Truth be told...I started this posted on Tuesday after feeling discouraged and frustrated from my guided reading time earlier in the day. It was one of those times in teaching where what you believe is developmentally appropriate and what you are told to do just don't match up and you find yourself struggling with the presentation of it all in your classroom.
That's what my Monday and Tuesday morning time looked like.
A struggle.
Now to the outside observer, maybe they wouldn't think it was that awful, but to me it felt like the world was exploding...in my head (insert complete and total exaggeration here). The kiddos were chatty. The stations were not perfectly working even though we went over it several times. And the "workstation rules" were never posted. Oh sure, we talked it to death about what was expected over the last few weeks during all our mini practices but they never received any visuals from me.
Shame on me.
As with anything in my teaching, if it's not going well, the first person I have to take a look back on is myself. Did I teach it the way I wanted? Was I clear in my directions? Did I have visuals (clearly if I'm giving directions on 10 stations a 6 year old cannot remember all that info)? And the list just keeps on going....
The answer was no. Plain and simple. Remember how I said I was struggling with what was developmentally appropriate and doing what I was told to do???? That's how my struggle showed itself in the classroom. I needed to regroup, figure out my clear and purposeful goal, and decide on a way I could make both myself happy and still meet the district requirements.
(So it's Saturday morning now and I've had a couple days to finish this post with a more productive and positive outlook from the last few days.)
Here's how my guided reading time looked the rest of the week....(minus the surprise fire drill, book check out, and special grandparents day activity to finish before they came). Is there ever a truly "normal" week? Anyway, I digress... :)
First, I let students share at their tables why we even need rules for workstations (guided reading time). I heard some great conversations which some surprised me with their insight! Then, I shared my Workstation Rules posters. (Last year, I did this poster with my kiddos but since this year requirements have changed and I had already technically started guided reading/workstations, my focus was more on making sure they understood the rules rather than creating a new list.)
It's not pretty or fancy but it works.
We especially focused our attention on numbers 1, 4, and 5. One of my biggest struggles when meeting with groups was the amount of chattiness going on. Sure they were working, listening, or playing too, but I wasn't. I felt like I couldn't really listen to my readers because I was managing the noise everywhere else. Number 1 got LOTS. OF. ATTENTION. As it should.
Secondly, I focused on number 4...Follow the directions. We talked about the difference between "reading" the directions and "following" the directions. Very distinct difference and happily my kiddos got the message I was throwing out there. I think early in the year it is important to establish the "You can do it. Just try!" mantra....otherwise, you will find yourself with one or more students who are constantly looking for that reassurance and are always by your side asking questions that you just answered. I am hoping to prevent this early on...because yes, developmentally, they know the difference and can change those behaviors still.
Number 5 went along with number 4 for me. I have a group of loves in my room that are either unsure of "what's next" or how to complete something or just want to share with me something. Clearly, I want to listen to every little thing they say, just NOT DURING GUIDED READING. As we went full throttle into guided reading this week, that's what happened. Every story, every moment, every question they ever wanted answered, they brought to me during guided reading. (Personally I think they saw the fact I was sitting instead of my usual bouncing around the room and decided to take advantage. Perhaps.) :) Either way, for the sake of my small group of readers, this needed to come to a crashing halt. Hence the super strong focus on number 5. Worked like a champ. Just the visual alone was enough. Thank goodness.
Then came the organization piece.
I have had these bins for several years now and LOVE them for workstations. I keep all materials (that will fit) inside and students simply take the entire drawer to the station location they are headed. (Makes for quick, easy clean up, too!) My numbers coordinate with my workstations around the room. The numbers are not included since I recognize people do guided reading workstations in various ways, but I do have a collection of signs and I Can posters that you can grab here if you are still in need.
Last year I posted my I Can posters and placed them in my bins for kiddos to reference back to if needed. This year (due to space) I only have them in bins which so far I like.
Then I tweaked my group set up from previous years. I have seen it done one hundred and one different ways. All our great and even my old system was GOOD.
But...this summer my family took our usual beginning of the school year venture to IKEA (because I'm always sure to find lots of inexpensive goodies that I'm SURE I can use in the classroom!). This year, with my watchful husband's eyes on me, I tried to not buy everything in the store but simply what I could put to use immediately. These were them.
Two frames for 99 cents!!! Love IKEA! Check them out!
I needed all the colors and this is how I put them to use.
I made new, smaller signs for each group. Rather than posting names on a wall somewhere (as I have done in the past), I wanted the groups to be written near their locations. Especially since this was what I was noticing. They were struggling with where to go...again, it was the lack of visuals from me.
I typically have 10 stations that way groups get no bigger than 2-3 for each station. Another way to manage the chattiness. I have 5 frames and on each frame there is a station on each side. The station cards are on the inside of the frame and the names are written with dry erase marker on the outside. You could use a post-it to move names each day if you prefer. (I had about 6 different ideas of how to use these but this is what I came up with for now.) I set the frame at the desk station with that group facing toward their spot and the other side of the frame points out at the other station. Clear as mud, right?!
For example, station 4 is handwriting (the frame sits at that table so the handwriting group sees that's where they are sitting). Station 5 is Smartboard. The Smartboard group knows they simply go to the Smartboard and begin. Better?? :)
I rotate 2 stations a day to help with the management piece, also. Our district requires that we meet with guided reading groups for an hour which I think is fabulous!! I love having the time set aside to meet with that many groups daily. The struggle was thinking how developmentally these kiddos are not ready to work independently at stations without my guidance or attention for one. whole. hour. Yikes!!!
In addition, expanding our guiding reading time, limited our whole group instruction time. I still think it's important to practice our weekly reading skills more than just at one or two stations during the week. My hour of guiding reading looks more like this now:
15 practice skill at desk with independent activity/seatwork
15-20 minutes of station rotation 1
15-20 minutes of station rotation 2
10-15 of SSR
This allows for the kiddos to do a multitude of activities throughout that hour but all are independent, quiet activities to help me be able to meet with my guided reading groups. #score
I'm excited to launch next week with a full on successful guided reading time. Now that I have found a way to mesh developmentally appropriate with an organized system and still meeting district requirements, I feel so much more successful. Thank heavens to Betsy!
On a completely other note, as one of our Patriot Day activities, we had made American flags.
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| Finally hung and ready to share! :) |
I love hanging them around our classroom flag and the National Anthem lyrics. Every day when we do the Pledge, I think it makes a huge impact and gives the kiddos many things to think about when we hear the word "PROUD!" Just wanted to share.
Enjoy your weekend!
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