Center rotations in Kindergarten are a great way for students to grow socially and academically, here's how I run centers in Kindergarten!
I really like the beginning of the school year. It brings a new group of kiddos, fresh school supplies, and a clean slate! I actually enjoy teaching behavior, routines, and procedures…maybe that’s weird. 🙂 The one thing I do find a little overwhelming, however, is getting centers up and running. There’s so much to teach and so much to think about. Getting 5, 6, or 7-year-olds to work independently is no small task! My mind LOVES organization, so I learned to break down all of the madness into small, manageable steps and things to teach. In this post, I’ll share my process! 🙂 Photo Credits: Billion Photos, Shutterstock The Very Beginning I do not start centers the first day, week, or even first few weeks of school. Period. One year, a kindergarten teacher on my team told me that she starts centers on the very first day of school. Granted, there were two teachers in her classroom (not in mine). But still. Wow! As for me, I am no superhero teacher, so I need a little more time! I also think that my kids benefit from my “slow but steady” pace. Laying a solid foundation of routines and procedures does save time and frustration in the end! Planning with the End in Mind Every single year, I spend time imagining what my “ideal centers scenario” looks like. I picture how I want things to run in a month or two. And then…I start making lists! (You’ll see why these lists are important in the next section.) First, I make a list of simple literacy activities that I want to incorporate into our first few weeks of centers (after we actually start centers, that is). These might include things like: Partner reading Independent reading Simple word work activities (making words with play dough, for example) Listening center activities (i.e. listening to stories online) Writing activities (i.e. drawing pictures and making a story in a stapled booklet) Second, I make a list of the centers routines and procedures I’ll need to teach in order to get centers functioning smoothly. This includes: Where different centers are located in the classroom General procedures for using each center How students will know which centers to go to Expectations for behavior Expectations for work Expectations for noise level Expectations for how students should or should not work together What to do if you don’t know what to do at a center What to do if you need to use the restroom or get a drink of water What to do if a peer is not using the center correctly What to do if something breaks / technology doesn’t work How to clean up How to know when to clean up And last but not least, I make a list of simple, independent, non-academic activities that students can do with the materials I have in my classroom. They don’t have to be literacy-related! These might include: Playing with play dough Working with colored tiles or pattern blocks Working on puzzles Drawing with special markers or stencils If you’d like to download a free template for making and organizing your own lists, please click HERE!The Stages In the next four parts of this post, I’ll share the different “stages” I use to get centers rolling. Now you’ll get to see how those 3 lists you made come into play. I’ve included suggested timeframes for each stage. But these may vary! Your students will have different needs, so please go more slowly or more quickly as you see fit. Here are the stages: 1. Learning Simple Literacy Activities (Weeks 1-4) 2. Learning Centers Procedures (Week 5) 3. Opening Centers One By One (Week 6) 4. Normal Centers and Small Group Rotations (Weeks 7 and beyond) Now let’s dive into each stage! Stage One: Learning Simple Literacy Activities (Weeks 1-4) Before the school year starts, I take List #1 (simple literacy activities that I will eventually use in centers, like independent reading). I make a schedule for teaching these activities in a whole-group setting over a period of about 4 weeks. When I teach one of these activities, I model it for students. I then give them a chance to practice it with my support. And I do all of this during the block of time that will eventually become our centers time. Here’s an example: Independent reading is something I want the kids to eventually be able to do during literacy centers. I write some mini-lessons to teach expectations for independent reading. One mini-lesson might be how to stay on-task and in one spot during independent reading. Another might be how to tell a story from the pictures (for K-1). I then decide when I will teach these mini-lessons (again, this is happening during the first 4-ish weeks of school, during the block of time that will eventually become our centers time). During a mini-lesson, I model the focus procedure or routine. I have a few student volunteers model it for the class. And then I have the WHOLE class practice it while I support them. However, if it’s an activity that I have limited materials for (i.e. making words with magnetic letters), I have the class do something simple like handwriting practice while I pull small groups to practice the activity. Everyone gets a chance to practice the same day that I presented the mini-lesson. This whole process takes about 15-20 minutes (a bit longer if I have to have them practice in small groups). If my centers block will eventually be 45 minutes, we usually get through 2 (maybe 3) of these “practice sessions” per day. Stage Two: Learning Centers Procedures and Opening Centers (Week 5) By this point, the kids know how to do many of the activities that they will eventually do in centers. What they don’t know is how to “do” centers! This is where List #2 comes into play (i.e. expectations for behavior, how to rotate, clean-up signals, etc.). So during week 5, I set aside
Science stations in the classroom make learning fun! Traveling from center to center, kids hit multiple concepts in a short period of time.
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What are these gems for? Let me tell you! I started running a choice-ish classroom this year. Due to the schedule I have this year...
This week, we continued to practice identifying the main idea and supporting details of nonfiction texts using learning stations. As I mentioned last week, I was going to blog about what we did, so here it is. I had five learning stations for identifying main idea and supporting details that the students completed. The students completed the learning stations in whatever order they wanted to allow for students to have a little choice. These learning stations took several days to complete, so they worked at their own pace with a partner. One station that the students completed was a Main Idea- Jungle Safari Game that I purchased from Edupress. I have several of these games and the kids love them! Another learning station that the kids really liked was the Main Idea in a Bag station from The Brown Bag Teacher. The kids loved these because they incorporated interesting Science and Social Studies topics. There are ten different bags for the students to choose from, but I only required the students to complete graphic organizers for four of the bags. This gave the students opportunities to choose the topics that interested them. Of course, these stations would never be complete without task cards. There were actually two learning stations that consisted of task cards. I used Rachel Lynette's Main Idea and Supporting Details task cards. I love these because Rachel offers the QR codes with answers for these. The kids used a QR code app for the i-Pad to get immediate feedback without me having to grade anything. This makes them easy-peasy! The other set of practice cards that the kids used were from Edupress. I actually did this station with each student individually. The students chose four task cards and read each one orally for me. This gave me the opportunity to assess the students' abilities to determine the main idea and monitor fluency as well. The fifth station that the kids completed required the kids to use nonfiction books. I have always struggled to find nonfiction books that were grade appropriate for finding main idea and supporting details. After searching the local library high and low, I stumbled upon some FAB-U-LOUS books by Gail Gibbons. These books were perfect because I was able to find a variety of books with different reading levels to differentiate for my students' needs. Also, a few of the more difficult books, had multiple main ideas and supporting details. This allowed me to challenge my higher students and address the standard for fifth grade (determine two or more main ideas of a text and explain how they are supported by key details). The Gail Gibbons books that I used for the stations are: Apples (AR Reading Level- 4.0) Beavers (AR Reading Level- 4.7) Galaxies, Galaxies! (AR Reading Level- 5.7) It's Raining! (AR Reading Level- 4.1) Ice Cream: The Full Scoop (AR Reading Level- 4.4) My Soccer Book (AR Reading Level- 3.0) My Baseball Book (AR Reading Level- 2.9) My Basketball Book (AR Reading Level- 3.2) My Football Book (AR Reading Level- 3.2) The students completed a graphic organizer to go along with their book. I am sharing this file of graphic organizers for you to use with your students. You may click here to download. I required my students to read one book and complete the graphic organizer, but the kids loved this station so much, a lot of them read multiple books. Yes, I am DEAD serious! After surveying the kids after the learning stations at the end of the week, the students told me that this station was their favorite (which really shocked me). They said they liked reading the nonfiction books because they enjoyed the topics. Click here to download graphic organizers Here are some examples of completed graphic organizers. I was SO proud of how well the kids did with this station. I hope that while you are searching for ideas and activities for teaching main idea and supporting details, you will find something here to ease your planning. Have a great week!
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