Kindergartners In Action: Working In Centers, Using Technology, and Meeting the CCSS Mathematical Practices

Kindergarten Students work in centers during Math Instruction at K.T. Murphy Elementary School.

Last week students in a kindergarten class at K.T. Murphy demonstrated their abilities to work in a productive environment that met the CCSS Mathematical Practices and incorporated technology. The children in this particular classroom moved from one center to another while completing various tasks aligned to the CCSS and the daily math instruction.

Pictured above is a look at the Promethean Board in this Kindergarten class outlining the centers scholars are expected to rotate to and from.


Groups of five to six students around the age of five rotated fluently from one station to the next. They began the lesson sitting at the rug with their teacher who provided a mini lesson and an overview of the expectations at each center. Then the teacher dispersed the students to four areas of the room. Students worked in journals learning to write numbers through ten, played a game, “Build a Train”, both online and with classroom materials, worked on tracing numbers 1-10, and practiced fluency of addition and subtraction on iPads and Computers.

Above left students play Build a Train with a teacher on the rug. Simultaneously (above right) students play Build a Train on the computer using EM Online in a K.T. Murphy kindergarten classroom.


There were two components of this lesson that were most informative and impressive. The first notable element was the fact that students rotated from one center to the next without hesitation and knew exactly what objectives were required of them at each station. The students came to each center (most without a teacher present) and sat down to complete their work. These were young students who were clearly adaptive to having responsibility and the opportunity to practice norms and routines. The students were engaged, used tools properly, and were capable of communicating with each other in an effort to solve problems. The second factor that struck me, as I watched these young scholars in action, was the concept that each of them knew how to use the technology provided to them. The children in this classroom at K.T. Murphy were able to logon to the computer with their own usernames and passwords to play games. They were also capable of scrolling through the iPads, finding the apps they were instructed to use, and then playing the games without any issues. Once again centers in a classroom made it clear that young students are capable of using technology appropriately. Students can and should be trusted to treat the iPads, other technology and classroom resources respectively and use all of them properly.

Students above work in a center using iPads to practice their fluency of addition and subtraction of 10.


Each group of students spent approximately 7-8 minutes in each center before the teacher instructed them to rotate to their next location. Student then straightened up their respective areas and moved on to the next center. As they worked in each location of the room students “made sense of problems” and actively engaged in solving questions (CCSS MP1), “modeled with mathematics” while playing Build a Train and practicing fluency of addition and subtraction (CCSS MP4), “used tools appropriately” especially with regards to technology being used to deepen their understanding of addition and subtraction facts (CCSS MP5), and “attended to precision” by accurately and efficiently calculating solutions to the problems and prompts presented to them (CCSS6).

For those of you interested in establishing centers or refining the centers within your own classroom please check out our Edmodo group, SPS Elementary Math. Here you can find information about centers and soon we will be adding video clips of students working in centers at all grade levels. You can also contact me directly and I will gladly meet with you to assist in any way necessary.