Why Do Math Centers?
Setting up math centers in your elementary classroom will allow you time to work with small groups of students. It also provides your students with engaging math practice. Using math centers is how I get students to practice math facts and build their fact fluency, as well as review all of the other math skills they are learning throughout the year.
I like to put math centers in place that become routine for students, so each math unit, I’m changing out the skills, but not completely changing the centers. One of my favorite math centers to keep running all year long is Solve It Strips®.
Solve It Strips®
Solve It Strips® are hands-on math puzzles that are self-checking and highly motivating for students! They are the perfect early-finisher activity, or to use during guided math workshop time.
Students begin by cutting apart the strips on the page and then placing the START strip down first. They solve the problem on the START strip and find the answer in an answer box on one of the other strips and place that below the START strip.
Students continue solving each strip and finding the answer pieces until they reach the FINISH strip. Solve It Strips® are self-checking because students will not make it to the FINISH strip unless they solve all the preceding problems correctly.
Once students complete a Solve It Strip, they get to put a star on their Stars for Strips page. Students love the challenge of getting all 15 stars with each set.
How to Store Solve It Strips®
My favorite way to store Solve It Strips® is in a file crate. Simply label each file folder with the name of the set, make multiple copies of the pages, and place them in the file crate for students to easily grab and take back to their seats.
You can hole punch Solve It Strips® to place on a book ring for students, or have them place them in their Math Center Folders.
Grab the Bundles
I have over 30 different sets of Solve It Strips® available and I’ve bundled together 10 of the most popular sets by grade levels! So you can grab a bundle or build your own by mixing and matching sets.
CLICK HERE FOR SOLVE IT STRIPS®
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