How to W.I.N. in the Classroom: Station Ideas

My favorite part of organizing my W.I.N. rotations is figuring out what I will have students work on at each station.  When planning for station activities, I am always looking at three things:

1.  Does the activity meet students' needs in the area we are working on?

2.  Is the activity fun yet rigorous?

3.  Is the activity easy to organize, understand, and clean up so that students are able to work at it independently?  This is going to look very different depending on what grade you teach.  

In my class I run five to six math stations at a time, depending on how many student groups I have.    

Teacher Time

As mentioned in the second post in this series, I always start my planning with the Teacher Time station.  I've heard this station called many things, but it is basically the station in which you, the teacher, meet with a small group of students for direct instruction.  The focus should be whatever caused you, while looking at your data, to group these students together.  I am currently scoring a set of post assessments for my math students.  While I am looking over their papers, I am keeping a list of students who struggled in each of the areas covered on the test.  When I plan for my next round of stations, I will group my students based on the needs I noticed and focus my lesson on that skill, strategy, or concept.  

Tech Time (iReady)

During Tech Time, my students work on iReady.  This is software that provides students with individualized lessons and practice based on a beginning of the year diagnostic.  My school is lucky to have this resource, and I know that not all schools do.  There are several free online math resources that are available for students.  Some examples are MobyMax and Khan Academy  Two game based websites are Prodigy and Skoolbo.  I have used MobyMax, Khan Academy, and Prodigy in my own classroom.  My students LOVE prodigy and will even ask to stay in at recess to play it.  

Number Corner
Because my school uses the Bridges curriculum, it comes with another component called Number Corner.  It is probably similar to a calendar time you would see in a primary classroom.  I have never taught primary, so I'm hoping this is an accurate assumption.  During number corner, students are working on finding patterns on calendar markers, working with problem solving and computation, fact fluency, and measurement among other things.  

Game Time

Game time is a great opportunity to focus students on different skills and concepts.  Games can be geared toward what you are working on in class or you can easily differentiate for each group that comes to that station.  For example, my students just finished a unit on fractions.  After looking through their assessments and organizing groups, I can easily have game kits ready for groups who are working on adding fractions, another for students who need review with equivalent fractions, and still another for students who are struggled with common denominators. 

Pencil Box Game Kits available @ Literacy Loves Company on TpT.  Click on Pic for more information. 

Targeted Skill Time

There is always a skill I would like my students to get more practice with.  During this station, I focus on one skill and then differentiate within that skill.  This is one of the few stations that I use worksheets in.  At the beginning of the school year I invested in a subscription to Math Worksheets 4 Kids.   I have found this website to be very helpful.  I am able to look up worksheets my concept and then find worksheets by level.  Another great website is commoncoresheets.com .  Other options for this station are task cards or task mats.  If you can find ones that are self-check, that is a bonus!

Measurement Task Mats available @ Literacy Loves Company on TpT.  Click on pic for more information.

Geometry
Geometry seems to always be the last unit of the curriculum and the hardest to get to.  Because of this, I have a geometry station.  I use my math curriculum and the state standards to guide this station.  My goal is to give students an opportunity to work with these concepts before state testing in May.

The above stations are the ones I currently have in my W.I.N. rotation.  Some other ideas for stations are:
Fact Fluency - Practice math facts - This station would be easy to differentiate as student work on the facts they have yet to master.  This station could be as easy as flash cards and timers as student work to be able to quickly recall their math facts.

Mathematical Picture Books - Sometimes reading a picture book based on a math concept can be a great way for students to connect.  There are a lot of wonderful picture books available depending on what you are focusing on in class.  For this station, you could have a picture book focusing on the concept you are teaching in class.  Inside the book, you could ask discussion questions on sticky-notes strategically placed throughout the book.  As students read, they stop to answer and discuss your question.  Depending on the book, you could add an extension task.

Math Art - Integrating art into your math stations can really motivate students to participate.  When working with area, symmetry, plane figures, angles, and more.  The activity featured below is from a blog post I wrote a few years ago.

As you can see, there are MANY ways you can support students in stations during your W.I.N. block.  The thing to keep in mind is that whatever task you are asking your students to participate in, it is one that will move them forward and help them be successful.

Once you decide on what stations would best benefit your students, try to find a space on a classroom wall, blackboard, or whiteboard to host your W.I.N. Station rotation board.  This is the area you will post your station signs and student names.  Click below for a free download of the station headers and sign. There are two options:  Google Slideshow which is easily editable or PNGs which can be printed as is or placed in a PowerPoint slideshow and edited.

GOOGLE SLIDESHOW DOWNLOAD

PNG DOWNLOAD

I have my W.I.N. board located on a blackboard.  My signs all have magnetic tape on the back which makes it easy to move.  At the end of each day, I move my station headers to the left, rather than move the student names.

As you can see, coming up with ideas for your W.I.N. stations isn't difficult!  There are a plethora of options available to you.  If you have a great idea for a math station that wasn't mentioned in this post, please share it in the comments below.

In my next post in this series, I will be sharing with you ideas for organizing and managing your teacher paperwork and your station materials.

•   What is W.I.N.?  - free download of "What is W.I.N. Time?" and "Expectations" posters.
•   Organizing Student Groups - Free download of Group Organization tool
•   Station Ideas - free download of editable station signs and group headers
•   Managing Materials - free download of binder cover and spine
•   Keeping Kids Accountable - free download of student recording sheet
•   Launching a W.I.N. Block - Mystery download!

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How to W.I.N. in the Classroom: Organizing Student Groups

In the first post of this series, I introduced you to the W.I.N.  block.  W.I.N. stands for "What I Need" and as the name implies, the thing that makes a W.I.N. block a different than most workshop or center time models is the focus on individual student needs.

Before we look at grouping students, let's talk about a couple of decisions that need to be made before you start organizing your groups.   

1.  When, in my schedule, can I fit a W.I.N. block?  

In my case, I have a 75 minute block for math.  I chose to use the first 30 minutes of that time.  There are some teachers in my school who hold a W.I.N. time the last 30 minutes of their math block.  

2.  How often will students participate in the W.I.N. block?

My class has W.I.N. time every day.   Students come into the classroom and go straight to their stations.    One of my teammates hold a W.I.N. block twice a week.  Really, it just depends on your schedule and what you hope to accomplish in that time.  

The first few rounds of W.I.N. in my classroom were 5 days long.  I organized my students into 5 groups based on assessments I'll discuss a little later.  I chose 5 groups because I had five stations, so each group would complete all 5 stations in five days.

After the first few full rounds, I realized that, if I am really trying to give students what they need for math, I can't always fit everyone into 5 groups.  For the last two rounds of W.I.N. my students have been in 6 different groups.  Because of this I planned 6 different stations.   

Speaking of organizing students into groups based on their needs, there are several different ways I gather data to inform my grouping decisions.  

• At the beginning of the year, before you have any of your own data on a student, using the previous year's state reading and math assessments is a great place to start.  My students participate in SBAC at the end of each year, so that data is available to help me get a better understanding of where each students is academically.

• Many teachers give beginning of the year assessments to their students.  The results of those tests can give you some information on your students' needs and help you make decisions about student groupings. 

• One assessment tool my district recently purchased for schools is iReady from Curriculum Associates.  iReady is a comprehensive diagnostic test for both math and reading.  Students take the assessment at the beginning of the year, the middle of the year, and at the end of the year.  Based on their results, the software will group students.  The software also gives teachers access to lessons and materials to help support students.  This is the first assessment tool I use to organize my intervention and enrichment groups for the W.I.N. block.   I realize that not all school districts have the luxury of this diagnostic tool.  

• Another assessment I use to organize my students is our math curriculum checkpoint quizzes or mid-unit quizzes.  As I am checking over student work, I keep a list of the concepts covered in the checkpoint and write down the names of students who need extra support in those areas.  I love grouping this way because it helps me support my students BEFORE the end of the chapter test. 

• Exit tickets are another great way to quickly get a gauge for what your students need support with.  Exit tickets can be purposefully created to help inform you BEFORE your next round of W.I.N.

• End of unit assessments are also helpful when putting together groups.  Even though the chapter is over, it doesn't mean that all students have mastered the skills and concepts presented in those lessons.  W.I.N. time is a great opportunity review concepts with small groups and give students more time and practice. 

These, of course, aren't the only tools you can use to gather data and form groups.  The important thing is to know your students and have an understanding of what they need to successfully meet their academic goals.  

Once you have your data, find students who have similar needs and put them into groups together.  I try to keep my groups to about 4 to 6 students.  I have had groups that only had two students because those two students needed something much different than other students.  

When looking at student data, I usually have two or three groups that are working on holes they have in the concepts we are working on.  I also usually have a couple groups that do not need intervention, but instead need to be challenged.  

When looking at student groups, I usually think of them based on the "Teacher Time" station.  This is the station that students work directly with the teacher.  I plan the lesson for each group based on why they were grouped together.  The last round of W.I.N. that I planned, I worked with one group of students on multiplication strategies, another on division strategies, one group on basic operations, and three groups were being challenged to learn and compare three new multiplication strategies (lattice method,  Egyptian method, and the Chinese method for multiplication)  Those three groups had already mastered multi-digit multiplication and introducing them to three new strategies was fun for them.  Also... the challenge of trying to figure out why they worked got them thinking about place value. 

Once your groups are planned and you know what the goal is for each group.  Plan your lessons.
  

I've used the planning page above for my last couple of W.I.N. rounds. I've revamped it for this blog post and to help me plan my next round.  The new planning pages give you space for your group lists, group goals, group lesson plans, and an opportunity to plan each of your other stations.

Click below for a free download of the W.I.N. planner.  There are three options:
1.  Fillable PDF

After you open in Google, make sure to "download" it.  

2. Printable PDF

3. PNG to put into a PowerPoint slide and make your own text boxes.  Use this option if you want to be able to change your font, colors, etc.

I hope that this post gives you some ideas of ways you can look at student data to plan small groups for your W.I.N. block.  Next week I will be sharing ideas for W.I.N. math station activities.  Here is a list of upcoming blog posts in this series:

•   Station Ideas - free download of editable station signs and group headers
•   Managing Materials - free download of binder cover and spine
•   Keeping Kids Accountable - free download of student recording sheet
•   Launching a W.I.N. Block - Mystery download! 

If you have any questions about how to form groups please let me know in the comments below.  Also, if you use different assessments or sources of data in your classroom, please share with others by commenting.  I look forward to hearing from you.  

How to W.I.N. in the Classroom: What is W.I.N.?

Everybody likes to be a winner, right?   I've never met a person who preferred to lose.  This is especially true in the classroom.  Teachers want their students to be successful, to feel good about their progress and capabilities.  The struggle here is that no two students are alike.  Every child needs different support systems and strategies to help them along their path.

Differentiation can be complicated and as good teachers, we are always searching for ways to reach students where they are and help them progress to where they need to be.  This is where the idea of the W.I.N. block comes in.

I first heard of W.I.N. when one of my teammates came back from a professional development workshop shared the basic idea behind W.I.N.  W.I.N. stands for What I Need and is a set block of intervention and enrichment time that students are in stations or activities geared toward their needs.  I know this is nothing new.  I've used the workshop model in my math class and literacy stations in my language arts, so I am familiar with the model. I think the thing that intrigued me about this version of an old idea was the emphasis on really understanding my students' needs and the challenge of finding ideas, activities, and materials to support them.

Click to download a copy of this poster.

You can incorporate a W.I.N. block for any subject.  Right now I have a 30 minute W.I.N. block placed at the beginning of my math period.  As we move into the new year, I am working on organizing a W.I.N. block for my fifth and sixth grade readers.

W.I.N. block can look different for different teachers.  It really just depends on your students, your time constraints, your teaching style, and the expectations of your administration.  Several teachers in my building are incorporating some version of a W.I.N. block.  None of them look the same and all are helping to give students what they need to be successful.

So, are you interested in W.I.N.ning in your classroom?

The key to a successful W.I.N. block is organization.  Organization of your student groups, organization of your stations, organization of your materials.  If this seems like too much organization for you...  I totally understand.  You are a busy teacher.  There is NEVER enough prep time!  Maybe organization isn't your strong suit.  Whatever the roadblock, I'm here to help!

Over the next few weeks, I'll be continuing this topic in a series of blog posts.  These blog posts will include downloads of free materials to support you on your W.I.N.ing journey!


•   Organizing Student Groups - free download of a group organizational tool
•   Station Ideas - free download of editable station signs and group headers
•   Managing Materials - free download of binder cover and spine
•   Keeping Kids Accountable - free download of student recording sheet
•   Launching a W.I.N. Block - Mystery download! 

Next week I'll share with you what to consider as you are planning your student groups and what opportunities for assessment I use.  I will also have available an organizational tool that helps me keep my groups and ideas organized.

Until then, be thinking of a time in your schedule you might be able to fit in 20 -30 minutes of individualized time for your students.  Also, If you have any questions about the W.I.N. block, please comment below.

Thanks for visiting and I hope you'll come back again next week!