I introduced math rotations a few weeks ago and it has been going well, so I thought it was time to introduce the reading/writing version. The students handled it so well. They did not want to rotate out of some of the stations, and I might get to the point where we truly do the daily 5 where they can choose how long they spend in a centre but for now, 15-20 minutes is how long each rotation lasts. During the summer I won a management system from the awesome Ashlyn Ellsworth and I use that to help my students know what station to go to. There are 4 stations that the students rotate though, and the only one missing is "Listen to Reading". I may add that one in, as we have an awesome app for reading that I want to introduce.
This is a picture of my rotation boards. Green and orange is math and yellow and teal is reading. You can buy a copy here
So in our rotations we go through: Read to Self, Work on Writing, Word Work, and Read to Someone. We use the acronym R.E.A.D.
R is: Read to Self
The E is: Exploring words
In this station students sort their words (we are using Words their Way this year for the first time) and then they do a word activity. In our first rotation we did rainbow words.
A is for At Your Seat Writing:
For this station the students were either working on finishing their fractured fairytales, or writing in their free-write journals. (I love how she was writing).
Finally, the D is for Duo Reading or partner reading:
I have a few bins of books that I have put 2-3 copies of the same book in, and they can choose what books to read with a partner during this station. Eventually I will add in a response element but for now, reading together is our main goal.
I was so proud of how well they did, I can tell that last years teachers did some Daily 5 stuff, and the ones that didn't, those students caught on quickly. I am really enjoying how quickly most of them adapt and just get into the flow of the routines and expectations, and that I can trust that the majority of them are doing what they are supposed to do. It has been a great start to the year!