Setting Up Reading Station Rotations That Include A Teacher Time

You have all your independent work stations set up for reading time (because you’ve watched all the station videos listed below…yah you!!) BUT how do you set-up the rotation chart to accommodate small group instruction?
There are two different methods I’ve used to get to the kids I need to see for small group instruction.
The first way is to go to them. If they are at the Big Book station, I go to them there. I tell them I’m going to work with them for a little bit and then they can get back to their station.
I like this because it gives me a ton of flexibility.
The second way to get kids into small groups is to place a “Teacher Time” card in their rotation. This is great for when I needed to grab more than two kids for some extra or intensive instruction.
Both ways work. And you can do both at the same time. You might want to wander around to small groups during the first rotation and then have students come to you during the second and third rotation.
It’s one of the reasons that stations are an amazing tool to individualize and customize instruction in your classroom.
Check out the other videos about setting up and running independent work stations in your classroom:
Station Basics: • The Not So Obvious Bas...
Mistakes I Made Setting Up and Running Stations: • Mistakes In Setting Up...
Station Supplies- What Do You Need?: • What Do You Need To Se...
Teaching Students How To Behave During Stations: • Student Behavior Durin...
Best Games and Activities For Independent Learning: • Best Activities For In...
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**Special thanks to Dawn The Singing Nurse for the awesome music. Check out her channel. / dawnginese
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[@gracieladelagarza3272]

Hello, I really appreciate the ideas, I just came back to work from 2 years off, and I need a refresh on my classroom. Thank you 😊

[@TeachersMakingTheBasicsFun]

I'm so glad the videos are helpful. Welcome back to the classroom. And thanks for teaching.

[@DawnGinese-TheSingingNurse]

Cool info miss Angie! You’re in fire!🎵💜👍🔥

[@TeachersMakingTheBasicsFun]

Can’t get to much help with stations.

[@DawnGinese-TheSingingNurse]

🎉🎵👍🤓

[@cameronthemonster]

I wish I found your videos sooner! First year first grade teacher here. It was nice to hear that I should build tolerance to noise. I get this mentality that it should be so quiet, but your absolutely right that engaged kids do lose control a little- and it’s ok! I also like the permission to break away and build language about resolving problems. Light bulbs were going off. What kind of music do you play for cleaning up/ or transitioning?

[@TeachersMakingTheBasicsFun]

I had a play list of music. I had them mostly on my phone and I had it hooked up to some speakers so it was loud enough. For general clean up I used “clean up vacuum cleaner “ by Jack Hartmann. Sometimes I just sang a little clean up song. (I think I did a video on songs and chants- I’ll look for the title of that video and comment again). For end of day cleanup I used the Star Wars theme song. They pretend to “fly” around looking for garbage on the floor. I did a video on end of day routines I did. I will put that in the comment below too. I’m glad you had some lightbulb moments. Learning about what works for you is an ongoing process. No one has it all figured out.

[@TeachersMakingTheBasicsFun]

10 Songs, Chants and Cheers For Fun Fast Classroom Routines and Procedures. And the other video I mentioned I haven’t published yet but it’s coming soon. It’s recorded just not ready for the world yet. So be on the lookout for that. Also thanks for the comment and question.

[@alannaconyers9557]

I’m still confused with rotation. I would need about four students in groups. Because I’m sitting at about 25 students. What are your centers you use and do you have a picture of the center chart setup. I’m confused on where to put them.

[@TeachersMakingTheBasicsFun]

@@alannaconyers9557 I would still try and do 2 per group. You can try 4 but it didn’t work for me. Just too many bodies and personalities. The productivity goes down and the noise goes up. You can do 13 groups.

[@TeachersMakingTheBasicsFun]

@@alannaconyers9557 I will try to get a picture of the chart. The freebie download has the stations I used. I think there’s 14 or so. I’ll double check to see if that download is still available. I’m out of town for a few days and the stuff is on my home computer so it might not be until Monday.

[@laurelrulison9925]

What does it look like when you have 20 students and more than three station activities? In one of your videos, you mentioned having something like 9 different activities. If you have six students in a group, how do you divide out the activities and what does it look like when they go to your table?

[@TeachersMakingTheBasicsFun]

I did only 2 kids per station. And they only did 3 activities a day. I had 9-12 activities going on in the room because I had anywhere from 18-20ish students. So 20 kids, 2 in a group, I’m going to need at least 10 stations at a time. When I did a small group with me at the reading table they had a card in the rotation chart that said “teacher”. Or sometimes I would just call them over from their assigned station. I hope that helps.

[@TeachersMakingTheBasicsFun]

And just to clarify further, when they were with me we were doing an intensive small group activity. A lot of writing, a lot of specific skills practice. Then I would evaluate their progress and determine what they needed to do the next day depending on their success.

[@sparklingshelby933]

So I’ve been doing your system of centers for about a month now! The students and I love it! I am so impressed with how easy it is for them to set up and clean up. Thanks for all your videos. I am about to start teacher time in a few weeks…my problem though is that my partners aren’t in the same reading groups for guided reading. I teach in a dual language program and tried to partner an English speaker with a Spanish speaker. I can’t do your way of organizing the teacher time in the chart because only 1 partner would come (along with a few other partners from other pairings). Any ideas for how I could teach who comes when? I will meet with 4 groups a day. Some groups every day and others just three times a week.

[@TeachersMakingTheBasicsFun]

That’s tricky. I don’t think the way I did centers will work with your situation. The only thing I can think of is to make the rotation chart more individualized to each student. So you would need a set of student names for each rotation. Then you would have to put their names with each center you’d want them to go to for each rotation. It’s hard to explain what I’m seeing in my head. And I’ve never done it that way so I’m not sure how it would work. Another idea would be to have groups of 4. Then you could call 2 from a group over to you at anytime during station time. It’s not ideal to use your voice to call them over to you and they might get upset that they are “missing” that station activity with their friends but it might be worth a shot.

[@TeachersMakingTheBasicsFun]

Also great job getting centers going. I’m so glad it’s working. It’s fun to see your students independent. They build great self confidence with their independence.

[@sparklingshelby933]

I was also thinking about how they might be worried about missing a center to come to mine! I’ll keep thinking! And seriously thanks again for all your videos! I so so so appreciate them and you.

[@TeachersMakingTheBasicsFun]

@@sparklingshelby933 I’ll keep thinking too. The answers to theses sort of situation sometimes show themselves when you are in the thick of the action.

[@Hope3638]

What if you have 25 3 to 6 year olds?

[@TeachersMakingTheBasicsFun]

Hopefully it’s not just you. There should be a few other adults. The younger they are the harder it is for them to stay engaged and on task. The tasks have to be simple. I wouldn’t expect a 3 year old to stay on task for more than a minute or maybe 2. However a 6 year old can be independent for up to 15-20 minutes. I wouldn’t put 3 year olds with 6 year olds in the same group. And they shouldn’t have the same learning activity. I’m wondering if you can run stations with the older kids and leave the younger kids to do some more play base learning with another adult.

[@Hope3638]

Thank you, I wasn't expecting an answer this quickly. We are two adults. Actually I have a few 4 year olds that are more mature than some of 5. But I do have to separate the little ones.

[@TeachersMakingTheBasicsFun]

I’m so glad there’s more than one adult. 😊

[@lakesiamack7080]

All the sound effects are distracting. I stopped watching.

[@TeachersMakingTheBasicsFun]

Ok. Thanks for letting me know.