Direct Instruction

Learning Centers are a way to make your life easier as a teacher. Instead of getting together work for my kids everyday, I set up centers on 10 day rotation in my classroom. For my class, the magic number for children at a center are 2. I get productive work and no behavior problems with only 2 students working together. If I had more students, I would fit them into more centers. I only have 20 students so I make 10 centers. My centers really do not change throughout the year. I add to centers and change out some of the activities. A really good book to start with is

Literacy Work Stations: Making Centers Work by Debbie Diller. It is a great place to find quick and easy ideas for your centers. Her newest book, Making the Most of Small Groups: Differentiation for All, is also a great book for those of us that struggle with guided reading books and ideas for the class. I am one of those teachers, that if it requires a lot of work, I won't do it.

Here are some of my center ideas. Check back often, I will be posting a ton of stuff.

Here are my center signs:

Center Signs

Here is a sheet for my listening center and reading center. They can write about the book they read, or listened to on tape.

Book Response Sheet

Here are some writing center sheets. One is a sticker story where the children can choose a sticker or stamp and then write about it. I also like them to draw a picture to incorporate the sticker/stamp into the writing.

Writing Center Sheets

I also have my classroom management signs available. I print them off on colored construction paper. I write the students names on paperclips. I have green (a happy face and terrific day), blue (happy face but one or two times I had to talk to the student), yellow (straight face and a few minutes from recess or free centers), and red (sad face and note or phone call home). I put the signs at the children's level so they are in charge of moving their own clips. Once again, if it is work, I won't do it.

Behavior Chart