Your Students' New Favorite Way to Take Math Notes
Discover a creative but structured way to take math notes that helps improve students’ engagement and retention!
Introducing Math Doodle Wheels ~ a Tool Students Keep All Year Long!
Taking Notes in Math Class can be a STRUGGLE for Students.
Are you dealing with:
Students tuning out when it’s time to take math notes and try practice problems?
Trying to create new and engaging ways for students to take notes?
Lack of organization in students’ math notes and example problems?
There's no other way to spin it:
Math notes can be boring.
Math notes can be confusing.
Math notes can fail to meet students' needs.
Math notes can lead to disengaged students.
I get it. I've been there.
I’ve tried different note-taking methods with students over the years, like:
- Letting students set up their own notes in their notebooks
- Using packets of guided notes
- Using fold-it-ups/interactive notebooks
- Avoiding much note-taking and using hand outs instead…
But here’s the thing: students NEED to write and ENGAGE with the material themselves – that’s how information actually sticks. Handing them pages of completed notes doesn’t help get the content into their brains.
So, when Doodle Notes came on the scene several years back, I wanted to create something similar, but with a little different structure…maybe because my brain just needed the structure of different sections.
And I came up with the idea of ‘math wheels,’ which blend structure and creativity.
With math wheels, students:
- Are engaged while learning with colorful, interactive notes.
- Retain key concepts through color and visual representations.
- AND complete practice problems in the pattern around the wheel.
WHY YOU & YOUR STUDENTS WILL LOVE MATH WHEEL NOTES
Math wheels facilitate interactive learning through the use of doodles and creative visuals, helping students to better engage with the content and retain it.
The use of colorful, engaging visuals and doodles can make learning math more fun and enjoyable for students, increasing their motivation and interest in math.
Math wheels encourage creativity and personalization, allowing students to express themselves and their understanding of the material in unique ways.
PLUS, the use of color and images in math note-taking is
supported by brain research...engaging both the left and right hemispheres during note-taking!
More Than Notes: How Teachers Are Actually Using
Math Wheels
We asked teachers how they use math wheels in their classrooms ~ here's what they shared:
1) Initial Instruction & Practice
- Preview/pre-teach in a topic in centers before whole group lesson, so students know what’s coming
- Guided notes for new concepts ~ walk through each section together as a class
- Consistent notes format = students know what to expect with new topics
- Offer ‘open,’ pre-filled, or fill-in-the-blank versions to differentiate
- Work through practice problems around wheel (guided or independent practice
- “Clear, pre-set organization makes a big difference…” in easing note-taking anxiety
2) Practice & Reteaching
- Targeted small-group reteaching or morning intervention
- Guided study sessions
- Send home for extra reinforcement, homework, or summer learning
- Remediation: use different versions of the wheels
- “I used this in small groups to help my students remember the rules better.”
3) Review & Test Prep
- Use before unit tests, on open-note quizzes, or for students to quiz each other
- Personalized study guides students have already created
- Enlarge and display as anchor charts
- Pull the whole year’s wheels together for state test prep
- Students get to use their own notes “…on tests and quizzes for their future forgetful selves.”
4) Ongoing Reference
- Keep in a binder, folder, or on a ring as reference sheets all year
- Hand out at the start of the year as a running reference tool
- Use for small group reteaching throughout year
- Great for catching up after an absence
- “Students pull the math wheels out before any other notes or resources.”
What Teachers Are Saying About Math Wheel Notes
Align With our standards and Learning goals
The Kids....Actually
Refer Back To Them!
They are a fabulous way to...help students remember concepts!
This is a great resource for my students to do note taking and practice problems in their Interactive Math Notebooks. They have a lot of information in them and align very well with our standards and learning goals. I highly recommend!
I love these math wheels! I love using guided notes and these are fun and easy to use. The kids like them and actually use them and refer back to them. Totally worth the money and a time saver!
I’ve used other wheels before with my students, so I went ahead and bought the entire bundle. They are a fabulous way to make math fun and help the students remember concepts.
This is definitely something you want to use in a creative math classroom.
What's Included in Each Doodle Wheel Resource
Math wheel for student notes, with practice problems around the wheel.
Key and sample notes to guide you.
Editable wheel so you can create your own wheel for any topic!
Added in summer, 2025: ‘no pattern’ backgrounds
Ready to Make Math Notes Exciting and Effective?
Choose from over 100 math wheels for grades 2 to 8, covering concepts like basic fractions and decimals, ratios, surface area, exponent rules, slope, and transformations. You can purchase individual wheels or save with bundles!
Besides specific math topics, you can also find wheels for:
- Class Expectations
- Getting to Know You (Meet the Mathematician)
- Math Talk
- Problem Solving Strategies
- Test-Taking Strategies
AND, if you happen to teach ELA too, there are a few grammar wheels for you.
Find them all in the Cognitive Cardio Math shop on TPT.
Check Out the Math Doodle Wheels Below!
Shop by grade level: the buttons will take you to the grade level bundle on TPT
You can also get to the individual wheels from the bundles.
BROWSE ALL MATH WHEELS IN THE COGNITIVE CARDIO MATH SHOP
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