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Third Grade Teachers Chatboard

by Laura

Jun 21, 2012

What centers do you do and how do you manage them? (time, small group, individual rotations, etc?)

Jamie I've done these differently, but here's one way during literacy block:

Sometimes on Monday I would do a whole-group mini-lesson, and there would be a follow-up activity where students could practice the skill. During the second half of the block, I might run a shortened version of centers Monday.

On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursda...See MoreI've done these differently, but here's one way during literacy block:

Sometimes on Monday I would do a whole-group mini-lesson, and there would be a follow-up activity where students could practice the skill. During the second half of the block, I might run a shortened version of centers Monday.

On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, I would start with centers. I might have four or five groups, depending on where the students were with the skill. Sometimes two of five groups had the same tasks, but I preferred two separate smaller groups to one larger group for personality/productivity. Other times, one larger group worked. So let's say there are groups A, B, C, D, and E. (Each week I would just call them Josh's group, because they changed--I didn't do any permanent Red/Blue groups or anything.)

First 15-20 minutes Group A might meet with me in a small group to re-visit points about the mini lesson we did Monday. We might read a short piece together, or we might discuss their Monday practice assignments and evaluate them together. I would explain their new practice assignment and take any questions about it.

Next 15-20 minutes Group A goes back to their desks and works on the new assignment I gave them in small groups, while I meet with Group B.

Next 15-20 minutes Group A has Independent Reading time--they can read independently or take an AR quiz or write in their interactive journals about what they're reading. We had additional silent reading time after lunch.

Next 15-20 minutes Group A does an activity with Time for Kids magazine or works on vocabulary activities or something to practice written conventions (like DOL).

We would usually do writing separately, but sometimes students had the option to work on their writing projects during literacy block.

On Friday, there would be a short quiz about that week's target skill. Students might also have produced small projects as part of their weekly assignments, or choose an assignment they did especially well to share with peers and give and receive feedback about it.

I sometimes had a parent volunteer or teacher assistant who could be in the room to sit with student groups at a designated table while they worked on Time for Kids or DOL, just to rotate a little more adult supervision while I met with small groups. Sometimes the small group meeting would be a short check-in, and I didn't always meet with every group every day. Sometimes we had ongoing projects, like Book Character Day or Parent Share nights, so center time would be devoted to preparing for those activities.

I had to teach expectations for each area explicitly and separately before the system was running. For example, quiet talking is okay at some centers but not during others. Also, the schedule had to be posted so every student could see where to go and exactly what to do. It took some time for students to build independence, but it was really worthwhile and it carried over into other classes.

Good luck!

On 6/21/12, Laura wrote: > What centers do you do and how do you manage them? (time, > small group, individual rotations, etc?)

Jun 23, 2012

Jamie Hi Laura,

I'm sure you're interested in getting different responses from other people, but I added a more detailed description about running literacy centers to my website. It's long, but it offers lots of ideas and possibilities. Hope you find it helpful :-)

[link removed]

On 6/21/12, Laura wrote: > What centers do yo...See More

Jun 26, 2012

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