Monday Motivation - Managing Centres

Hey there, I'm a little late to the party, but I'm back again this week for Teacher by the Beach's link up: Monday Motivation! This week is tips and ideas on how I manage centers in my classroom.

I have two different times of day for centers: guided reading and guided math. I do a variation of Daily 5 for each. This is how I ran each of them last year and I'll talk a bit about what I plan to keep/change for next year. Again, set up will be a bit different because I'll be heading to a new classroom. :)

Guided Reading

Here is my pocket chart for organizing my guided reading centres. This was my first year implementing full-choice for which centres students went to and I absolutely LOVED it! I will definitely be doing this again next year (and doing it for math as well). I had three small tubs with the cards for first rotation, second rotation, and third rotation. Each student's picture/name card was down the side. The Guided Reading Cenre Cards are in my TpT store. I'm going to be updating them to be editable soon.

First I would put my "Read with Teacher" cards in the spots that I wanted to read with my groups (or sometimes individuals for running records). Then I would call table groups up to choose their centres. They would choose one centre from each basket. They had four choices to choose from: read to self, word work, writing, or listen to reading. I only had four iPods, so there were only four listening cards in each rotation basket. If they had a "Read with Teacher" card, they only picked two centres. If they didn't read with me that day, they got to pick three. Each day I chose a different table to pick first. 

Next year I will continue the three rotations and full choice, but I might have them just choose their centres in the morning after they have done all their unpacking and getting ready. I will also continue to have my iPods for listening, but I have five new classroom iPads, so I might make a fifth choice be iPad Word Work. 

For read to self, students took their book box and found a comfy spot around the room to read. Inside their book box they are allowed to have a max of five books from the classroom library (free choice, not levelled, based on interest) and can change these books at any time. They also have their poetry folder they can read and previous guided reading books we have done in group (at their level). I don't do "read to someone" separately, so if they would prefer to read with someone or by themselves, it doesn't matter to me. Sometimes if I have an EA or parent volunteer, I'll have them read with students too during this time.

For word work tubs, I had five different tubs with a variety of games/hands-on activities. The skills changed throughout the year: alphabet, letter sounds, CVC words, sight words, sentence writing, etc. I just changed them up when I noticed something wasn't getting chosen as much. They could choose any centre and they could switch centres when they finished one. I didn't have a lot of rules or requirements, as long as they were working and practicing their literacy skills.

For writing centres I used this tall plastic drawer unit. In the bottom drawer was their writing folder. The other drawers had different writing centres. Their folders had a "still working" pocket and "finished work" pocket, so they had to finish up their "still working" writing before they could choose a new centres. Some of the drawers stayed the same and some I changed up. I usually had sticker stories, regular story writing books, and letter templates available all year. Some other ideas I have used: doodle stories, Would You Rather? (by First and Kinder Blue Skies), comics, lists, book reviews, write the room, etc.

For listen to reading, I have a bucket of books they can choose from (I have almost 100 now... ekk! #teacherhoarder #scholasticmakesiteasy). Each book has a number on it. When I load the songs onto the iPods, I change the track title to the number and change the artist to the book title. So students grab a basket with the iPod and headphones, grab a book, and find a place to listen to their story! They just have to find the correct number track. Easy peasey! You can read more about my set up {here}. If they finished early, they just switched books. Each iPod has all of the songs on it, so anybody can listen to it. I've never had any writing/response activities with this centre; not sure if I will add this aspect in or just leave it the way it is.

I use my horseshoe table for guided reading groups. I used the rainbow drawer unit to store each group's materials. I had my Guided Reading Toolbox on top with all the tools I need for lessons. Each student brought their book box with them when we met, so they could read quietly while they waited for me to get to the table.

Guided Math

Last year I did not have students choose their math centres, I just grouped them and told them where to go. Next year I will use choice like my reading centres. Each group had a coloured shape and went to two centres a day. We only had four centres: math tubs, math work, iPod math, and work with teacher. The Guided Math Centre Cards are available in my TpT store. They will also be getting a mini update soon.

Kind of like my word work tubs, I had nine dish tubs on the cubby shelf that house different activities. Most of these were games we had played or hands-on activities with lots of manipulatives. They could choose any tub and switch at any time. 

Each student had a duotang with math work inside. I started the year off using Miss Kindergarten's Number Practice Printables, then moved on to other number work, addition/subtraction practice, etc. I really just used a bunch of different worksheets I had saved up. They worked at their own pace. Some students went through booklet after booklet, while others just did a few. I added some coloured washi tape at the top of the folder that matched each group's shape, so students could easily find their folder.

I'm really struggling with this centre next year. I want to move past using worksheets, so I might try and incorporate something with math books and writing. Or maybe use interactive notebooks. Not quite sure yet; stay posted while I work through this idea in my head. Haha!

I had some math games loaded onto my iPods, so they could play these games during iPod time. I let them use my iPad too, which had some fancier games on it ;) so that's why there is a little iPad card at the top of the pocket chart. If their group was on iPod math, the student with the iPad card got to use my iPad that day. Next year I have five iPads, so this won't be a problem.

And my horseshoe table again. I used the other drawers in the rainbow unit for my math groups. I would usually have something at the table for students to do while they waited for me to get there and begin. Some warm ideas: ten frame cards to play with, writing numbers in a blank 100 chart, Math Writing Strips (by Tara West), etc.

Well that's how things ran last year! I'm still thinking about what tweaks I'm going to do for next year. I think I'd like to have a bit more choice for math centres and less worksheets. I'll keep you posted! ;) Go check out Teacher by the Beach's link up for more ways to organize your centres. Everybody does it differently and that's ok! Find what works for you!

Daily Schedule - Guided Math {What is the Rest of the Class Doing?}

I did a {post} a few weeks ago about how I teach my small groups in math, but what are the other students doing while I am working with that group?? Today I am going to share with you what the rest of the class is doing while I am working with a math group. Here's a look at my daily schedule. Each group goes to two rotations a day (about 15 minutes each). At the end of the day I just move the station cards down to the next group. You can find my Guided Math cards {here} and the shape cards for free at the bottom of {this post}.

I have five stations for Guided Math: Work with Teacher, Math By Myself, Math with Someone, Math Work, and Math with Technology. I split up my students into five groups based on similar abilities. I write these groups on the group cards. I change these groups frequently because abilities can change based on the math concept we are learning. I count myself as one of the rotations this time. This is different than how I set up my Guided Reading because I see my math groups the same amount of time each week. I see each math group twice during the week (unless it's a short week).

Here are a few ideas of what the students are doing during each of these rotations. The following pictures are a mixture from my last three years in first grade. Once I get into my new Science Lab room set up, I'll show you how each of these areas will be set up this year.

These are collection of hands-on math centres that students can complete on their own. At the beginning of the year I use some of these math stations that I shared {here} four years ago--it is still one of my most popular posts to date! Lots of these ideas come from my Math Centre Packs or freebies I find on other blogs. I give students a handful of options to choose from. I have about 8-10 activities available at a time and students can choose whichever activity they would like to do for that rotation. They must complete the activity and clean it up before moving to a new activity. I like giving many options because I don't have to change them out as frequently and this avoids having to have "early finisher" activities. If they finish one activity, they can just choose another one until time is up.

Play-Do Math Mats are always a big hit at the beginning of the year!

These activities are usually games that can be played with a partner. I set it up the same way as Math By Myself--there are usually about 4 options for students to choose from. They work in pairs (or a group of three if there is an odd number) and complete one game before choosing another. I start the year off by teaching simple games such as BUMP and Ten Frame War. They are easy to learn and fun for the students!

Math Work is another independent station. Students will each have their own math work book to work on. I like to start the year with a number book, such as this Number Practice from Miss Kindergarten. It has great number skills to practice and the page style stays the same, so students can complete the pages independently and don't need. I can also differentiate this centre easily for some students by providing them with simpler or more challenging tasks.

Sometimes I might have students complete a math art or writing activity such as this shape picture we did last year:

I don't have any student computers in my classroom, so I've been collecting old iPods to use as my technology station. There will only be a max of four students in each group, so I have two old iPods, an old iPhone, and an iPad that I will load up with math apps for students to use during this time. I will just put four games that they can choose from at the bottom on the home menu. I made cute chalkboard/brights numbered backgrounds for the devices. That way I can keep of track of which student is on which device so they all get a chance to try each one.

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I just got into my new room on Monday and spent two days moving everything from my old classroom to the Science Lab. I am still super busy getting everything put away and organized. I haven't even started covering bulletin boards or putting anything up on walls yet. Ugh. So much to do! Here's what it looked like before I moved in:

This is my old classroom. See you next year! 

Here's my new room--the Science Lab! There are rows of counters and glass displays along both sides of the room. The glass displays were filled with all sorts of dead animal displays--awesome for teaching Science; not so awesome for first graders. 

Here's my front counter, whiteboards, eyewash station, and SmartBoard. Every first grade classroom needs an eyewash station, dontcha think? If this counter wasn't in the way of the projector and whiteboard I could be almost be 95% happy with this new room. But we will make it work just fine, because that's what we do! ;)

These big tables were removed and my furniture was moved in. It's already starting to look like a first grade classroom. I can't wait to show you the finished product!

I'm going to post about my Morning Routine and Pack & Stack closer to back to school (students start on Sept. 9th) because I'm not sure exactly how these routines will look like in my new Science Lab classroom just yet. I will be back to touch on Problem Solving, Author Study, and Theme soon though. Stay tuned!

Running a Guided Math Lesson

Yesterday I wrote a post about how I plan and manage my guided reading lessons. You can read about that {here}. Today's post is about how I do my guided math lessons. It's very similar. I run a modified version of Daily 5 for literacy and a similar version for math. While other students are doing various literacy or math activities, I am meeting with small groups (usually no more than 4 or 5) and teaching a math lesson.

This is a peek into my guided math plan book. My reading and math planners are bound together in one book. I do all of my lessons at the same table, so why not keep all my materials in the same place! I have a sticky tab in each section to easily find the day's lessons.

I split my kiddos into five groups based on their ability level of the topics or skills we are learning. I find that my math groups change a lot more than my reading groups because students can really vary with their math knowledge and skills. I use a dry erase marker on my group page because the groups can change every week or two weeks! My math groups are colour-coded and each group has a shape--the blue diamonds (or rhombuses? rhombi?), green triangles, yellow stars, pink squares, and purple circles.

I also keep a laminated version of our Grade 1 Math outcomes in my planner book, so I can refer back to them easily or check them off with a dry erase marker if I wish.

I keep each group's lesson materials in a matching tub. The math tubs are buried somewhere with my reading tubs, but these are the tubs I use from Really Good Stuff with these cute shape labels.

I spend about 30 minutes a day with my guided math groups, so I see two groups a day for 15 minutes each. Unlike my reading groups where I see my lowest group the most, I see all my math groups equally, twice a week. (Unless it's a short week. Then I might not meet with my higher groups. Oh well. C'est la vie! Does anyone else remember that song by B*Witched? Oh how I miss 2000's pop music. Oops. *squirrel*)

I only have 15 minutes with each math group, so we fit in as much as we can in that time. I break my lessons into 3 mini parts:

{1.} Warm-Up - 3 minutes

{2.} Lesson - 5 minutes

{3.} Activity - 7 minutes

Here's a close up of how my lesson plan book looks. My math group lessons take a bit more planning than my guided reading groups, because I have to go through my activities, games, worksheets, and centres to find something that fits with the lesson I want to teach. I have to get more organized in this aspect so all of my stuff for each topic/skill is in one place! In my lesson plan book I write down the date, group name, the outcome or skill we are working on, the warm-up, the lesson, and the activity.

Here's a break down of each part of the guided math lesson:

The warm-up is just an activity I use to get our brains ready for math. It's like stretching before gym class! I have a small group set of Regan Tunstall's Rise and Shine Binders, so sometimes students will complete a page or two in there with a dry erase marker. Sometimes we might do flash cards in partners. In the example lesson above, our warm up was a Ten Frame activity from From the Pond's Fast Ten Frame Activities. I show the ten frame and say a number. If they match, students put their thumb up for true. If the number doesn't match the ten frame, they put their thumb down for false. I get a student or two to explain their thinking after each one. Quick and simple! Sometimes it might be something even simpler, such as practicing counting or skip counting or writing their numbers out on mini whiteboards.

The lesson is where I introduce the new concept or reteach a concept that the group is having trouble with. This usually involves me modelling something, such as an addition or subtraction strategy, a counting skill, or using a math tool. In the example above in my lesson plan, I was demonstrating how to see dot patterns in different ways, using Emily Hutchinson's Part Part Whole pack. We circle how we saw the dots, then filled in a number bond to see how different numbers can make up one number.

Then the last activity is something to take the skill we just learned and apply it. It could be a partner game, an individual activity, or something we work on as a whole group. For the example, after we practiced with ten frames and dot patterns, we played Ten Frame BUMP (from my 10 Frames Centres & Games pack). While they are playing, I observe to make sure students are subitizing the dice (not counting) and ten frames. I write down my observations to help me decide where to go in my next lesson. Often the games or activities we play here end up in my math stations, so that they can continue to practice the skills on their own.

Usually my guided math groups are working on a similar skill, but I differentiate the activities and difficulty levels based on the group's skill level. A group that was having a harder time with subitizing would practice with small numbers first. A higher ability group might practice adding two ten frames together.

You can now download all my guided reading and math pages (planner cover, group organization page, group labels, group schedule, and weekly lesson plans) from TpT now:

         

I hope these posts have been helpful for you. I don't think I will be back with Math Book Monday tomorrow. Maybe soon though! Have a great Monday!!

Do You Subitize?

I had never heard the word subitizing until our new math curriculum came out a few years ago. Subitizing is the ability to "see" a small amount of objects and know how many there are without counting. We most commonly use this with dot patterns, fingers, and ten frames. 

My kiddos love to use ten frames and they are such a valuable math maniuplative! I decided to create a pack of math centres and games for them to use during our guided math time. In this pack there are 6 independent math by myself centres and 6 math with someone partner games. There is also a fluency mat for partner practice and list of additional card games to play with ten frames. And there are 6 sets of different coloured ten frame cards for you to print and cut out. 

Here are the 6 independent math centres:

1. Representing Numbers (representing numbers to 10) - Students choose a ten frame card and represent that number in different ways (number, word, tally marks, dots, money, number sentence, picture, and fingers).

2. Ten Frame Addition (adding to 20) - Students choose two ten frame cards and write an addition sentence. 

3. Ten Frame Ordering (ordering numbers to 10) - Students choose three ten frame cards and order them from least to greatest or greatest to least (you choose which skill).

4. Ten Frame Comparing (comparing numbers to 10) - Students choose two ten frame cards and circle the greatest or least number (you choose which skill).

5. Ten Frame Partners (tens partners) - Students choose a ten frame card and write a making ten addition sentence.

6. Spin & Trace/Spin & Write Numbers (number formation to 10) - Spin the ten frame spinner and practice tracing or writing numbers 1-10.

Here are the 6 partner math games:

1. Ten Frame Splat (identifying ten frames to 20) - Students take turns choosing a card and identifying the ten frames. If they get a SPLAT card, they must put back all their cards!

2. Ten Frame Bump (identifying ten frames to 12) - Students take turns rolling two dice and finding the matching the ten frame on the game board. 

3. Ten Frame Race (identifying ten frames to 10) - Students take turns naming ten frames. If they get it correct, they roll a die and move their game piece towards the finish.

4. Ten Frame Memory (matching ten frames and numbers to 20) - Students take turns flipping two cards over to find the matching numbers and ten frames.

5. Ten Frame Dominoes (matching ten frames, numbers, and number words to 20) - Students take turns playing a domino down, matching it to a ten frame, number, or number word.

6. Ten Frame Cover Up (adding with ten frames to 20) - Students take turns choosing two cards, adding them together, and covering up the space on their game board.

I hope your students like these activities as much as mine do!



Do you follow Krita Wallden of The Creative Chalkboard? If not, you should! Not only is her clipart absolutel adorable, but she is having a weekly Christmas giveaway with free clipart called Operation E.L.F. (Everyone Loves Freebies--how cute)! But she is also having  selfless challenge, where she challenges everyone to do some random acts of kindness! One of her suggestions was creating a teacher freebie! So I used her adorable freebie clipart and keeping with the ten frame theme, created a "Holiday Ten Frame Freebie" for you! It includes two sets of Christmas ten frames and a recording sheet. Students colour in the ten frame and write the number beside it. You can also use the ten frame cards to play games or use with my centres above! Click the picture below to grab it for free!

Weekly Update & Giveaway!!!

Here's a peak at some of the things we did this week... Hold tight, it's a long one!! In math I have slowly been introducing the math by myself and math with someone activities. We have just about gotten through all of them. I used some of the centres I posted about last year {here} and some from my Intro to Guided Math Centres that you can buy {here}. We've also been working on the numbers 1-5. I made this "All About the Number Chart" inspired by Kim Adsit's chart from her All About Numbers pack. We complete the chart together then work on a little number book. This year I am using Kathleen's mini books from her Fun with Numbers! pack.

When we worked on the number 5, we read/sang the book "Five Green and Speckled Frogs". Then we did a little activity on the Mimio. I chose a student to move some frogs onto the log and some into the pool. Then we wrote the addition sentence together. We did this a few times to get all the ways to make 5! If you have a Mimio, you can download my file from MimioConnect {here}.

The next day we sang the song again. This time I had five students wear froggy neclaces and "act out" the song for us. Then we made our own froggy craft! We glued a log and pool down, then they could glue some frogs on the log and some in the pool. Then we filled in the numbers. You can download all the pieces here.

We have been chugging along with our Daily 5 practice. We are still building stamina with our Read to Self. Next week we will start Read to Someone. I love using my Mimio to organize Daily 5 things. I made this chart to keep track of our reading buddies.

I have 10 word work stations that I want to teach the class. So for this week, I put the class into five groups and each group will get the chance to do 2 stations each day. That way, by the end of the week they will have tried them all and when we get into our rotations (hopefully by Oct. 1) they can start to choose which activity they would like to do during Word Work.

Our theme this week was family. We read a few different books about families and talked about how families are alike and different. We brainstormed all the people (and animals) that are part of our family. Then we practiced our family words by drawing some pictures of family members in the boxes. Click here to download your copy of family words.

We did a venn diagram of our brothers and sisters on the Mimio. I have no only children in my class! After the graph we drew a picture of our family--just the family that lives in our house. We practiced writing our last name at the top and wrote how many people in our family at the bottom. The pictures turned out really cute! Click here to download your own copy of the family portrait page.

And lastly, we made a family glyph (idea from Shari Sloane). You can download the words for the key here. The letter clipart is from KPM Doodles.

If you made it to the end of this post, you deserve a prize. So here it is--giveaway time! I am celebrating over 500 followers! 517 to be exact.

One lucky reader will win themselves these three prizes:

{1.} Any three items from my TpT store.

{2.} $20 Amazon gift certificate (.ca or .com)

{3.} A one-year classroom subscription to Samson's Classroom ($80 value)

This giveaway will run for one week. 

I will announce the winner on Sunday, September 30th. 

Samson's Classroom is a paid website, for students in grades K-5, that helps students work on their sight words, spelling, and reading. It has some really fun activities! I am going to use the sight word section with my students this year. Click here to watch a video of how the site works.

I'm using RaffleCopter for the first time, so here goes it! Hope it works!

a Rafflecopter giveaway