Hey all! A small part of my day is when students get to work through their reading checklists, also known as reading station time AKA daily 5, what have it. I'm going to give you a little run down of how I make this time work with my firsties! I absolutely love it! The idea came from Fabulous in First. I took it and just tweaked it to make it work in my own room.
Each week, my students work through a checklist of 6 different stations. Their goal is to finish all stations by Friday. The students have 30-40 minutes each day to work through the stations. They can get them all done, IF they stay on task! ;-)
Here is the checklist that I pass out to my kids each Monday.
I don't make the stations too complicated. I try to keep the type of activities consistent week to week so I don't have to spend a bazillion hours explaining the activity.
The great thing about the checklist is that students get to choose when they do an activity. They love the choice! I was afraid to let go here, but it's been so worth it. The kids are more engaged and on task because they do what they want to do.
One of their favorite stations is the Book Station.
These are little interactive readers that I write to go with our weekly skill or theme.
Last week we were all about Otis and Scarecrows. Our spelling skill was Y sounds like I - so, Mr. Sly Scarecrow it was. When I introduce this station, we do a shared reading of the book and discuss the story elements. Students then work on the book independently to identify sight words and complete a little comprehension activity at the end of the book.
Here is an example of one of the comprehension activities from one of the books called, "The Library Mouse."
The next station activity on the checklist that you see above is what we call Skill Work.
I basically use this station as one where I can really put whatever I feel we need to work on.
One week students reviewed their short vowels, last week students searched for sight words in books and this week students are working on a noun and verb activity. It's super versatile and the name of the station really covers anything!
Another station that the students love to complete is the writing station.
Each week I provide students with prompts and other options to complete at the writing station. The only requirement is that they turn in one piece of writing with their checklist work. They can write a story, pick a prompt or do a writing activity sheet that is at the writing center.
Here is an example of what many students completed last week.
Other students had a story on their mind that they wanted to write instead, so they grabbed a piece of blank paper and got to work! I really don't mind what writing activity they do. As long as they do their best and turn in work that they're proud of!
Another favorite is the Poetry Station!
I get my poems from Proud to be Primary!
They make prepping for this station SO easy!!
Each week, I write the poem on a large anchor chart. We work with the poem as a class on a variety of skills. Then, students do the independent poetry work at their poetry station. They fill in the blanks for the poem and glue strips in order. It's great practice for fluency because they really get to read this poem A LOT throughout the week! <3 p="">
An easy peasy one is the listening station.
We use something called, BookFlix. Students get on, choose a book and listen. After they listen, they complete a simple graphic organizer. I don't change the organizers too often. Right now we are on week three of this beginning, middle and end flip flap. I like the keep it the same, just because it encourages independence and limits interruptions when I am trying to do guided reading groups. You can never have too much practice with BME anyway.!
The last station you see on the checklist is word work.
We all basically know how this ones goes. Each week, I slip an activity in the bucket that follows our spelling rule for the week. Sometimes the kids have an activity sheet, sometimes a sort and sometimes a search. Just depends on which idea Mrs. Hursh comes up with for the week! :-)
That's how we do stations in my room. During station time, I call one group over for a 20-25 minute guided reading lesson. I swear by a-z reading. I just love it!
I meet with each group 2-3 days a week.
We get our read to self time in, in the afternoon after our read aloud. Sometimes I incorporate an activity here too. For example, this week we are looking for s blends while we read to self. It really helps with their stamina. We read to self for 15-20 minutes. Just depends when I am done with the guided reading group.
This week after read to self, we are sharing some of the s blend words that we find.
All week long, students keep all of their station work in a blue folder. On Friday, they get it out, I staple it, grade it and return it!
I hope you found this little run down helpful!
Have a great Monday night!!
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