Reading Centers with a Checklist

I've received a lot of questions on Instagram about how I run my reading center time in my classroom. I have played around with this precious 45 minutes of time for years. I want my students doing work that is engaging, purposeful, relevant and encourages them to become responsible for their work while giving choice.

This has all led me to my little center checklist. The checklist that I currently use looks like the one you see below. I don't like to tie myself to centers with names because what we do throughout the year changes and I want their centers to grow with students.

When I plan my centers each week, I do try to keep them somewhat consistent. I use the planning template seen below. It's easy, but keeps me focused.

Here is an example of what it looks like filled out digitally. Normally, I just write them down with pencil because I like to be quick and simple! :-)

Here is a break down of how the centers run in my classroom. We will begin with the rotation chart!

When students have the checklist card by their groups name, then they have the choice to pick an activity they would like to complete for the day. They are required to complete one checklist activity per day. They are allowed to do 2, if one doesn't take them too long. They get pretty good at managing their time (another important life skill to learn)!

I introduce the new activities on Monday. Wednesday, I have kids turn in their folders and I do a midweek check up to make sure everyone is getting their work completed. If not, then they get Mrs. Hursh on their tail for the rest of the week. It only takes about 1 week of me nagging a student for them to kick it in gear for the rest of the weeks. ;-)

Here are the centers set up from last week. I'll get to the grading part here soon!

This week students are unscrambling sentences. I don't want to make a million sets of these cards, so I just cut out one sentence, place it in a bucket and write a number at the top. When students visit this center, they grab one bucket, unscramble the sentence and then record the sentence on their activity sheet. When they complete that sentence, they put those cards back, put the bucket back, grab a new bucket and repeat until all sentences are done. The kids don't lose cards this way and they aren't overwhelmed by way too many sentences at one. It helps them focus on just one thing at a time.

 To prep the craft center, I place student supplies in the two bins you see below. If there are little pieces, I just put them in zip lock bags. I make an example craft for students for them to look at while they create their own.

When students complete an activity from their center checklist, they place it in their center folder which also doubles as their 'catch up' folder.

When students finish an activity, they put a check in the box next to the correct center number.

When we first began checklists, I would ask students to circle the one they wanted to complete for the day. This helped them have a focused plan and allowed them to set a goal for themselves. I still do this with some students who have a difficult time getting started. In my mind, this system is a great way for students to be responsible and learn accountability with their work.

On Friday, I collect their folders, take them home and grade them. I place checks by the completed activities on their checklist, staple their papers together and return them on Monday.

Now, we do our two stations every single day. Some students finish by Thursday! I make sure their work is quality work that shows effort and if it is, they're able to make choices during their checklist station. The choices are ones that are still literacy based.

When I introduced the choices to students, I made this anchor chart right along with it so it held meaning. They refer to it often! (The students also love to complete these activities at indoor recess *win, win*).

You can find the activities I use for choices here.

I do not have students turn this work into me. However, they do LOVE to share their sticker stories with the class so we do make time for that at the end of the day once we pack up to go home.

If you would like any of the resources you saw above, you can click on the links below.

Winter Sentence Centers

Editable Word Work Activities

Center Checklist Template & Planning Sheet

Big Book Activity Sheet

Digraph Word Work

Long Vowel/Short Vowel Word Work

Nouns

Candy Cane Craft

If you have any questions about checklists just comment below!!

I have another post about my stations with a checklist that I did a few years ago. It's a little different than I do now, but may give you more ideas!

Just click HERE for that POST!

You may also like these blog posts as well:

Phonics Lessons & Activities

Daily Spelling Practice

Editable Station Checklists

Scavenger Hunt with Words

Classroom Management

1

You Think it's Easy Being a Tooth Fairy? - Reading and Writing Unit!

Hey guys! I am so excited to show you a unit series that I've begun simply called, Reading and Writing for First Graders! Each month, I'll be introducing two read alouds to you with full blown reading and writing plans for the week, including 3 literacy stations! 

This unit uses the story, "You Think it's Easy Being a Tooth Fairy?"

I just LOVE this book!!

You'll get full blown, visual lesson plans inside the unit to walk you through how to carry out this unit throughout the week. I kept our busy schedules in mind so pacing for the week was actually manageable!

Inside each unit, you will find a 5 day reading unit that focuses on a particular comprehension concept or skill. This unit, includes activities to help first graders identify who is telling the story. It's a tough concept for our friends to learn, but I've made it very attainable and engaging for the kids!

This unit includes fun matching activities and writing activities to work with identifying who is telling the story!

In each unit, you'll also find something I call, Quick Writes! These focus on general comprehension of the story. These are great discussion starters to use with the book. You can have the kids make their flaps at the beginning of the week, bring their reading journal to the rug for your mini-lesson and as you read the text, you ask them a question. Students can write the response under the flap and you can share! Short, simple and effective!!

*********************************************************

In each unit, you'll also find simple vocabulary activities. Much of the time, you'll find prompts that allow students to make real life connections with the vocabulary from the text they're reading. I think it's so important to teach the vocabulary from the text. 1-the kids gain a deeper understanding of the story. 2-the kids learn to use the words in context which is turn.... does exactly what we want it to do--EXPAND VOCABULARY!! 

Inside each unit, you'll also find a full blown writing unit. You can be as involved with it as you want! I've included everything you need to allow your students to flourish with their narratives. The book I chose for this unit, lends itself perfectly to a narrative about when the students lost their first tooth. 99.8% of firsties have lost a tooth and LOVE to tell their stories!

Here's a look at what the kids final writing would look like! Nice little craftivity and all!

Last, those literacy stations I told you about! Here they are!!

They are designed to allow students to complete independently!

They're included inside the unit so you don't have to go purchase stations to match the theme separately! I like to place 2 in my word work stations and I always use one for a guided reading activity for the week to review a skill!

If you're interested in seeing more of this unit, click here!

1

Using Checklists During Reading Stations!

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!!

0

Editable Station Checklists!

I'm so excited to finally share my station checklists with you! Last year, I tried out all different versions. Thankfully, the kids stuck with me! I love that kids are resilient! I combined my favorites into an editable pack to share. 

There are four different checklist options available! 

See below for the explanations!

Remember: All text on these checklists are editable. 

So, if you want to change one to math, or call your reading stations something else, you can!

The four choices include:

The Daily 5 Tracker

This can be changed to any time of literacy or math station tracker. It keeps track of where the students go each day. It also has space provided for students to write their words for the week!

My Daily Stations

(AKA-The Reading Choice Board)

This is the one I used quite a bit in third grade.

Just has a new name now! :-)

This one has options! This one is perfect if you don't have to visit 5 stations a day. I've created checklists that have slots for 2-5 station visits a day. Their is also space for you to determine how frequently students visit each station throughout the week.

The Daily 5 (reading stations) Checklist

This is just a simple checklist. Students check off the stations they visited that day. Don't forget, if you don't do Daily 5, you can change the station names!

Picture Checklist

This checklist includes pictures!! Students color in the picture of the station they visited that day. Unfortunately, this one could not be editable due to copyright. I did provide you with two options.

As a little present for you, I also included little posters!

I hope you can find these useful this year!

0

The Newspaper Station

The Newspaper Station is something new that I introduced to my students this week and they're loving it. I've been trying different things with my reading block this year to see what works for me and hopefully this sticks. Right now we are back doing stations for our reading block. I was getting bored with just reading workshop-I like to give students more hands-on experiences-I felt like I was becoming more of a worksheet teacher to quickly teach grammar and expose students to other types of literature... that's not me at all! I'm all about hands-on learning.

I find that the Newspaper Station is extremely beneficial for my students because it exposes them to non-fiction text on a regular basis and they will be learning information relating to our social studies curriculum. I haven't made crazy activities to go with the Newspaper Station (I'm sure that'll come eventually), but I did find task cards that are easy for students to understand and purposeful (and easy maintenance for me).

So, here it is:

I got this little table from big lots and there are two beanbags beside the table for comfortable seating. (It's like a have a while bunch of old little people in my room)-it's so cute!

You may notice that I don't keep the newspapers at the newspaper station. This is because on Monday I passed out the newspapers and specifically taught one task card to the students and allowed them to practice. I plan to do this each Monday so they have experience with each task card. Throughout the week students keep their newspapers in their reading binder and pull it out when they go to the Newspaper Station.

You may also notice I have *Extras* at the station. I will be keeping a basket of books that relate to our social studies curriculum that we are currently covering. This will allow students to further explore non-fiction text and learn more about a topic that may interest them.

We also get times for kids: so I've thrown those in the basket as well for students to use for their task card activities. You'll notice there is also a globe. We are talking about hemispheres and maps in social studies so this can help intrigue interest and allow students to explore.

I have taped their task cards right on the wall so we don't have any chance of losing them or saying, "I can't find them..." The fun stuff!! ;) I have color coded them and I will probably re-color code so that the before reading, during reading and after reading are all different colors and easy to differentiate between. The red cards focus on other concepts such as grammar, facts and opinions.

You can find the task cards HERE at this webpage (free).

They are originally from Debbie Dillers, "Practice with Purpose." I LOVE THIS BOOK!

It's all about different work stations for grades 3-6. Here is an informative PDF that scratches the surface of other work stations. 

************************************************************************

Now, onto the tasks. This is the newspaper we get. Yes, we get a new one each week! (awesomeness)! This newspaper is specific to Ohio but this company prints newspapers for ALL states! Check it out here.

If you're not able to buy a subscription to the newspaper than you could always find news articles online or grab free non-fiction passages from readworks.org

Now, time to let to you see how awesome this station really is. Just look at this student work:

This student read the article you see here and an article about physical and political maps. It looks like he is beginning to write a summary about his learning. Students can cut out a picture, glue it into their reading binder and complete their task card activity.

 The newspaper has fun activities on the back like you would see in a real newspaper. This little gal' was completing a crossword puzzle (she had to learn this information to complete it *SCORE*)! Then, another student was underlining important information and new learning.

Like seriously... can this station be any more purposeful? Warms my heart!

This article was a favorite of the majority of my class because it was all about how a ROBOT can bring you food! The students learned SO MUCH cool information about current technology and they responded to it in meaningful ways. I love the way this students showed his thinking and provided *reasoning* for why you can't just have food from the robot.. you've got to buy it first ya know?!

 This student also responded to the robot article. He obviously loves it and wants one really bad! He was really displaying his ability to connect to the text in a meaningful way.

So, there you have it. A little snapshot of many great things to come from the newspaper station! I hope you can take something from this post!

5