Machine that I wrote about in a previous blog post.

I have 3 activities on rings.  Elapsed Time, Making Change and Order of Operations.  Each one has a worksheet to go along with it.

I am keeping a master copy and answer key for each station in these folders by topic.

I bought a hanger for pants at Goodwill for 99 cents with the thought that I could probably use it...somehow.  Well, when I was looking for a way to hang my ziplocs, it was the perfect solution.

The last type of station that I have created is called Tarsia.  These are puzzles that the students put together similar to dominoes.  I've printed out 5 of them on colored paper.  I didn't laminate mine, but I might in the future.  You can find out all about them here.  There are also files you can download at the bottom of that page.  NOTE: Software is PC only.  Here is the solution for Laws of Exponents (downloaded free from link above).  You will print the "output" and cut apart.  Print the "solution" to grade it.  If you cut out the solution, students may be able to piece it together simply by looking at the way it was cut.

Words into Math

Last year, I found (and made my own version of) a study sheet called "Words into Math" for my students in Algebra 1.
(Credit: I Speak Math)

I decided this summer to adapt it using posters, word strips and velcro into an activity.  I bought colored poster boards at the Dollar Tree and began cutting out each sign from a different color.  I drew the arrow and parentheses on half sheets of white poster board.  I had bought word strips the year before at the Dollar Tree (yes, it is one of my favorite stores!)

I wrote out all the words from the sheet above on the word strips and trimmed them.




























I cut 1 inch strips of velcro and placed the soft side on the words and the other side on the posters.

Here is a picture of my work in progress.

This is what the students will see when they come in.  I will hand out the words on strips when they walk in.  Since there are 34 words, some students will get more than one.

I will explain the activity and have a couple of students at a time place their word(s) on the poster(s).  If someone is struggling, he/she can ask a classmate for help.

As a group, we will discuss the words and determine if all of them are placed properly.

This is my intro to word problem solving for all levels that I teach.  It will be new to some and a refresher for others.

These will be hung at the back of the classroom from the ceiling on clips with string (Lakeshore Learning store in Tampa).

This is what the activity looks like when it's ready to store.





Words into Math

UPDATED: I noticed that the picture of the Words into Math Worksheet and the uploaded doc had errors.  Both of those have been corrected and re-upoaded.  Sorry for any inconvenience!

Classroom Video