Centers...the beginning and now

Center time (or workstation time, whichever you call it) is something that starts slow and simply, and grows and changes along with the students.  While centers are going on, both my assistant and I are pulling small groups---I work with word study or guided reading groups, and my assistant often works with math skills or writing.  
Some basic principles of centers in my classroom:
     1.  Centers are never used to introduce skills.  They always reinforce skills we have  
           already learned  and practiced in whole group or small group activities.

     2.  Centers are more about process, not necessarily a product.  My goal is for students to be 
          actively engaged during center time.  If center time ends and the task is not completely
          finished, but the student was engaged and focused during center time, the actual 'product'
         (often a recording sheet of some sort) doesn't necessarily need to be finished.  I don't want 
         students who work more slowly to be penalized---and get bogged down in an endless cycle
         of not moving on because they didn't finish the last center they were working on.   
         Obviously, there are exceptions, but overall this is the plan.
 
     3.  As much as possible, center activities are hands on activities.  I love Dr. Jean's worksheet      
          philosophy (my paraphrasing): "If the student can't do a worksheet (because they don't 
          have the skills), why have them do a worksheet?  And, if the student does have the 
          skills and can do a worksheet, why have them do a worksheet?"


     4.  I have students work in pairs.  I have tried groups of three or four, and groups of two 
          just seem to work best.  It started out of necessity three years ago, when I had an 
         extremely small room to work in.  After we moved to a larger room, my assistant and 
         I both agreed that pairs still seemed to be the best option.   The teams are changed often, 
         so that students don't get into a rut and have the opportunity to work with many different 
         children throughout the year.

     5.  Often the procedures stay the same in a center, and the materials are just slightly changed 
         to keep it interesting.  This saves a lot of time when explaining new centers---no more 
         30 minute explanations, just to have students forget what to do by day 3.  Now it takes 
         10-15 minutes maximum to explain 36 centers (yes, I said 36).

At the beginning of the year, we start by showing students how to use the materials. On the first day, we start with everyone using the same manipulatives,  On the second day, we introduce another manipulative, and half the class uses one manipulative, and the second half uses the other.  When the timer goes off, we switch.   The third day brings three manipulatives, and so on.  

At this point in the year, things look much different.  We integrate skills, such as fine motor and science, or reading procedural text and following directions.  I put a lot of time and effort into
creating authentic centers, as you can see by the center board below.   The kids do love centers,  though, which makes it worthwhile for me.  We have a new student, and on the first day I had all            of the students introduce themselves to him by sharing their name, their age, and what their favorite
thing about school was.  Almost every single child said center was their favorite thing about school!
Here is the center board:

And here is a glimpse at some of the centers from around Christmas (these are the pictures I have home with me at the moment):

I'll try to post more recent pictures when I get back to school after spring break.

I'm still alive and kicking...or should I say alive and limping...

Well, I must apologize--I have severely neglected my blog.  I had great intentions, but once school began I realized that I might have   I have been so exhausted by the end of each day, that I don't even want to stalk my favorite blogs.  

I was diagnosed at the end of the school year last year with fibromyalgia, and I am still learning how to manage life with it.  In a nutshell, I have to do a lot less than I am used to doing, and it is very frustrating.  I've always been the teacher who stays late, working on the next project.  Now I try to hold out thirty or forty minutes after the kids go home before crying 'uncle'.  I have a longer ride to and from school this year, so by the time I get home, I usually head straight to bed.


Needless to say, the blog has not been tended to very well.  Since this is my spring break week, I want to try to get two or three more entries added.  Maybe then I'll be able to add a short note or two through the rest of the year---we have 44 more school days, and plenty left to do.

I never posted the completed version of my room, so I will begin with that.  Keep in mind that these were all taken at the beginning of the year---if you walked into my classroom today, you would find much more has taken up residency---and I'm feeling the need for a severe spring cleaning. 

This is the view as you step right into my classroom.  Straight ahead you see the 'check-in table'--where students find their stars and put them into the lunch pockets.  This is a quick way to take attendance, and it also tells us if the students are bringing lunch from home or if they are purchasing a lunch from the cafeteria.   The extra-wide pocket chart on the left is our center board, but at the time this was taken, we had not yet implemented the center 'system'.  We begin the year introducing centers one at a time, going over procedures and practicing using the materials correctly.  After the third or fourth week of school, students are ready to officially start the rotation system.

This is the view to the immediate right--still right inside the doorway.  On the left of the picture you see the mailboxes/check-in table.  The table that has no basket on it is our 'breakfast' table--because, yes, we are lucky enough to have breakfast in the room.  :( 

This looks a lot different now---we had borrowed a carpet from a WONDERFUL third grade teacher, because somehow our carpet had not gotten ordered.  She gave hers up so that we could start the year with one.  The one we finally got in January is much smaller, and we miss the extra space.  It took my students a while to get used to the fact that they no longer had a full 'box' to sit in, and that their neighbor would be sharing their 'space'.

This also looks a lot different now.  Our word wall is blank at the beginning of the year, and as we learn a word (not as it is introduced, but when it is a word most of us know) it is added to the word wall.  We do not include names on the word wall--it is intended to include only words that are those we know by 'sight'.  You can see the wooden bookshelf, and the books there along with the books in the blue book baskets (on the top of the bookcase and on the edge of the carpet) make up our "reading corner."  I would LOVE to have a true 'corner' or nook, and have fun ideas to use if I ever have the opportunity, but this classroom's set up does not allow for it.  The reason I do love having it by the main carpet is that it is our perpetual 'anchor activity' or transition activity.  For example, if students finish journal writing before others, they can go to the carpet and get a book.  They love to do this, and I frequently change the books that are available to them.  I always introduce the books when they change (and point out the labels that have changed on the book baskets), and this helps to build interest and excitement.  These are my personal books, and they take quite a beating at times, but I feel the payoff is well worth it---every year my students take with them a love of books that I hope will stay with them for the rest of their lives.

 

 

This is our 'supply shelf'.  Behind them are the two teacher desks--one for me, one for my assistant.  It was a long time before my students realized that there were desks there.  I never sit there, and my assistant only does if she is taking care of money (and she does this while I am leading the whole group lesson on the carpet, and students have their backs to her while they face me).  The supplies on the top shelf are the most important, and used daily.  The 'pencil bins' hold pencils, twistables, scissors, glue sticks, dry erase markers and 'marker socks' (black socks to wipe off the white boards), and sometimes additional odds and ends.  The blue baskets on the right are now filled with leveled books as well as various laminated cards that the kids love using.  These cards include hundred charts, money charts, color words, number words, and months of the year.  These 'book baskets' are usually on the tables in the morning as students arrive instead of the traditional 'morning work',  This means the students practice reading until the bell rings to start the pledge of allegiance, and then as soon as announcements are finished, we are ready to begin our day. 

This is 'my' corner.  I love having the storage seats, but I wish they were a bit taller.  I also had to cover some of the crate edges with black duck tape (yes, it's duck not 'duct') in order to keep the edges from scratching the legs of my students wearing shorts.

 That's it...nothing exciting, but now at least I don't feel as if I just left things hanging as far as my room.  The next post will be more interesting.  :)

Finally making progress in the classroom!

Before I start this post, I want to make a quick note, because this week has definitely been an unusual one.  Instead of the normal focus on going back to school (our first teacher work day was Friday), the focus has been on getting ready for the hurricane.  It seemed a bit bizarre to be working in my classroom yesterday, while the rest of the area is battening down the hatches.  At this point we are thankfully awaiting only a category 1, but the last time a "1" hit us, I was one of the fortunate ones who only lost power for 5 days.  Lots of people closer to the oceanfront area were without power for 14+ days.   We have about 24 more hours of this until the storm has passed by, so I'm posting this now while we still have power.

I have been concerned about getting into my classroom (in a new school) for the past 3 weeks.  The custodians hadn't finished the floors (they finished them YESTERDAY), and even though I was able to work in the room, I didn't have the furniture I needed in order to complete my unpacking.  Thankfully, another set of shelves arrived from the warehouse this week, and yesterday, I was able to "borrow" several pieces I needed from other K teachers (like a big book easel, and library shelves).

This is what I walked into (even though I've spent HOURS in there over the past two and a half weeks):

I did have a few minutes of panic during the day, even though I'm trying to keep my stress level very low.  At 10 o'clock, when this stuff was still sitting in my room (after two weeks of asking for it to be taken out), I had to make an urgent appeal to the office to make it 'go away'.  It was hard to explain that I couldn't begin to set up the room until it was gone---I am someone who has to actually move things around to see how it works, and I had several things I had to take into account.  My big issue was where the carpet was going to be placed, so I could figure out my calendar area and word wall area.  The classroom is wonderfully large, but it has an unusual arrangement (where the a/c units are, where the whiteboards and smartboard areas are, where the computer drops are, etc.).  Eventually the things were taken out of my room, and put across the hall into the computer lab (the computer resource teacher is LOVING me, I'm sure).

The other moment of stress came right after things started to be taken out of the classroom, when it was discovered that the rug for my room had not yet been ordered (oh.my.laws.) and I was told at first I would just have to do without a carpet until the new one arrived.  Later in the afternoon, I was actually able to 'borrow' the library's rug (she had a rug on top of her carpet for storytimes), which made the arrangement of furniture a lot easier.

I knew I had a LOT to get done, because we have the storm to deal with, and its highly likely that we may lose teacher work days before school starts in a week.  My room is definitely NOT done, but I was thankful to have been able to make this much progress.

Still a long way to go, but I'm a LOT closer to the finish line than I was when I started the day.  It has also started to feel like "my" classroom---and as I worked, I was very conscious of how much of my own personality gets put into the design of my room.  I know what is important to me and to my teaching style, and the room ends up reflecting all of that.   I know any of you reading this will completely understand this.

One last note--the way my room was prepped for the storm:   :)

That should definitely stand up to Irene, don't you think? :)

Getting Started--What to do if you are just 'starting out' with centers?

I got an email from a new-to-kindergarten teacher, wanting to know a little about getting 'process centers' started.  I talked a little bit about 'process centers' in a previous post.  

In order to not drive yourself crazy as a new teacher--and those of us who have been there KNOW it can happen--being a new teacher is VERY stressful--you need to keep it simple.  I put together a few ideas that I shared with her, and maybe you can take something from this post as well.  This is not meant to be all-encompassing, but rather an easy way to get you started.

I love using Letter Tiles.  If you don't have any, you can make your own easily, but usually there is something in  your classroom.  This is a great way for students to practice letter recognition, and begin to familiarize themselves with print.  A GREAT resource is Making Learning Fun.  You can print out lots of different themes, and students can practice matching letters to letter tiles.   

http://www.makinglearningfun.com/themepages/LetterTileIndex.htm

 

Magnetic Letters—there are SO many things to do with this center.   You can make simple word cards (with a picture cue), and have students match uppercase to lowercase, lowercase to lowercase, uppercase to uppercase.  You can give them cards that they have to match letter to letter in a sequence, with some letters missing.  Example:  a b ___  d  e ____ g

You can find some of the missing letter cards at Mrs. Saylor's Log:
http://saylorslog.blogspot.com/2011/06/what-letter-is-missing.html

Playdough—a good one for tying in math or reading skills.  Kindergarten Works has GREAT freebies to get you started:
http://www.kindergartenworks.com/2011/01/do-you-dough.html

Pattern Blocks –I use these year round.  Have students create patterns on their own, or complete patterns that you have started on sentence strips. Have students complete designs with color clues (the shapes are colored in). Have students complete designs without color clues. 

Here are some FANTASTIC freebies:
http://prekinders.com/pattern-blocks/

http://www.kellyskindergarten.com/math/math_activities.htm

(check out her pattern block sets)

If you are able to spend a little cash, I'd definitely check out Heidi Songs:

http://www.heidisongs.com/Numbers1/Numbers_Shapes_Vol.1.html

Scroll down to see her number pattern block sets---she also has letter sets.  She also has a GREAT blog—you’ll want to check it out!

Math Centers—These you can change all year to correspond with the skills you are learning.  Start out with students matching numbers to sets (giving them ‘number mats’ and have them count out objects to correspond with them). 

Check out Kindergarten Hoppenings for LOTS of number to set matches—she has recently posted a tree and apples set, and bus and kids set.

http://kinder-pond.blogspot.com/

ABC center  This is another center I use year round, changing it as the students' skills increase.  I start by having students match letters (matching upper to lowercase, or upper to upper, lower to lower)

LOTS OF GREAT IDEAS HERE (with photos):  http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/abc_centers.html

Magazine Search---Hubbard's Cupboard has another set of wonderful resources to get you started:
http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/letter_search.html

Fran at Kindergarten Crayons also posted a lot of free sheets to use, but I can’t find them at the moment.  Go check here to see TONS of other fabulous ideas she’s shared (and there is even a linky party at the bottom):
http://kindergartencrayons.blogspot.com/2011_06_01_archive.html

Classmates names—I laminate each student's name and picture, and make them available at this center.  They start by practicing writing their friends names, and then move up to writing ‘notes’ to their friends.   I also let them put together each other’s “name puzzles” together (sentence strips cut into individual letters:  L i e s l—then put in a bag with the name “Liesl” on the front---students take the pieces out and put them together.  They can then also match it to a picture of their friends’ face).

Fine Motor practice (tearing paper, tissue paper, etc.)  This helps our students work on their pincer grasp (that they need to develop to hold a pencil).  Give the students a simple seasonal shape (apple, acorn, pumpkin) and ask them to fill it with torn paper (I give students a small piece of paper to tear their pieces from) or 1” square pieces of tissue paper.

Unifix Cubes---SO many ways to use these---patterns, number combinations, etc.  I love the book, Developing Number Concepts.  It has a huge amount of instantly useable center ideas, as well as small group and individual work plans.  

You also can look again at Hubbard's Cupboard for an abundance of ideas:

http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/number_journals.html

Whiteboards or Magna Doodles---another version of a simple writing center--changing the material changes the experience for the students.

Write the room---changing the tool they are writing with (ex.: giving them a fun pencil) or what they are looking for (words with “e” inside them, sight words hidden throughout the room, etc.) makes this a ‘new’ center each time—and students LOVE using clipboards to walk around the room looking for words.

Puzzles—It may seem silly, but students build spatial awareness and problem solving skills as they put together challenging puzzles.  Visit a Dollar Tree to grab 24 piece puzzles to get you started.  I store puzzle pieces in a Ziploc bag that includes the top of the box (which I have cut out).  I got this idea somewhere on the web, but can’t remember where.  :(

Geoboards—These are out all year.  Start with ‘student exploration’, and move on to creating patterns, shapes, numbers, letters.

This is NOT meant to be an all-inclusive list, but rather a jumping-off point.  Beginning centers or work stations can be very daunting to anyone.  Dip your toes in, and get a little wet, and you WON'T be sorry!