Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Work Stations Wednesday

Happy Wednesday Friends!

Today I am starting a new blog series where I share with you what my students do during Literacy Work Station time in my classroom. AND ( the best part) I will be sharing a freebie ( or two or three) with you for each post.

I tried starting this series last April when I shared how I rotate my students through stations. However, I took a class that suddenly took up all my time and I never stuck with it. To see how I rotate my students through stations and read my back story on how I " discovered" LWS click HERE.

I <3 this book!


You can purchase it through Amazon HERE.

Today I am sharing how I have my Reading Corner/ Independent Reading Station set up and organized. Stick around to the end because I have a freebie to share with you.

So this is what my reading corner looks like:



Let's be honest here. It's not a large space. But neither is my room. But like all spaces in my room it is well organized. I have my books organized into bins. All of the bins have a label. I got the labels from the ocean theme classroom set that I purchased HERE. I just used the generic labels and typed in my own categories. This way students can easily put their books back where they belong. 



My kiddo's rotate through stations once a week. Our station time lasts from 9:30- 10:15 each day. That gives us enough time to do 2 station rotations everyday.  Everyone goes to reading corner at least once throughout the week. 

There are three different stations where they read ( or listen to) books: Reading Corner, Listening Station, and Buddy Reading. On the reading log they use it has a space for them to mark which one they are at. This helps to hold them accountable and gives them a focus when they get to those stations. 

Once they fill out their reading log, they spend the rest of their time reading! ( Kind of a giveaway by the name of the station.) Unfortunately due to circumstances beyond my control my kiddo's only get about 15- 20 minutes of schedule independent reading time per day so that is why I have everybody go to reading station at least once a week.

When I introduce stations this is the first station that I introduce because to me it is the simplest one to understand. There are only two steps to remember: Fill out the log and Read! I keep it fresh by allowing them to read with stuffed animals only at this station. I also read out loud to them at least once a day and many times I pull a "special" book from my book shelf for read aloud. I leave that book out for them to read during reading station. If they have any issues with words they can whisper/ ask someone at the station with them, but otherwise they are independently reading the whole time. 



SO! Now the promised freebie.
I have included both the reading log I use with my kiddo's and a more generic log. Plus two different response sheets ( the same questions but one has a boy and one has a girl). 



Click HERE to get your freebie!

So that is how I run my reading station. Check back next Wednesday for a peek at my word work station and ( of course!) a freebie!

Do you use Literacy Work Stations in your room? I would love to hear how you run yours. 
~Jean~




Sunday, February 16, 2014

Five For Friday



Ok, I just realized that I never finished this post Friday...so what better to do while hubby is watching The Walking Dead, but finish my Five For Friday Post. LOL! Read on.... 

Happy Valentines Day Friends! Hope you got some LUV today!

Me? We had today off. So I spent 7 hours in my 2nd home, AKA my classroom, getting lesson plans/ organizing/ cleaning/ laminating done. Peanut spent ALL 7 of those hours with me. She was amazing. Then we brought home pizza to the Mr. and enjoyed some family time and Funniest Videos. Not the most exciting of Valentines Days, but great since I got to spend it with my favorite people. 

Now both of those people are in bed and I am spending the rest of my night blogging and doing laundry. 

So here I am, linking up with Doodlebugs Teaching for the Five For Friday linky. 

1. We started an informational writing unit this week. So I busted out my Pinterest project from last year and the non fiction text features freebie from my TPT store and got down to work. We have been reading a lot of non fiction lately and they really enjoy it. I think they are going to love writing non fiction. 


2. Since we had today off we had our Valentines party yesterday. I didn't have a ton of time,but wanted something cute to pass out to my students. So I grabbed a bag of suckers, a freebie border and font from TPT and VOILA. Insta- Valentine. Then one of my beans brought me a cute homemade Valentine. It is S'more stuff in a jar with a note that says " There is no teacher I love S'more than you." SO Cute!

3.  I am working on a post on my classroom management. I rarely have issues with students and my administrators have sent teachers to observe in my classroom to see my classroom management at work. This is just a taste of what will be in that post....and a good way for me to really get on with it and get it done! :) 

4/ 5 Do you love looking at bulletin board pictures on Pinterest as much as I do? I love to see the creative things people are doing. I decided to share one that I made ( the mitten one)  and one that one of the 3rd grade teachers down the hall from me put up ( the Olympics one). She told me I could share it as long as I gave the credit to an amazing parent helper in her room who did it for her. :) 

Well, that is all from me. Can't believe I forgot to post this...What a nut. Oh well, better late than never. :) 

~Jean~