Well, 10 days away from Christmas Break {note…I initially wrote this last week and I never finished it…yikes!} and I feel like I have finally hit my reading-teacher groove. After months of training and trying, we have finally ‘fit’ it ALL into our 50 minute class period: flashback, mini-lesson, guided practice/Kagan structure, exit slip, AND literacy centers/guided reading.
So, it’s time for a true teacher confession. Please don’t throw rotten fruit….I waited way too long before introducing literacy centers. Until a few weeks ago, my mini-lessons were not mini and my flashbacks were not flashes…With encouragement from my mentor, I am so excited to say I have tamed my mini-lessons and my flashbacks and everything in the middle. Which means, we finally made it through a FULL two weeks of centers.
At first I was skeptical about centers in 5th grade. First of all, I planned on calling them “stations” to make them sound like something BIG kids would do, but I slipped up. I know. It happens rarely, but I did it. And when I did, a friend said “We did these in Kindergarten! They were so much fun.” Sweet! My mistake worked in my favor. 🙂
Secondly, I was terrified of the management. Ultimately, I decided I would need to model, dive in, and tweak the schedule as we went along. There are 13 centers in my rotation, and students go to 9 centers in the two-week period {one a day, assuming that 1 day out of 10 we just do not have time for centers.} That means, students will not go to every center. In fact, I have some activities that only 2 or 3 groups (out of my 30 groups) might go to, depending on their needs at that time. Since students are working in groups, we always reference these two posters at the beginning of each work period.
Students spend 13-15 minutes at each rotation and accomplish one task a day. Students work in groups of 2 or 3 and are grouped with the closest person(s) academically at that time. So, yes, I do regroup students every two weeks (if needed) based on Common Assessments (tests), flashbacks, exit slips, and teacher observation. During centers, I keep the below chart on the board so students know where to go, and a timer going on the TV.
I store all my centers for the 2-week rotation in a clear container ($2.33 from Lowes). The individual centers, go in a laminate envelope with the directions and “I Can” statements on the front.
In terms of the make-up of the centers, they look like this. Out of our 13 centers, there are 4 that do not change – Spelling City (on iPads}, Teacher Table, Independent Reading, Responding to my Reading.
My skill-specific centers are spiral reviews of everything we have covered in the last weeks. In this two week rotation we practice context clues, character traits, theme, text structure, inference, main idea, synonyms, editing, and cause/effect. I’ve taken pictures of some of the activities we have used this time around! {Please note, I only have pictures of 6 or 7 of the centers}
For main idea, I am using Amelia‘s Main Dish from Reindeer Games. We are also using using her North Pole Editing board game, and my kids LOVE that they can write on the actual playing cards…sometimes I forgot they are just 10! 🙂
As a part of our word work station, we practice matching synonyms and honed our reference skills. Using digital and paper dictionaries, we learning some awesome works using Christy‘s (from Teaching Tales Along the Yellow Brick Road) free – Snowman Synonyms! My kiddos loved the challenge and oh man, it was challenging.
As a teacher, I also LOVE Rachel’s task cards. They make the perfect playing cards for her free game board that you can grab here. From theme to context clues, her task cards are predictable reliable, and align perfectly with the Common Core!
One part of centers that I have not totally figured out is the accountability factor. How do I hold my students accountable within being inundated with papers? I have 90 kids and already grade daily exit slips and weekly homework packets and reading letters. Right now, I use Socrative for one station, Showbie for a few stations, and then, paper accountability forms for the rest….but still, it isn’t perfect yet {or close to it). How do you hold students accountable for their work at their centers? I would love your ideas!
So, friends, there you go. What questions do you have? What have I missed? How do you hold your students accountable? I would LOVE your input!
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Love the poster about partners! Such a great {daily} reminder for partners. Two of my kiddos could have used it today! I teach second grade and don't do literacy centers as much as I do Daily 5. I do need to start adding in some "extra fun" stuff into the Work on Words and Work on Writing Activities, though.
My 5th graders do not function well if we don't have centers in Math and Literacy. I do a great deal of on-going centers which helps. Glad you had a successful two weeks!
Alison
Rockin' and Lovin' Learnin'
Thank you for sharing what you do in centers. I have really been trying to get a hold on implementing them in my 6th grade classroom. The accountability piece is difficult for me too.
Michele
Coffee Cups and Lesson Plans
I like that you PLAN on days where centers just won't work. My OCD personality has too much anxiety when my plans get messed up…. and they often do!
Alison – my kids are definitely loving them! 5th graders are SO social and I think this feels their desire to talk with their peers. 🙂
Miss Lifesaver – There is never a week when every goes as plans, and I am way to OCD to break too far away from my plans-ha!
LOVE this snowman activity! I use stations EVERY DAY in my 6th, 7th, and 8th grade classes. Just because they are bigger in size doesn't mean they aren't kids! =D
I always love reading how other teachers run their stations–because I feel like I need such improvement in this area! This was great, thank you so much for explaining it all in detail!
For accountability I create a blog on todaysmeet.com and everyone has to post to it. I can print out about 2 pages and read over the posts. It works great for me! Thanks for sharing your info!
I was rereading this post, thinking about how I can implement literacy centers with my 5th graders. You have shared some great ideas and I'm planning to use several. I do have a question for you: You mention using "exit slips" and "flashbacks" as formative assessments. I use a "ticket out the door," which I assume is similar to the exit slip. Can you tell me what a flashback is? I tried googling it, but kept coming up with definitions of the literary device! Thanks so much!
For task cards accountability, I print the answer sheets and put them together and add a cover with each student's name. Depending on the concept I am teaching, I assign the task cards for the stations for the week. I grade them at the end of the week. I use Rachel's task cards.
For task cards accountability, I print the answer sheets and put them together and add a cover with each student's name. Depending on the concept I am teaching, I assign the task cards for the stations for the week. I grade them at the end of the week. I use Rachel's task cards.