Showing posts with label Literacy Centers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Literacy Centers. Show all posts

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Gettin' lampy with it!

I'm sure its happened to you....the domino effect.  I wanted to bring a lamp into school that was too small for the space and that my younger brother knocks over every time he visits.  Well that led to a trip to Goodwill to get a new lamp {or two}. 

My colleague Susan Findlay at Edu-Bits has lamps all over her room.  It's so warm and lovely.  I had to copy her.  So far I have one lamp at school with hopes to get more over the summer.  Here is the little charm:
I think it adds a little ambience to the room that was very needed!  I can't wait to add more.


So back to the domino effect, I {accidentally} bought two lamps from Goodwill that I knew needed some TLC.  I love a project as you may have found out. 

So here were the lamps:




They were just a bit rough!  I spray painted each.  Notice that the white lamp retained some of its natural state.  I just taped over the nice silver part.  Next up was the shades.  They were just a bit dingy and slightly yellowed.  I took fabric from another project and cut it out to fit the shade and sprayed on a little craft spray.  It looks 100 times better.


The other lamp (white)  I decided to go a little funkier.  First I tried fabric but it wasn't right.  Then I had the inspired idea to use ribbon.  The shade is tapered so the ribbon started straight vertically and ended with a diagonal.  I personally like the diagonal side. 



So I am absoultely loving my new lamps....success!


Now on to a little education :)
Although I loved my centers chart, it keep falling off my concrete walls.  I started thinking that maybe it didn't need to take up so much space because its just organizational not informational.  I wanted to still use our clothes pins, same centers and I wanted it to be magnetic.  Here is what I created:


The centers are the same. They still do several things, but I have them trained so well that they don't need to be told what to do. Just love that!  Maybe in the fall I will have to print out a directions sheet for each center.  It's something to think about.

I also made one for my intern:

Here is a copy of the centers for you!  Owl Centers

Our word work has become a review of skills learned so far.  My intern and I decided to pull out an old favorite.  You will need a cookie sheet, a top and the documents below.  The students spin the top, whichever word the top lands on is read out loud and then chanted (remember those word wall chant?).  We created four documents, one for each table and they are rotated one per day.  On Wednesdays we do College Words.  The kids LOVE this time of the day, which is a quick 10-15 minute window.




  



Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Bad Kitty Centers

I made these a couple years ago, although I don't work my centers this way anymore, I figured some of you might still be able to find a use for them :)

Lay the cards around the room. Students begin at Start and read the common sight word sentences one after the other.  If they make a mistake they must go back to start.  Great fluency/sight word activity.
Sort the words from the book by syllables and complete the foldable.

Compare Bad Kitty to SkippyJon Jones.  After draw/write about them on the triangular "ears", then attach to the paper to look like a cat.



Bad Kitty incorporates the Alphabet into the story by telling things that Bad Kitty did in the sequential order of the alphabet.  Have your students create their own to add on to the story...or make a class story.


Enjoy!



Sunday, January 8, 2012

Center Accountability

Moving into our second sememster, the accountability piece increases for our ever growing students.  They have become so capable and now it's time to step it up. 

Here is an accountability sheet that my students will be responsible for weekly.  Note that there is a place for goal setting and accountability.  It includes both Math and Literacy.  My math centers change weekly based on what we are learning.  My literacy centers do not have activities rather authentic reading experiences.  The back page is an extra support for the literacy centers.

The students are also responsible for keeping track of their centers by coloring them with the day's color.  I know that it will take a little time to learn but I think my students will be better for it.  I know that when I reflect I usually find a way to better myself and fine tune pieces that needed a little work.



Enjoy!

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Literacy Centers

See my literacy centers page for the way I use them in my classroom this year.

In the past, I have changed centers weekly.....so I have created a lot of materials.  For those of you who do the same then this will be a great resource for you!



















Check back at a later date for more!

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