Differentiated ELA Center Rotation

As I mentioned in Center Rotations Ideas for Every Classroom, I like to do a portion of my center rotations that are very differentiated and focus on what the students need to learn. This year, however, I am trying something a tad new, and I think I have fallen in love with how it is going to work.

The center rotation that I do a lot of differentiation in is called "Boxes". This center is geared towards skills that the students need to work on. When the students come to the center, they pick a box that they would like to work on that is the color that they were given. Since it is the beginning of the year, I have not made the centers very differentiated. I have kept the centers focused on what I believe the students need to work on, like ABC order, sequencing, rhyming, etc. Each box is labeled with a number. Because the centers are simple, it also helps the students learn the procedures.

After they are finished with their "Box" they are checked by myself or my assistant (who is amazing!). They then self evaluate themselves on the center that they were doing on their form that is seen below.  This form that they use is also a great way for the students to keep up with what number they have completed. One of the areas on the form is Computers, where they can play educational reading games. Over the course of two weeks, their goal is to finish all ten boxes that they are assigned and computer time. 

The form is a new part of my center routine, so I am excited to see how they self reflect on their learning.

How do you do differentiate learning in your classroom? Comment below to share your ideas.

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First Day of School Plans

The first day of school is going to be here before we know it! It's so exciting, but also very busy. One of the things that I searched for on Pinterest was plans for the first day of school. I know that everyone's schedules look different from others,  but I loved how the first day of school went last year. I couldn't believe how fast it flew by. I want to share the plans that I plan on using for the first day of school!

First Day of School Plans for Kindergarten

When the student's arrive to the classroom, there is a lot of time before the school day begins. I like to have books out on the rug for them to look through. This also gives the parents a great opportunity to read to their child before they leave. 

Throughout my entire school, everyone participates in Morning Meeting. Below is what my Kindergarten team decided to do for the first day.

• Greeting: Students roll a ball to each other. When the student gets the ball, they say their name by saying, "I am...".
• Sharing: The students who would like to share share what their favorite color is. 
• Activity: "When the Wind Blows" is a lot of fun, and the students love it. The teacher calls out a characteristic, and the students with that characters come to the middle of the circle, and then go back to their spot. For example, "When the wind blows, if you have on a purple shirt."
• Message: Students share how they got to school. You can make an interactive chart for students to graph how they got to school.

After Morning Meeting, we read "Pete the Cat: Rocking in My School Shoes" by Eric Litwin. As we are reading through, we recalled the different places that Pete the Cat visits in his school.

We then went on a tour around the school to visit all of the places that Pete the Cat went. This is so much fun for the students, and helps the students learn about the different places. As we were visiting the places, like the lunch room, I was able teach the procedures for that place. You can find the tour over at Inspired by Kindergarten. This is also a great time to teach hallway procedures; the students will get lots of practice! (This activity needs to be put up before school starts.)

Once we got back, we created our classroom rules. This is based off of Responsive Classroom. It's great for the students to create the rules, because it gives them accountability. In Kindergarten, their answers may be negative: "Don't hit someone". Instead of writing exactly what they say, it would be great to turn it into a positive rule: "Keep your hands and feet to yourself."

We then took time to read "The Kissing Hand" by Audrey Penn. During this time, students are able to discuss their feelings. While students are working on name mosaic below, my assistant began to get their hand print for "The Kissing Hand" poem. You can find the poem at Wise Ways in Primary by Amy Wise. 

Another activity that we did is the name mosaic activity. The students names are already written onto a black piece of paper with white crayon. They then used small pieces of paper to glue onto their name; to make the activity quicker, go ahead and cut out the pieces for the students to use. You can either let them use a glue stick, or a Q-Tip with liquid glue. Remember to teach how you want all of this to be done. Go step by step, and do it several times. I got this idea from Rock and Roll Kindergarten. 

Picture from Rock and Roll Kindergarten 

For an end of the day activity, I had my students complete a "First Day of School Crown". It's fun for the students to create their crown, and they wear it with pride when they leave school. It's also great because they can practice procedures that they have learned throughout the day. You can find the crowns over at Crystal McGinnis TPT store. 

Throughout the day, I do throw in a few videos for the students to dance to. I normally do an ABC video and a GoNoodle. You can find my YouTube playlist here. 

Throughout the day, find time to teach some of the important procedures, like bathroom, table, clean up, how to pack up, how to clean up from snack time, etc. You can use my checklist that I have created to decide what procedures are important for the first day. You can find that here.  

By the time you have gone through all of the activities, procedures, lunch, specials, and recess, your day will be over. Good luck with your first day!! 

If you have any questions, I would love to answer them. If this blog was helpful, sign up to follow by email! 

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Start Off with a Great Year with a Rules and Procedures Checklist

Oh the joys of planning out your rules and procedures in your classroom. It is SO important to begin planning how you want your classroom to run before the first day of school.

My first year, I made the mistake of not having a very good thought out plan of how I wanted the classroom to run. I definitely learned that procedures are so, so important to teach. And don't make the mistake of thinking they will learn them on one day. Keep practicing, and practicing until your students have got them down. It may seem very redundant, but it will save you come December!

When it comes to teaching the rules and procedures, you should model, have a student model, and then let everyone practice the procedure. If you need to, you can have multiple students model how the procedure should be done. And it's ok for you to do this process every day.

I love to re-evaluate at the end of each year to figure out what I could do differently to make the classroom a more positive environment for learning. I take some time in the summer to figure out what could be done. I also think about what other teachers have done to make their classroom successful.

I have created a checklist to help me remember all of the rules and procedures that we would experience throughout the day. Below is an example of the checklist, and you can download the checklist at the bottom.

You can download Checklist here!

Don't forget to continue teaching the rules and procedures even after the first week. 

If this posted helped you, sign up for future emails and free downloads! I would love to hear your feedback if this checklist has helped you become better prepared for the beginning of the year! Comment below. 

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