Oh, Literacy Stations are 'a' knockin'

OH WHY YES... Yes, I did find a way to make literacy stations work in my third grade classroom! I am Oh so excited about it too! I know, I just did that whole readers workshop post about independent reading and responding and don't totally ignore that because that is STILL the way I'm doing it BUT, I found a way to make stations work just a whittle bit. This is thanks to fourth and ten for the Ah-Ha moment!

You know when you have those and then you go...um... duh!!! Why on earth didn't I think of that? That's totally fine though--that's why we have these IG accounts, blogs and facebook pages! We get to collaborate and share ideas and become better teachers (this is a whole other post in itself-so. I'm stopping this now).

So, here is the dealio... daily 3! They do two stations: spelling, task cards, word study, read to partner, read to self. But, wait THAT'S FIVE?! Jessica, can you count?! Um... why yes, I can. (I am so in the mood to talk in third person right now).

What we are doing IS THIS:

The kids visit ONLY three:

Group 1: Spelling Station, Read to Partner, Read to self

Group 2: Word Study, Task Cards, Read to self

Group 3: Read to partner, Word Study, Read to Self

Group 4: Listen to Reading, Spelling Station, Read to Self

Group 5: Task Cards, Listen to Reading, Read to Self

Then, each day I will move each groups cards down (last row up) and the next day they get to a whole new rotation. Now, the independent reading part... notice their all read to self at the end? I plan... on having them start stations RIGHT after recess: Stop them after 2: mini-lesson and readers workshop model. I'll also do guided reading during stations (probably one group). So, yes sometimes they may miss stations-but, in my opinion, what they're learning with me is way more important than what they're doing at this station.

Why am I doing stations like this?

I want students to practice spelling, grammar and be able to read to a partner on a regular basis. I knew I couldn't fit it in everyday. This is perfect because it gives them just enough exposure to practice the concepts AND I don't have to do so much weekly prep for stations. It's basically a win-win situation! So, if you're like me and in a time crunch-then, maybe it'll work for you!

You can grab the station cards you see on my rotation board here!