How do you organized your ELA stations? I know many people have themselves as a part of the rotation, and I know for sure that I DO NOT want to be a "station." I have done it in the past and just like being free better. Not being attached to the rotation allows me to spend more time with a group if needed or time to pull kids in even smaller groups if needed. That being said, I am looking for some new and simple ways to organize my students when they are not working with me (or my TA). It will be about a 40 min block in the morning and another 25-30 min in the afternoon. So it is quite a large chunk of time. I'd love to hear what you do......:thanks:
I do The Daily 5: http://www.amazon.com/Daily-The-Sec...85&sr=8-1&keywords=the+daily+5+second+edition
Thanks! I have that book and used to do my own modified version of it years ago. I actually meant to take it home with me this weekend and forgot! I'll have to remember to bring it home tomorrow night!
My students do "JOBS". I stopped centers a couple of years ago due to a class who could NOT transition well in between centers! My Jobs time will eventually be 1 hour long, although we are no where near that at the moment. Basically, the kids have to complete a series of jobs independently in that hour while I am working with small groups. Jobs cover mostly spelling, vocabulary, and independent reading. If they finish their jobs in the allotted time, there are some "extras" they may do but their jobs MUST be completed first. Schedule looks like this: SPELLING: Tuesday:Highlight spelling pattern and cut up spelling words (they keep their words in a baggie in their pencil boxes Wednesday: Spelling words in ABC order Thursday: Spelling worksheet and sort and glue spelling words into spelling categories based on spelling pattern VOCABULARY: Tuesday: look up words in glossary for part of speech. Eventually some kids will write down definition too but just part of speech right now. Wednesday: Vocabulary sentences or worksheet Thursday: Vocabulary classification--they sort their words based on part of speech and glue into their language arts folder. READING: Varies depending on what we are working on or studying. At the beginning it is independent reading but eventually they can choose to work with a partner or group of three as long as they are reading During this time, I am pulling kids into small groups, some for reading, others for writing, the high kids for extension activities. On fridays, I give them time to finish up all JOBS...if they are not finished, they have to work on them during our Fun Friday. Like I said, eventually we will do this for an hour a day but right now, I am teaching the routine and procedures...
