Setting up your literacy block doesn't have to be complicated. I know from personal experience that it is so easy to become easily overwhelmed with constantly coming up with centers to rotate out every.single.week.
So I made it easier on myself. I looked at the big picture. What skills are nonnegotiable? What skills can ALWAYS be reviewed? And how can I make every center meaningful without getting completely burnt out?
The first thing I told myself was that I needed a consistent way to display my rotation chart so students aren't constantly asking me what they need to be doing. I created a rotation chart that is so easy for my students to follow and I seldom have to update it, since the stations stay the same, just the content changes. This also takes the need to explain every single center every week completely out of the equation. (More on that later!)
The next thing I did was figure out how many stations I wanted to have AND how many rotations. We have 4 stations and we do 2 rotations per day. Then I could decide what kind of station work I wanted to have. Below is what I came up with:
- GRAMMAR - an easy center to review any concepts we have learned throughout the year.
- SPELLING/MORPHOLOGY - current (and past!) spelling and morphology concepts
- READING TUBS - these practice with comprehension strategies that we have learned
- SMALL GROUP - this is done with me
You can always swap out INDEPENDENT READING for the small group and call groups back as needed. I also always suggest independent reading in the event that they finish their center early.
What do I put in my centers?
I do have plenty of resources in my TpT shop for 3rd grade centers, but let's start with FREE resources. Next week, I'll come back with some activities for specific skills, but for this week, let's focus on what resources we already have available to us.
I discovered a plethora of spelling, phonics, and grammar activities that came with our reading curriculum. We use iReady (Magnetic Reading) and there are so many resources available to me for reading comprehension (passages) as well as grammar, that I really don't need anything else for those two centers!
We currently use IMSE's Morphology curriculum, so I also have a ton of resources available to me through them. This also ties in with our spelling curriculum. So depending upon what you use for spelling, you probably have a ton of stuff already available to you!
You could also use any technology resource you have access to as a center. iReady, Reading A-Z, Lexia, IXL, and Epic! are all examples of great apps to use for reading centers.
This last resource I am sharing is not completely free, but for the low price of $25/year, I'd say it's pretty close for what you get. superteacherworksheets.com has a HUGE selection of targeted practice on just about any topic. I use this website often for quick fillers if I need something in a pinch.
My next newsletter series will begin focusing on in-depth descriptions for each of my four centers. BOLO!
See you next week!
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