As you can see by my infrequent posts, I am quite busy with teaching and creating meaningful learning for my students.  This year’s little group has an extra dose of the wiggles, so keeping them engaged is priority #1. Staying a step ahead of them is equally challenging!

It became quite clear earlier this year that we were going to need a new game plan for rotating to stations, so I spent an afternoon taking photos of what each one looks like for a new pocket chart version of our station rotation board.  My students need specific parameters to keep behavior and activity positive during station work/guided group time.  My rotation works much like it did before, with the exception that each group must complete the assigned station before going to a choice tub.  They must also check in with me if they are doing a station that requires a product sheet to show their learning.   Taking the first “choice” away and structuring little groups to do a must-do station has worked well.  Each day I move all G (group) cards to the the next station.  The one at the end goes back to the first stamping center station (extreme left).  These stations are out all year (with monthly changes to keep themes current) because they are part of a practice routine that strengthens writing, reading, letters, words, fine motor, rhyming, sentence structure and initial sounds.  I assign differentiated pairs (multi-ability) in order for stronger learners to become little peer teachers to their partners.  I love seeing this in action! As you can see, I use not only my own products, but some great products from Learning Resources and other TpT sellers.  The products from my shop included in this month’s stations include the Sight Word Stamping set, Magic Writing for October, Build and Write Sentences, and Investigation Station: Micro Letter and Sound Slides (this set is not yet available, but should be by October 25).  I am offering the sentence activities and sheet for your pocket chart for free! Grab it by clicking on the pic. 🙂 Also, if you have a balance scale and teddy bears, here is a recording sheet for determining whether two sets are equal or not.  There is also a bit of beginning addition.