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7 Habits of Highly Effective Math Workshops- Week 3: Have a Board

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Need help with Math Workshop in your elementary classroom? Check out this blog series: 7 Habits of Highly Effective Math Workshop. Topics include planning, organizing, and managing math workshop, as well as finding math center games and activities to use in your classroom. Click to find out more!Welcome back! If you are joining us in the middle of this series, we have been discussing 7 “habits” or procedures that are necessary to have effective math workshop or guided math time. The first week we talked about having a plan for how many groups you will have and what centers they will be doing. Now that you have the number of groups and centers figured out, it’s time to make a board to showcase it all. Not only will making a beautiful board allow you to whip out your inner crafty side and allow you to dive deep into Pinterest but more importantly it will help your students (and you) keep on track during the centers. With all these kids going different places and doing different things, they need to know when and where to be. Having a board for the kids to follow fosters independence, allowing you to devote more time to actually teaching the math concepts. Your board needs a few pieces of information. Obviously, it needs a schedule of which groups go to which centers. This information will probably stay the same all year. The second major piece of information is the names of the students in each group.

There are many different ways to display your board, but here are a few options to get you started.

My Original Math Workshop BoardNeed help with Math Workshop in your elementary classroom? Check out this blog series: 7 Habits of Highly Effective Math Workshop. This week discusses different types of math workshop boards that can keep you organized and manage your rotations. Click to find out more!

This was my original board. Its design is simple and it only took me a few minutes to make. It consists of a small pocket chart, some sentence strips, and some small sticky notes. Effective- but a little boring. A few notes about old faithful:

Cookie Sheet Math Workshop Board

My incredibly talented sister whipped up this board for me a few weeks ago. I LOVE it! It is super cute, doesn’t take up much space, and I can easily switch the kids from group to group. It is a cookie sheet covered in chalkboard paint. I did the lettering with liquid chalk markers. For the kids’ names, I laminated scrapbook paper that looks like a chalkboard. Then I stuck a magnet (the kind with the adhesive on one side) to the back of each one. I wrote the names on the tags last so that I can use nail polish remover to change the names next school year. (Note: These could also be made with 4 groups, or adapted to use for reading groups or writing workshop.)Cookie Sheet Math Workshop Board Chalkboard Creations

Printed Photo Math Workshop Board

As I was preparing to write this post, I needed to print something on my home computer. Out of ink… again. Sound familiar? And then it occurred to me… why not print things that have a lot of color to them as photos? This product was born. Each piece to the math workshop board is created as a JPEG file. You just send the pictures that you want to your local pharmacy or online vendor for them to print! There are over 150 images included. All the pieces are available in green, blue, and pink chevron. Also, the student name cards are editable. Here are a couple of sample boards:

Need help with Math Workshop in your elementary classroom? Check out this blog series: 7 Habits of Highly Effective Math Workshop. This week discusses different types of math workshop boards that can keep you organized and manage your rotations. Click to find out more! Need help with Math Workshop in your elementary classroom? Check out this blog series: 7 Habits of Highly Effective Math Workshop. This week discusses different types of math workshop boards that can keep you organized and manage your rotations. Click to find out more!

Click here to see this product: Math Workshop Board (Blue, Green, and Pink Chevron and Chalkboard) 

Smartboard Math Workshop Board

I saw a picture of a math workshop rotation schedule on a Smart Board the other day on Pinterest. This is genius- especially if you don’t have a lot of room on the walls in your classroom. Mrs. Hoffard from A Growing Class has a great post about it. There are actually a lot more of these out there dealing with rotation schedules for literacy and Daily 5, but the concept is pretty much the same.

No matter what type of board you choose, the key to its success is devoting time at the beginning of the year to teach the students how to read and follow it. Your math workshop will run so much smoother if you get your kids in the habit of checking the board to foster independence.

What kind of Math Workshop Board do you use? Leave a comment below to share!

Also, I am so glad to again be linking up with Kathy O. from Third Grade Doodles for Math Workshop Monday! Check out her awesome blog post!

Math Workshop Monday Linky Party

What kind of math workshop board do you use in your classroom?

Check out the rest of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Math Workshops Series:

3 comments on “7 Habits of Highly Effective Math Workshops- Week 3: Have a Board”

  1. Aly elder Reply

    Do you seriously only have 18 students? This would be possible with 18 students for sure.

    • Krystal L. Smith Reply

      Hi Aly! I have 22 in one class and 13 in another. We can do this no matter how many students we have in our classes. While it is easier to do math workshop with smaller groups of students, almost everything we teachers need to teach or do with our students is easier to do with less students, no? But that’s our super power. We do in a classroom full of kids what some parents with two children can’t do! Math Workshop, here we come!

  2. Krystal L. Smith Reply

    Great post! I’d like to read the three other habits of highly effective math workshops. Where can I find them? I am only able to see up to four. Also, the cookie sheet is cute and creative! Thank you for sharing! I’ve always utilized centers or small groups in my class, but I want…need to do them now more than ever, or I am going to lose my students. Whole group instruction is not for them. Your tips are very helpful!

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