Permanent Center: Math

Do you feel like you have too much to do and not enough time to do it?  One way to give yourself a little extra time is by setting up permanent centers.  The format of permanent centers remain the same all year, only the content changes.  You save time by not having to explain the procedures each week, not getting interrupted during your small group lesson with the inevitable questions about the center, and by knowing what you're going to do with your permanent center(s), you save time planning.

Math journals are great permanent centers.  This center can reinforce skills you've already taught, takes just a few minutes to set up, and also teaches writing skills as well as math skills.  There are many different math journal books on the market that you can choose from, but my favorite math journal prompt books are by Yvonne Crawford.  Yvonne has several different "Mathbooking", books with math journal prompts to choose from.

There are a minimum amount of supplies needed to set up this center.

To me, composition books work better than spiral notebooks.  It seems like someone's spirals always gets stuck on another student's book.  At the beginning of the year, assign each student a number.  Tape number labels on the end of the journals so your students can quickly find their journal.

To differentiate this assignment, put different assignments in different tubs.  Put a sticker on the tub and on the students' journals so your students will know which tub has their assignment.  You can easily change the sticker if your students needs to move to a different ability level later in the year.

You can use fun stickers to add a thematic touch to your math journal center.  These cute zoo animal stickers are from Oriental Trading.

Yvonne has several different "Mathbooking" and math glyph books that would be perfect for this center.  Here are a few examples to begin your year with.  You can click on the page of the sample page to get more information.

Sample page from Autumn Mathbooking

Level:  1st and 2nd grade

Price:  $3.00

Sample page from  Back to School Quick Common Core

Level:  5th grade

Price:  $2.50

Sample page from Back to School Mathbooking

Level:  1st and 2nd grade

Price:  $3

This is a book of math glyphs that would also work for this center.

This is a sample page from Back to School Math Goofy Glyphs.

Level:  3rd and 4th grade

Price:  $2.75

All of these math books and more can be found at Yvonne Crawford's TPT store.  Click HERE to visit her store.