Last year I wanted to work on Managing classroom centers. I bought the book The Daily Five by Gail Boushey and Joan Moser. This book teaches you how to use five centers throughout the day and has the children choose the centers they go to themselves.
The centers are:
- Read to Self
- Read to Someone
- Word Work
- Writing
- Listen to Reading
These authors also have a website
http://www.thedailycafe.com/
I found this strategy to be very useful. I had a difficult time managing the time for each
center so instead of 5 centers I had 4.
- Read to Self (AR)
- Listen to reading and Read to Someone (Buddy Reading)
- Word Work and Writing
- Teacher center
That way the center was about 15 minutes each. The authors also recommend letting the kids choose their center rotation. I also liked this idea but found that it became too time consuming to have them choose. So I
made it a reward. If by Friday we had worked hard on completing our centers, then I Friday they could choose where they wanted to start and the rotation they wanted to do. The kids have said they really liked being able to choose.
For the upcoming school year, I want to try to implement the Daily 5 a little bit more intensely. I am thinking of hading out a Center Contract each week. The centers would be the Daily 5. This way, the kids could choose where they begin and learn to monitor their own work and progress.
Small group instruction would be a little different with this model. I am planning on creating a system where the kids are given a group color or name. this grouping would be based on their needs during the unit of study. Throughout the center time, I will call out a color or group name and the students who were in that group for the unit will come and work with me on a skill the group was needing help with. Even if they are not finished with their center they would stop working and come to the teacher table. When we finish our small group lesson, they would return to the center they had been working on.
Let me know your thoughts on small group and center instruction
Jenny
Here are some resources to help:
Well, it's getting to be that time again! Time to shop for school supplies. The Summer goes by so quickly! I was at walmart yesterday and was very excited to find the school supplies on sale. I was shocked by the price of some of the items! If you are looking to stock up on a few items for your classroom, kids, or business you need to get to walmart today! They had composition books for 25 cents, colored pencils and crayons for 20 cents and 3 ring binders for 1.00!
I think as a teacher I am always thinking about things I'll need later in the year. I just can't help it!
I bought popcorn bags, directors clapper, 
and created a small Oscar to decorate the room.
