St. Patrick's Day Station Work

Is St. Patrick's Day really right around the corner?  I just can not believe it!
I just finished my St. Patrick's Day themed Sentence Scramblers.  There are five sentences to use throughout the week.  Each sentence can be used for literacy stations, whole group, or independent learning. Each sentence includes:
* words for a pocket chart for whole group modeling or independent literacy station work
* individual sentence strips to use for cut-a-sentence
* large picture to use for pocket chart
* individual picture to use for cut-a-sentence
This packet also includes an accountability sheet for literacy station work. This would be great to use for the 5 days leading up to St. Patrick's Day. I have also included 3 sentences with periods, 1 using a question mark, and 1 using an exclamation mark.  Here is a preview of what is included in the packet. 

 

 

If you leave a blog post comment, I will choose two random winners to win this packet.  I will post the winners Tuesday.

Here is a little freebie from Stephany's Jelly Bean Math Stations.  Click on the picture below to go check it out.

 Have a Great Week,
Stephanie 

Literacy Stations and More

This post is mostly about literacy stations in a kindergarten classroom.  Today I took a few photos of my kindergarten class working at literacy stations.  The first two pictures are of students at the computer station.  My students usually go to Starfall.com.  This site includes literacy activities for kindergarten and first grade students.

 Erica Bohrer has a free packet on TpT with directions for Starfall.com and other Computer Station games.  Click the image below to get it for free.

  

The next photo is of students working on "cut-a-sentences" and gluing them into an independent book.  I simply stapled small pieces of plain paper together as the pages of the book.  I call this station "create a sentence, create a book".

 I also came across a freebie by Christie from First Grade Fever.  The freebie includes several sight word playdough mats.  They are super cute and print in black and white.  Below are a few photos of students working on sight words with playdough.

Students also participate in independent reading and partner reading during literacy stations.  Below is a picture of a student reading independently from her book box.  The boxes came from IKEA.  I took photos and glued them to the front for easy identification.

 What do you do for small groups?  We would love to hear how your stations are managed and what you have found to be successful.

I want to thank Stephany Dillon!!  The fonts used in the text boxes above are from her Super Cute Font Pack!!  I also want to thank Mr. Magician for the glittery borders!!

Endless Possibilities,

Stephanie

Pea-Pod Word Work Freebie!!

Who doesn't need a freebie right now to kind of brighten your day? 

I know I do. I am always looking for literacy tub (station/center) ideas and activities to keep my kids engaged.  Stephanie created this super cute "Pea-Pod" Literacy Activity set that has some DIBELS interventions and literacy tub activities.  I can't wait to use it in my stations!  Click the pictures below to go download it for free.....

We will announce the winners of our Three & Free posts Monday so all the weekend bloggers can check them out and we have one more Common Core post left in the giveaway!  So if you haven't went and commented, go do it now!  Super easy!  Also, I am working on a Johnny Appleseed Freebie so remember to check back for that and follow us for updates!

Endless Possibilities,
Stephany

Literacy Workstations

Last summer, I got the book “Literacy Work Stations” and after going to a few trainings on how to implement the 90-minute reading block I decided I had to implement this into my classroom in some way.  This year as part of professional development we studied the “Daily Five” in our study groups.  My 90-Minute block is a combination of the two that works for my classroom.

Rotation Chart

Literacy Work Station Tubs

We have four rotations: Seatwork, Table Work, Reading, and Stations.  Seatwork includes everything from journal writing, worksheets, graphic organizers, to partner work.  Table work with me is a guided reading group with leveled readers.  During the reading rotation they can read by themselves or with a buddy.  The fourth rotation are the station tubs. You can find the labels for the tubs here for free. They go to one of these tubs each day and after all of the students have rotated through them (which usually takes about 2 weeks), I switch out the materials.  The skills of the tubs stay the same but the materials and manipulatives change.  This works for us because the students know what is expected but they don’t get bored with what’s in the tub.  They take the tubs and go to the location in the room that’s on the chart.  Before I started this I wasn’t convinced that first graders could follow all of rotation movements in the room but they picked it up quickly.  

Station Location 2

Station Location 4

Station Location 3

Time to THINK SPRING!

Recently, I missed a week of work teaching precious little kiddos.  My husband and I took our very first trip without kids.  Those who know me, know that this was NOT an easy thing for me to do.  But my husband dragged me on the plane and once we landed in Mexico, I was saying "What kids? ;)" 
Knowing in advance that I was going to be gone I made up several activities for my first grade groups to work on while I was away. Since I do not get a sub when I am gone, I had to create activities that my first graders could do independently or with minimal supervision.  I then decided to take all of these activities and put them together to make a packet of math & literacy activities.  Only a few first graders in each class used these activities, so the first grade teachers are going to use them in their literacy stations.  I love getting to help the awesome first grade teachers :)  Here are a few of the activities:

 

You can find the packet HERE and please email me if there is an activity you would like to have included.  When you click on the link you will get a complete list of ALL activities included...Happy Teaching!!
Endless Possibilities,
Kathi