Math Work Stations

What a rough ride it's been for the last couple of weeks!  My best friend from high school passed away suddenly the weekend before school let out, so I had to call in a substitute for the last day of school.  Who does that?  I then had to hurry off to her funeral and return home before our family vacation started.  I spent a full week with my husband's entire family on a vacation to California.  We went to Disneyland, Universal Studios, the beach and even had to time to attend a baseball game (Angels vs. Yankees).  {GoYankees!}  It's been fun, wild and crazy, to say the least!  So now it's summer, and even though teachers do get time off from work, my brain doesn't quite go all the way into sleep mode.  All summer I think of ways I can improve my teaching, look for new ideas to incorporate into the following school year, and work on projects! 
This summer, my goal is to beef up my math.  I love math and I want my students to gain a love for it too!  I have heard many teachers talk about Debbie Diller Math Work Stations,

but I haven't read this book yet.  It sounds like maybe I should!   If any of you use math stations or have wonderful math ideas, please let me know.  As I come across ideas this summer, I will post them here so hopefully others can benefit too.

Here are a few places I have spotted math stations being used.  At least it's somewhere to help me get started!

Sarah from First Grader at Last shows off this cute and organized system she uses to store her math stations in.  (She mentioned that she found this shelving unit at Walmart.)

Amanda from First Grade Garden uses smaller containers that could be placed on the counter.

Amanda also has several math games and suggestions on her blog. 

Dana from 3rd Grade Gridiron uses these stacked drawers to store her math items. 

(I use these for drawers for other things in my classroom so I know you can find them at Walmart.)  She also shows you how she stores her math items...in ziplock bags and of course laminated!!  HERE is a link to Dana's TpT store, where she has offered 17 FREE math games/activities to get you started.

Learning with Mrs. Parker did a post with a look back at her 1st year with Math Stations in her classroom.  I love all the inside information I was able to gain from reading it.

Julie from Second Grade Style went with the idea of using plastic tote baskets. 

She mentioned that she stores the totes on a rolling cart and then when it's time for math stations, she simply rolls the cart to the middle of the room where the kids can then access all the materials easily.

Just as I was about to post this, I came across someone thinking the same as me.  (Scary!)  Tiffani from Time 4 Kindergarten just did a post on Math Work Stations with a linky party to several more great blogs.  I can't wait to dig into this!

The 1st step seems to be figuring out which organizational system works best for you and your classroom setup.  These ideas were only suggestions.  Once you have that figured out, start collecting math games and activities to reinforce the math concepts being taught.  There are plenty of great ideas already created for you out there.  A lot are free, but there are also great ideas available on TpT.  As I mentioned, the ideas I have found will be posted here...soon to come...