Centers

Thought I would share how I run my centers today! It took me a few years to figure out my centers  (yes, I said YEARS!) but now I love the way they work! Some of my centers are based off of Daily 5. SO I have 4 groups of students and they do four 20 minute rotations. This way I can see every group every day. Every day students will visit four places:
1) Guided Reading -with ME!
2) Phonics Phun- with my awesome assistant( I create activities for her groups or I find them on TPT)
3) Read! students will read to self, read to a buddy, shop the library, use the smart board or use e-readers.
4) Word Work or Work on Writing  5different colored shelves with many activities (I will do another post about these!)

After much cutting, laminating, clip art hunting I found the easiest way to display my centers, In a shoe holder-crazy right?! Pretty sure it cost me  $2.99 at Walmart. I am still on the hunt for a colorful one.

I pair students up and they work with each other for READ! and Word Work and Work on Writing. The students rotate in order of their card for the day. For example the top left group would follow this schedule: 1) Guided Reading 2)Phonics Fun 3) Orange- Word Work Work on Writing 4) Library visit.
I get my cute, FREE clip art here!

Each morning I rotate the cards down, I have 5 total cards in each set. Every week each group will visit all centers.

The colored pencils on the cards represent the word work and work on writing center. I have a whole shelf of centers.

Students may do what ever bin they like as long as they stay in their color.
I hope you found this helpful! How do you run your centers?

HUGS

 

Happy weekend friends! 

I am not sure about you but this week was never ending! Friday was rough, my kids were super grumpy and I was exhausted! During the day I am pretty sure I heard my name called 5,000 times, heard 2,000 tattle tales, calmed 20 meltdown moments and repeated my directions one too many times.  Wouldn't you know, at the end of the day one of my friends waved her hand frantically while calling out my name- uggg! I was seconds away from asking her to put her hand down and erupting like a volcano but...I didn't.  I mustered up one last bit of patience and energy and said "yes, sweetie?" Now, I was expecting to hear to hear my 2,001st tattle of the day but she proved me wrong. She simply asked, "Can I have a hug?" In the moments before her question I felt defeated and was counting down the seconds until school was over for the week and I had no idea of the question she was about to ask. As we hugged I felt the weight of the world come off my shoulders.Who knew that one hug with give my so much relief  and hope?
I know this sounds like a silly story but it is moments like these that make it all worth while. So if you happen to have one of these days where you feel like the world is crumbling below you, I hope you can get a hug. Because sometimes, a hug is all you need to make you feel better!

Make Your Own Chart Stand

I'm back!! My goal for this year is to be a better blogger soooo, here I go! As you can see I have a fabulous new blog design. Megan at A Bird in Hand Designs does a wonderful job. If you want to learn more about Megan and all of her creativeness visit here here:
http://www.abirdinhanddesigns.com/

Ok, on to other things! I am not sure about you but space is limited in my classroom and I needed a place to hold my anchor charts that my students could access. Of course there are many chart holders out there but they can run $60-$120. So as any good teacher would do, I made one!

How great is that?! I made if for $12!! I know what you're thinking, "How, Breanna?" well, let me tell you!

 

Step One: Go shopping at your local hardware store. I used 3/4" PVC pipe and joints. You will need about 4 large pipes along with 2 t joints and 6 elbow joints. Then head over to the spray paint and pick your favorite color (be sure to find the spray paint for plastic).

Step Two: Cut the pipe into 3 sizes, or have your hubby do it! You will need:
2-40 inch sections
3-30 inch sections
4-7-8 inch sections

 Step Three: Put everything together! Why? It will allow you to double check your sizes and stability of the stand before you paint it.

Step Four: Paint it. Because the PVC is a light color it only needed 2 coats.
Step Five: Put it back together and...

This stand is great. My kids are able to flip through charts independently and it is super light so I can move it easily!

Hope this inspires you to make your own chart stand! 
Happy Monday!