Mira Solomon

Posted on 7/21/09

I used the kindergarten Voyager program for five years. I
found a few things established in the beginning of the year
made all the difference. My kids loved the idea of team
leaders (using team leaders prevented many of the usual
interruptions and since everyone wants to be a team leader it
was an incentive to be responsible during stations since I
told my class I would only choose students who knew what to
do during stations to be team leader next). I found that the
amount of stations was based on a class much smaller than
mine. I added several more stations (they only include 2
independent stations) so that each group was smaller and more
manageable. At these additional stations students would
engage in activities related to the book/theme that week and
the phonemic awareness/phonics skills addressed. We would
also do some additional independent writing at these
stations. I also found some activities I really liked in the
Reading Station Activities book to copy and use. I had my
students rotate between stations in a clockwise manner. I
used a three tone chime/xylophone as my signal to rotate
stations. Whenever I played a tune students would freeze. I
would then ring it once for clean up your station and put your
head down, on the second ring students would point to the
station they would go to next (very important to not lose
anyone in the beginning of K), on the third ring they would
push in their chair and switch to the next station. When they
got to their new station I would have students put their
heads down quietly until I called the group I would be
working with at the teaching station. It may sound
complicated all written out but it worked well and when
introduced early on, the kids internalizd the routine.
Another piece of advice we were given. Focus more on the
teaching station than the independent stations. The indep.
stations are intended to keep students engaged in indep
practice so you can focus on the teaching station (the core
of your program). If you need to adapt/ simplify an
independent station activity so that things run smoothly in
the classroom, go for it. Just make sure the students are
getting something from the activity. In the beginning of
kindergarten I would put out very simple activities
(draw/color a picture, stencils, look at a book, etc) so we
could focus more on appropriate behavior for stations and how
to rotate. It really pays off later on! Good luck!

On 7/16/09, Maria wrote:
> I was wondering if anyone does the Voyager Reading Program
> at their school. I have worked with it twice but have only
> done the second semester of it. This new school year, I
> will start with the program from scratch from day one.
> Does anyone have tips about how to get kids to rotate and
> stay on task?
>
> I am nervous about the whole "traing the kids to adapt"
> thing since everytime I worked with the program they have
> been trained already. Any hints or tips...

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