Independent Centers at Work

Back in July I wrote a post on how I begin teaching my Kinders how to "do" independent stations. Twenty one days into the school year I'm happy to report that we are successfully doing two rounds of Literacy Stations ~ complete with me at the guided reading table ~ and happily working in our math baskets daily. The kids are loving it & I'm a happy teacher!

This all began the first week with lots and lots of  modelling and practice. We still go over the rules of independent work: 1. Walk to your station/Get a math basket.  2. Begin working right away.  3. Work for the entire time.  4. Use quiet voices.  5. Clean up quickly when you hear the chime (I set a timer on my phone)

Of course, we used simple activities that could be done with little to no instruction so the littles could work on stamina. When you don't have to spend lots of time teaching how to do the activities, your students will have more time to practice working independently. This practice took place during our Literacy Stations time, so the kids worked at the actual stations areas. (I am lucky to have a large classroom where I can have permanently set up Literacy Stations.)

The first couple of weeks we used the cards from my Beginner Stations Activities set. (Get it HERE.) Check out some pictures of my kiddos working on stamina.

Sequencing cards 

Matching numbers to sets

Puzzles

Sorting

The cards in this set are also perfect for math stations, morning tubs, or early finisher activities. 

This letter page is from my Back to School No-Prep set ~ get it HERE.

Read to Self

Sensory Bin with some (older than my students) alphabet cards from The Mailbox

Now that our Literacy Stations are up and running pretty smoothly, I've swapped out the Beginner activities with things that take more time to do as well as a few more choices at each station. The cards are still available for early finishers. The kids already know how to use the cards, so they can grab a set of cards & work quietly as they wait for others to finish.

I use Tara West's Thematic Writing Center ~ it's amazing! The kids really enjoy it.

The Pocket Chart Center (it hangs on the end of the play fridge & mailbox cabinet, which sit back to back near. The sorting cards have been replaced with Deedee Wills' Predictable Sentences.

This cute search and find letter activity was a freebie I got somewhere (Facebook, maybe?). If you know who made it, please let me know in the comments. 

Another wonderful Tara West product ~ my kiddos get to work on fine motor skills at this Literacy Station. It might not be actual literacy, but it gives their hands the exercise needed for writing.

I mentioned that my Literacy Stations are in permanent locations. (The tables where some are located do double duty at other times of the day, but the literacy activities stay there.) For independent math work the kids have activities in Math Baskets or their Math Folders. The baskets are housed in four stackable shoe racks from Target. They fit perfectly under the whiteboard ~ you can see them in the background of the photo below.

Another old math activity from The Mailbox ~ the kids still enjoy it!

Tara West again. (Can you tell that I love her products?)

Tara West's Spinnin' Through the Year

We have been learning about solid shapes, so I put a bunch of them into a basket. 

As you can see, my little students are doing a great job working & learning independently! Yay!

Independent Centers ~ Getting Started

One of my favorite times during the school day is guided reading with small groups. It is a time when you can really focus on just what your students need. Plus, working with just a few students at a time allows you to get to know them a little better.

My small group table ~ it's not always this tidy looking!

But... (Yes, there is always a big but.) What about the other kids? I'm lucky to teach in a district with small low class sizes. (I typically have 18.) So, when I'm having fun working with the four kids at my table, what about the other 14 kids? That's where lots and lots of practice comes in.

I like to introduce working in station the first week of school (NOT the first day ~ geez, I'm just trying to survive & get them on the correct bus home.) Depending upon my group, we start building stamina on the second or third day. That first week of school isn't really academically rich; your time is spent mostly practicing procedures over and over. (...and over and over...) I've found that my students LOVE to work on building independent station stamina.

In order to get them to the place where I can meet with my small groups, I need to get everyone working at their stations. This is a daunting task! There is no way to get around the fact that you need to practice, practice, practice.

First, we cruise around the room and look at the different work stations so they know where they are located. Some stations are at tables, some on a shelf, some are in bins that can be taken to various spots around the room. The following photos are from past years ~ once the kids knew how to work independently.

Once we've taken a quick tour of our room, I ask the kids if they would like to try out the stations. Of course, this question is met with an enthusiastic yes! Before releasing them to stations, we discuss our classroom rules (I use the rules from Whole Brain Teaching.) We talk about how we also have rules for working in our stations: 1. Walk to your station. 2. Get started working right away. 3. Work quietly for the entire time. (We talk about how they are allowed to talk with their partner, but need to use quiet voices.) 4. Stay at your station. (If it is something in a bin, they can put it back to get another one when they are finished, but they can't roam around the room.) 5. When the timer goes off, quickly & carefully clean up your materials, and meet on the carpet. (I use a chime ringtone on my phone's timer.)

I assign my students the stations they go to each day. The stations have lots of choices within them. (When we are working on stamina, there are far fewer choices.) Typically, two students work at a station at a time. I've tried different numbers at a station, and have found that the kids are more likely to actually work when they have a partner rather than a group. Get my Literacy Station Rotation Cards Freebie  HERE.

Ok, so by now we have had a quick tour of the work spaces, and gone over the rules. Yay! We are ready to go. The kids go to their assigned stations & start to work on building stamina. Because the work of building stamina is pretty hard, the tasks need to be pretty easy. Your little beginners need activities that require little to no instruction, don't take a long time to set up, do, and clean up. It's important to remember that at this point, the task isn't as important as the practice working independently is.

A few cans of playdough, puzzles, picture books, coloring books, and small building blocks are good choices for your practice sessions. Simple to use card activities also work well for your little learners. I have a set that contains four sets of five different activities that are perfect for early learning stations. Check them out HERE.  The cards can also be used in morning tubs or for early finishers.

Your first "rounds" of station work will probably only last a few minutes. If you have a lot of off task behavior, gather the kiddos together and discuss the rules again. You may want to make an anchor chart to serve as a visual reminder of your expectations. Set your timer again & let them try it again.

As the kids get adept at staying at their stations, working the entire time, and staying on task, you will want to replace the more "toy-like" materials with things that are a little more academic. (You will still want to keep it simple, though.)

After the first week of practice, if the kids are able to stay on task for five or more minutes, I like to pull individual kids to my table to do some quick checks to see what they know so I can eventually form my small groups.

It takes lots of diligent practice, modelling, and reminders to get your kids ready for independent work. But, it pays off big time! Every class is different, so don't try to set a specific time frame for when you begin your guided reading groups. I've had groups ready to work independently while I pull small groups after about three weeks of practice, some take more time. Don't rush it! Taking time to practice, practice, practice will create a class that knows how to work independently. Good luck & have fun!

PS: If you want to quickly gather info on what your newbies know, you may be interested in my "What Do You Know Quick Check Bundle." Check it out HERE

Guided Reading Groups

My guided reading groups have gone through a series of changes to get to where they are today. I have to say that I am pretty happy with how they have evolved. A great part of my happiness has to do with the fact that the amazing DeeDee Wills & Deanna Jump have created a fantastic guided reading product. Their Guided Reading Small Group bundle is what I use to teach my differentiated groups. (Check it out HERE.) I also use the activities from my Monthly Literacy Stations bundle. (Check it out HERE.) I have four guided reading groups of 3 - 4 students each, meeting with each group twice weekly. I do wish I could meet with them more than twice weekly, but our schedule is so crazy that's all we can fit in. 

Planning for my groups is so easy with the Guided Reading Small Groups sets ~ I keep all the materials needed for each level in a binder & just pull out the things I need for each group. As I said earlier, I include activities from my Literacy Stations bundle that fit with the lessons &each group's needs. For this group I've included a fun Crack the Code activity & CVCe activity from my Basket of Long Vowels set (see it HERE). We used it today & the kids loved it! They had fun figuring out the mystery word by naming the first letter of each picture name. 

To keep myself on track I have created this simple planning sheet. I complete one sheet for each group - the top half is the first time we meet & the bottom half is for the second time we meet each week. To keep track of student progress I use a simple check mark system as we do each activity. There is a section for quick comments. Kiddos who need more extensive comments are noted in their individual folders. Grab an updated, editable copy of this form HERE.

I am lucky to have a small class of 15 Kinders, so my guided reading groups only have 3 - 4 kids each. Using running records & classroom data I was able to place them into four leveled groups. Each group has its own basket. In the baskets I place all the materials I will need to teach each group. (It is evident from this picture that I like wooden clothespins ~ I use them every day!) Some of the cards are from Deedee Wills' Small Group Sets (check it out HERE).

To keep everything handy I have a three drawer unit to my right that holds things like white boards, tap lights (for tapping out syllables & phonemes), word & letter cards, whisper phones, etc. The group baskets are sitting on a stack of magnetic letter cookie sheets. The pails in the green basket hold things like extra clothespins, my "office" supplies, and witch fingers for pointing to words. The yellow basket holds student supplies.

Here is one of the cookie sheets in use.They are from Dollar Tree & are the perfect size to use at our table. I used Sharpie to write the letters on them to make putting the letters back after use easier. The cards are from my January Literacy Stations. We use the cookie sheets at the start of every guided reading group. Depending upon the group's needs we may work on letter naming or sounds, spelling CVC words, or sight words. (I keep extra letters in one of the drawers shown above if we need more than one of a certain letter in a word.)

While I'm meeting with my groups the other students work in pairs at our literacy stations. Click HERE to read about some of the activities the kids do at our stations. 

Literacy Stations

We have been in school for a month and my Kinders are really getting the hang of school! Last week they did such a great job during our Literacy Stations. I was so excited at their stamina and ability to stay on task for the (almost) entire time. It takes lots of practice to get fifteen five year olds to be able to work independently, but it pays off big time when you want to run small groups. I haven't started small groups yet because I want to be sure everyone knows how to use all of our stations ~ we are still in the practicing stage. I'm hoping that in another week (or two) we will be ready. I will also ask for parent volunteer once stations are fully up and running. But, for now I'm pretty happy with how things are going. I snapped some pictures of my little cuties working in our five current stations.

Listening ~ I have two iPods that I got through Donors Choose, two old-school discman type CD players, a "boom box," and two iPhone 4s that I found in my husband's office. For both the iPods & phones I put all the apps I didn't want the kids to mess around with into folders on "page 2." The only app that they see on "page 1" is the music app. It took a little while to get my books on CD onto my iTunes, but it was worth it because all of my stories are on all the devices. But, as you can see the kids don't mind old technology.

Games ~ this is a favorite station. I have lots of fun game-like activities as well as actual literacy games & puzzles. These little guys are playing with the Roll-a-Cube alphabet activity from my August/September Literacy Stations set.

More games ~ These boys are playing Oh no! ~ another alphabet activity from my literacy stations set. 

Tablets ~ this week was the first time we got out the tablets & the kids were pretty excited. Like listening, this is another station where everyone needs initial training: how to plug in headphones, adjusting volume, finding, opening, and closing apps. Most kids are pretty savvy with Mom's smart phone so they catch on pretty fast. I only allow kids to use the tablets (and computers) during literacy & math stations ~ no screens during playtime! They get more than enough screen time at home. I want them to use their imagination while playing.

Word Work ~ I know that it almost looks as if the little dark haired girl is crying, but she and her partners were working with rhyming cards. They made up a little guessing game. :-)

Writing ~ In addition to word cards, white boards, and writing paper our writing station currently has some small motor & alphabet activities. 

Other stations that we will add to our line up are Write the Room, Stamping, and Computers. I'll add Stamping or Write the Room this week. The kids need a few more sessions in the computer lab before I turn on the student computers. One thing I'm not going to include in our Literacy Stations rotations is "Read to Self." Over the years I've noticed that most Kinders (who really can't read much for a good part of the year anyway) aren't happy when they get Read to Self. They tend to get antsy and off task. They will have books in their book boxes and will be encouraged to "read" books when they are looking for something to do, but silent reading will not be part of our Literacy Stations. Click HERE for an interesting article on silent reading. 

Click HERE to purchase my Literacy Stations.

Five for Friday ~ Literacy Edition

It's Friday, and I am actually posting my Five for Friday!  We had a very busy week (only one two-hour delay), and got a lot accomplished.  My Kinders are working very hard on becoming readers & writers.  It's sooo exciting to watch their enthusiasm and excitement!  It's hard to believe how far they have come in a few short months...

How do you run your Literacy Stations?  Do you do Guided Reading, Reading Workshop, Daily 5, or something else?  Last year the primary teachers did a book study on Daily 5 and began dabbling in it.  Some of the teachers have taken the plunge and use D5 as their entire Literacy Block, while others are using bits and pieces.  I guess I fall somewhere in the middle.  I really like the idea of giving students choice ~ it just makes sense that the kids will practice and learn from activities that interest them, but I still want to be sure that certain activities are done by everyone.

Our Literacy Block is actually broken up by recess & a special.  After our Calendar Time, we do our whole group literacy activities ~ read aloud comprehension activities, partner & seat work (for about 32 minutes).  Once we are back from our morning special, we break into five small groups: my table, word work, writing, listening, & Mrs. S's table.  The students rotate through these stations, completing one per day.  There is an assigned activity at each station that must be completed.  Once the activity is completed, the Kinders have several other activities that they may choose to do.  I work with Strategy Groups during this time.  Mrs. S. works with her group, progress monitors for mClass, or works with students on specific skills. We work in our Literacy Stations for about 20 - 25 minutes.

This time then morphs into our Daily 5 time (about 30 - 35 minutes).  After gathering on the carpet, the students choose their first rotation activity while I continue to work with students at my table.  We only have time for two rotations before lunch.  I give the kids about 5 - 10 minutes after lunch to finish anything that they didn't get done.  Those kiddos who are finished with everything get to choose another D5 activity.

In the spirit of all things Literacy, here are my five.

I have posted about my table & how much I love it, so you may have seen pictures of it before...  I am pretty happy with myself this year because of how neat & organized it is!  The 31 Fold & File is sitting on top of a hand-me-down 3 drawer storage unit.  It was my daughter's traveling "dresser" for her horse show necessities!  She hasn't competed in a horse show for a while & it was just sitting around, so I snagged it for storing my guided reading materials.  (The top is a little stained from spending so much time in a dusty horse barn, but that just adds to its character!)  The baskets are from Target's Dollar Spot & hold games and materials for small group instruction.

Mrs. S's table.  The insert on the right shows this week's required activity & the one on the left shows choice activities.  The required activities this week come from my new Animal Themed Literacy set.  Click HERE to purchase.

 The kids work at this table during our Literacy Stations.  The required activity is on the left, choices on right.

This fabulous cabinet was purchased for my D5 word work activities last spring.  I love it!  The kids can grab a bin, go to their work area, and start practicing working on words.  The green & yellow tubs mostly have things from The Mailbox (file folder games, etc.)  The blue tubs & those on top hold paper & pencil type activities.  Some of the activities are from the fabulous Sight Words Stations set I recently purchased on TpT from Sharing Kindergarten.

 My Writing Station is a popular spot in the room.  On the counter are bins of activities, writing binders, white boards (in purple bin), and writing paper.  The sentence writing activity shown in the inset is what is required this week.  Once the Kinders are finished, they may work in one of the tubs or write the room.

 My kids are serious Write the Room Junkies!  I have a little table dedicated to the tools needed to write the room ~ a basket of sparkly star shaped glasses, fancy pencils & twist crayons, clipboards, and files of Write the Room pages.  Because of the love my kids have for writing the room, I leave the cards up for a month so they can write and write again.  I like to put the cards in about the same area so that the kiddos can easily find them.  The insert shows the cluster of word cards above the sink.  (Hibernation word cards HERE. Penguin word cards HERE, Groundhog word cards HERE, Valentine CVC spelling cards HERE, Rainbow math card HERE.

Our classroom library is situated in the center of our room.  I like to have books be the focal point of the room.  This space is where the word work tubs are housed, too.  It is another popular spot in the room.

This is just another little area where the kids can work.  Several years ago my daughter was moving into an apartment down at Purdue & someone else was moving out.  He offered her this little desk ~ she didn't want it, but knew I would.  My husband cut the legs down to size.


And, finally I want to share a story one of my little cuties wrote.  On Wednesday she sat in the Writing Station & announced that she was going to write a book for me to read to my granddaughters.  She did this completely on her own!

Thanks for sticking with me!  Now it's your turn to link up your Five for Friday over at Doodle Bugs!