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Literacy Groups
It is
important to plan for flexible literacy groupings. I highly
recommend groups of 2-3 students maximum. This
allows for students to become cooperative amongst
themselves in their group, and may eliminate disruptive
behaviour.
Duration of Literacy Centers
I
try to rotate students to different literacy centers every 20-30
minutes. I usually plan
to work with nine Guided Reading groups, over a three day period. A
typical Literacy Center Day is blocked for an hour and a half. I
usually stop their center activities by saying 'Red Light,
Freeze!'. I rotate the groups to different activities using my Literacy Center
Management Board. This works quite well.
Management
Board
There are
many types of management boards that can be used for Literacy
Centers. Classrooms are generally more successful when a
teacher uses a management board. The key is that students know
where they’re supposed to be, when they’re suppose to be there,
and what they are supposed to be doing. This is a picture of a
management board used in my classroom.
Click below to download Literacy Center Cards.
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Word Version Or
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Routines &
Management
In their
book Guided Reading (1996) Irene Fountas and Gay Su
Pinnell recommend spending the first six weeks of a new grade
level, establishing routines for independent learning before
pulling small reading groups. At the beginning, teachers might
teach one mini-lesson daily for the first few weeks of school.
It is important to establish a NO INTERRUPTION law in
your class when you're working with a Guided Reading group.
Using
Mini-Lessons
A brief
mini-lesson before students begin working in their literacy
station will provide focus and help the task become more
meaningful. Mini-lessons should be short and focused, and no
more than 5 minutes in length.
The three
different times to use a mini lesson are:
-
When
you’re first introducing the literacy station.
-
When
you’re adding something new to a station.
-
When
you’re reviewing a work station activity.
Mini –
Lessons
Students
should sit closely to the teacher, as the teacher explicitly
tells the students what they expect them to do. It would be
great to have children role-play while the rest of the group
observes.
The
following mini lessons should be reviewed with students:
-
How to
use the equipment/material.
-
How to
share materials.
-
How to
take turns.
-
How to
use the management board.
-
How to
solve a problem.
-
Where
can they go for help? ( Create Classroom Assistants or
Managers)
-
How to
put things away.
-
How to
switch to the next work station.
Folders
and Finished Work Boxes
At some
literacy work centers, students might create products. When
children create products at a given work center, they will need
a special place to store these products. There are three main
ways to handle storage:
-
If you
want a central storage place to hold everybody’s work, keep a
box or tray labelled ‘Finished Work’ into which students place
completed products. You may simply pick up the work at the end
of the day to check it.
-
You can
collect the products at each center. You can have a Finished
Work tray or box at each work center that might have a
product. This way the products are pre-sorted by work center.
-
If you
want individual storage, a double pocket folder with brads for
each child works well. Students can place completed work or
work in progress in the pockets of the folder. If you use a
management sheet to keep track of what each student has done,
you can three hole punch the sheet and place it in the folder,
secured by brads.
*Remember that it is important to keep students accountable
for their learning activities during Literacy Centers.
Sharing
Time
Following
literacy center work, sharing time provides students with the
opportunity to reflect on what they’ve done that day and for
their learning to go deeper. Gather students and lead a short,
focused discussion about what they did and learned in the work
stations. This will also help you to find out what activity
worked or didn't work. You might find it useful to have one specific question
to reflect on each day. Here are some possibilities:
-
What did
I do at the work stations today?
-
What did
I have fun doing at the work stations today.
-
What
didn’t I like at the work stations today?
-
What did
I do to help myself become a better reader today?
-
What did
I do to help myself become a better writer today?
-
What do
I think we should change at the work stations?
-
What
else would I like to do at the work stations?
-
How did
I solve a problem at the work stations today?
-
How did
I help someone else solve a problem at the work stations
today?
Solving
Ongoing Problems
Although
good teaching should head off many problems, trouble will still
brew from time to time. When a problem arises at work centers,
begin by looking at what might of caused it. Here are some
questions to help you reflect:
-
How did
I model this new task or use of materials?
-
Did I
model enough? Should I remodel?
-
How long
has this material been in the work center (It might be time
to replace it to keep interest high.)
-
Are the
materials at the work center well organized and easy to use?
-
Have I
recently had the children change partners? Is it time for new
partners? Would someone work better alone?
-
Is there
a list of what to do at each center? Does it need to be updated?
-
Is there
enough for students to do at this center? What materials need
to be changed or added?
-
Can the
children do this activity on their own?
-
Is this
activity interesting and meaningful to the child? If not, what
can I change to make it so?
The following
documentation is quoted from
Literacy Work Stations: Making Centers Work
by Debbie Diller
Published by Stenhouse |
