Island Conquer Learning Center

As I have mentioned previously, I am trying to prepare myself for "Center Friday's" for the 2012 - 2013 school year.  The first mass produced learning center I made was Laura Candler's Island Conquer.  For this game students play in pairs.  A student draws a card and plots the four points.  The other student then finds the area or perimeter of the figure drawn.  Points are scored based upon accuracy.  You can download her learning center HERE!

I made seven of these games, each their own color, and had everything laminated.  (Even the envelopes! Neat trick I discovered - use a stitch ripper to gently re-open or cut the envelope opening.)  The game is contained to a manilla folder for easy storage.  The fronts of the folders are labeled and the inside has been covered with colored construction paper.  I stapled the directions in separately so that the students could flip them over to play either variation of the game.  (Perimeter directions are on the front and the area directions are on the back.) 

 The cards are all individually glued on corresponding colored construction paper and laminated for durability.  It was extra work, but I hope they last this way!  The cards are stored in a laminated envelope that is secured to the learning center with a binder clip.  There was some separation at the top of the folder where the construction paper was glued.  If I were to re-make these, I would cut the construction paper just short of the folder to prevent this since no glue in the world of glue seems to work as well as I would like when it comes to gluing paper without a mess!

I am thrilled with how all seven learning centers turned out and I am currently working on the Fraction Spinners (also Laura Candler's).  I will post pictures once they are assembled and labeled.  I am aiming to have a class set of everything I make.  I read in another article/blog that the best way to structure a learning center classroom is to introduce the game to the entire class and play it as a whole class before giving each pair or group their own individual game.  Please leave me feedback on these centers and how you have made centers or use them in your classroom.