Each year when back to school rolls around, classroom set up is in the front of many of our minds. If you are anything like me, you dream of the new supplies, putting your room back together and fresh nametags all August long. One thing I noticed was that each year when I set up my classroom I focused a lot on literacy. Hanging the alphabet, creating a sound wall, setting up the library, creating spaces for literacy centers and more. But, I was majorly neglecting math. I would add a number line to the wall and that was it.
This past year, I decided that since most of my classroom was staying the same I was going to focus on creating an elementary math classroom. This meant putting the same amount of effort into my math environment that I do in my literacy environment. So today, I want to share with you some of my favorite additions that really elevated math this past year!
Solidifying Math Centers
My first big task was to solidify my math centers. For some reason, literacy centers always came easy. I had cute corners and displays set up for my literacy centers. But, math centers would just get thrown together each week. You can read a deep dive into my math centers here. For the sake of this post, I just want to explain that like literacy I decided math centers were going to have designated areas with displays. I also wanted to ensure that I had just a few resources for activities so students became familiar with them. I used this center pack and this math journal set. This was a huge win, my math centers ran better than ever before all year long.
Creating Math Tool Kits
Each year, my students got new book bags to hold their small group books and their reading tools. I wanted the same thing for math. These tool kits would be a way for students to hold any and all materials that can help them solve math problems. I used these math mats and included manipulatives that fit our current unit. I was also able to differentiate math tools to be what that specific student needed. These ended up being a favorite by students and myself!
Math Word Wall
One area that was majorly missing in my classroom was a math display. Like I mentioned, I had the ABC’s plastered on the wall, a sound wall, a writing board, a library display and probably some that I am forgetting. But, math posters, those got displayed on the easel and then taken down until the next year. I didn’t have a designated math area to display anchor charts, posters, or vocabulary that could help my students. This changed this past year. I create a math word wall and I LOVED it. I included our current anchor chart, I used these, unit vocabulary, math strategies and more. I taught my students how to use the resources and I constantly saw them using it during centers or independent work. It was amazing.
Classroom Number Line
If you have taught first grade before you know how important the number line is. Previously I had a number line that fit on the top of my whiteboard. The issue? It was only visible from the carpet. So in my quest to create a math classroom, I created this large poster size number line. This was used constantly, if not every day.
Math Literature
One area that really needed revamping this past year was math literature. In previous years, I had a few math read alouds that I used throughout the year. Books like “The Mission of Addition” found their way into my collection. However, my collection was slim. This year I focused on purchasing math read alouds that paired with our math units. To do this without footing a huge bill. I budgeted each month to be able to purchase a few read alouds for our units that month. By the end of the school year, I started a good collection of math literature. I plan to continue to add to this list. Here are some of my favorites so far:
- The Math Is CATegorical series- Math Operations
- From the Garden– Counting
- Lots of Ladybugs– Counting by 5s
- On the Launch Pad– Counting
- A Very Cold, Freezing No Numbers Day– Colors, Patterns, Seasons, Numbers
- The Greedy Triangle– Shapes
- Snippets– Shapes
- Tangled- Shapes
I challenge you to take a look around your classroom and see if literacy and math are equally represented. I hope you found these tips and my experience helpful. I would love to see your math classroom set ups, you can share photos with me on instagram @sunshineinprimary.
