Sooo, I totally didn't plan on posting tonight. Usually Monday is
kind of a beast of a day and never allows for a free minute. Yay for being productive! I am also stopping “life” at the moment to
watch The Voice. Do you watch it? OMGoodness. It is so wonderous. I know that isn't a word but maybe it should be.
Anywho, if you read my blog, then you know I am a fan of consistency
for my little friends. I big puffy heart
love yearlong centers. I change up the themes of my centers, but you will
always find a Roll & Write, Scavenger Hunt, Write the Room, Play Dough, and
now a Print & Punch center. Here is my latest creation.
I truly
believe that by creating these, I have created independence in my students. I increase
the difficulty so no one gets a free pass but explaining centers isn't stressful and the expectations are already understood. It really is good times.
I start my
year with strictly fine motor centers because so many kids need it. It makes me sad that art has been taken out of
so many kinder classrooms. Kids need more fine motor. I am very passionate about fine motor activities. My youngest son has always struggled with fine motor. He’s 13 now and has dysgraphia. Anyway, stepping away
from the soap box. Deep breaths. Haha!
Here is how I use this center:
You can find cool hole punches on Amazon, at Michaels & Hobby Lobby too. Kids love cool stuff. Click the picture above or HERE to see more about this center. Happy Monday. You get a gold star simply for surviving. That's half the battle right? Love and virtual hugs!
Love this idea! :) I also love your idea of using the same centers for the whole year and changing out the skill level/theme! I am in a new school and I am FINALLY allowed to use centers during literacy and math so I'm super excited. I have a few questions about your centers:
ReplyDelete1) How do you keep track of the students work when they complete each center? What do you do with it once they are done?
2) Are all the centers ones that they physically turn in a finished product? If so how do you keep track of everything?
3) Do you make your own copies or does the school make the copies for you?
4) How often is each child in each center each day/week?
Thanks for any and all advice you may have! :)
Stephanie
sgies328@gmail.com
MaMa Goose’s Kindergarten
Stephanie,
ReplyDeleteMy centers are on an eight center rotation right now. I have 2-3 students in each center. How I do centers now and how I do them second semester is totally different (as far as the management/choices because of guided reading). Typically, it will take us two weeks to get through a center rotation because there is usually a day a week that we have to forgo centers for some reason.
Anyway, I have procedures in place for showing me work. I have a push night light on my teacher table. When it is on, they are not allowed to come to my table. It's only on when I am working with a small group. After it goes off (in between groups), I allow for a few minutes to check work. I look over work and they put in their cubby and take it home. I don't "grade". I do have them make corrections if answers are incorrect or they have made a "sloppy copy".
Each center has some sort of writing (sometimes full page, sometimes half page). For my scavenger hunt and write the room, they are only half pages. I have picture cards (I Can cards) in each basket/tub. They do the "paper" activity first and then do the other activity next. For example, their tub may have two cards in it. One shows a Write the Room picture and another shows Big Books. After they write the room, they go to big books. So, essentially they do two centers a day but only one is paper based. This way everyone has something to do the entire time we are in Word Work Centers. Does that make sense?
Everything goes home every day. Also, when I create centers, I have the same focus sight words for every centers. If we are working on the words "like, go, see, can, my" then all word work centers will have those words. That way they are getting good exposure every day. I make my copies but we also have an amazing campus workroom aide who can also make copies for us. I don't leave all of my stuff for her because I she is stretched thin though.
Each child goes to one number a day, the centers are on an eight day rotation and in each numbered tub there are two activities. I hope this all makes sense and answers all of your questions. :)
I absolutely love love love love love love this!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteWonderous is a word! It can be spelled either wonderous or wondrous, which may be a new addition. Your yearlong centers are Wonderous/wondrous!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThis is such a great idea and you are so right about the importance of fine motor skills!
ReplyDeleteThis is a fabulous idea! I'm going to use it as an independent center. I stopped scrap booking and have cute little hole punches in different shapes. Perfect use for this activity!
ReplyDeleteI love reading your posts Crystal. You crack me up! Love the print and punch idea. And stay on the soapbox- the best teachers are the passionate ones (or that's my excuse) :)
ReplyDelete