Organizing Math Centers

Over the last two years, I have been making math centers and organizing them into tubs with labels.  This system has made it so much easier to find a center and it is ready for the students to use. I love that I do not have to put the center together every time I want to use it. I bought those clear plastic shoe boxes from Walmart or the Dollar Store. I place the math center with all the materials inside and printed a label for the front.  I have two closet cabinets where I place them. Here are picture of one of the closets.

 

This may seem like a lot to put together but remember it has taken me two years to come up with the centers and put them in tubs. I would suggest creating a tub as you use the center in class. It will make your life easier. My class has five math centers a week and rotate each day. 

Here are a couple centers they are doing this week. 

Dalmatian counting: 

Students have to put the dogs in order from 1-25 and they place that many spots on the dog.  I used black foam and cut out dots.

 Beach Ball Decompose/Compose:

Students draw an equation (10+9) and use blocks to show tens and ones. Then they find the beach ball with the answer.

 Adding Fluently to 5:

Students have three different bags. They have a bag with numbers that will equal 3, equal 4, and equal 5. Students will draw a number and place that many on the pipe cleaner. Then see how many more they need to make 3, 4, or 5.