Math Centers for Upper Elementary
The following are suggestions for how to set up center in a Student Centered Learning (SCL) Upper Elementary Math classroom.
Classroom Set-up
![Picture](/uploads/2/0/9/1/20917724/5249085.png)
Each of the boxes to the left represent a center. Each center could have between 5 and 10 children at it, depending on class size. Students rotate clockwise through the centers. At the mini-lesson center the teacher introduces and practices new material with small groups. Once the group is finished with the mini-lesson, they rotate to the aleks center. At this center, they work at their own pace on computers on aleks.com. Often, they will practice or attempt to master the material that was introduced to them at the mini-lesson center. After finishing at the aleks center, student rotate to the fluency practice center. Here they have options to practice their math facts using flashcards and various other math games week by week. Finally, students rotate to the evidence center. Here there are various materials laid out with which they can choose to make a project. Their projects are supposed to show their "mastery" of a learning target. For instance, if at the mini-lesson and aleks center they had been working on adding fractions, they might create an "Adding Fractions Flipbook" at the evidence center to prove their mastery of that concept.
mini-lesson ideas and resources
![Picture](/uploads/2/0/9/1/20917724/7558631.jpg)
One way to structure your mini-lesson center is to select activities to work on with each group in your class and place them in binders that can be kept at the center. This way, as groups rotate through you, you can just turn to the page in the binder with the activities for the learning target that group is working on. Shown at the left is an example of such a binder. On the front it lists the subjects and levels the binder is geared towards as well as the learning targets the materials in the binder are aimed at practicing. In math, you can decide which types of activities to put in the binder using data from aleks.com. You can see which topics students in each group have yet to master, practice those topics with them at the mini-lesson center, and then send them on to the aleks center where they will hopefully be able to continue practicing that learning target.
If you are looking for specific activities or worksheets to put in your binder, the following websites are particlarly useful for math: www.math-aids.com and www.worksheetworks.com. Each allow you to search for specific learning target and generate activities and worksheets correlated with them.
If you are looking for specific activities or worksheets to put in your binder, the following websites are particlarly useful for math: www.math-aids.com and www.worksheetworks.com. Each allow you to search for specific learning target and generate activities and worksheets correlated with them.
Tracking progress
![Picture](/uploads/2/0/9/1/20917724/6330781.jpg)
In order to track the progress of your students and your groups, you may want to use a target tracker such as the one shown to the left. You should establish a rubric as to how students prove they have "mastered" a target, and once they do they should shade in the box next to their name and below the target so they can move on to the next one. For instance, you might require students to have both practiced a target with you, mastered it on aleks, and created a project on it at the evidence center in order for them to move on to the next target.
managing multiple learning targets in one class
![Picture](/uploads/2/0/9/1/20917724/2877583.jpg)
Having multiple groups and multiple learning targets in one classroom can make it difficult to keep track of which students are excelling and which are falling behind. Accordingly, in addition to consulting your alek data and assessments, you should have systems in place which allow students to keep you updated on their progress. For instance, you might set up a "parking lot" in your classroom. A parking lot is a poster on which student can post questions and suggestions. It allows students to make you aware of learning targets they are struggling with without having to interrupt your lesson.