Stations: Choices for Students, Choices for Teachers!

Hello! 

As Fall finally settles here in south Texas (70 degrees at night counts, right?), my kids are starting to get the hang of stations. The hardest part for them is working independently of me. Not being able to ask me questions drives them crazy! 

I use my own version of the Daily 5 model and I usually find resources for stations online at TPT or other blogs. I love finding stations I can change up to keep my kids interested and to reinforce things we are learning in class. I made this Open-Ended & Adaptable Literacy Activities & Resources  pack! 

It comes with differentiation options for teachers.

The pack includes eye-catching Writing, Word Work, and Reading station options.

This Boogle game (similar to Boggle) allows you to change out the letters based on the phonics skills your kids need to work on. 

This is part of the Silly Stories writing game. The pack comes with options for character (seen above), setting, editing/revising, and genre. Use all together or mix and match!

The thing I love most is that the activities use resources in the classroom (i.e. LESS teacher prep work!). These might include anchor charts, classroom books, word walls, etc.  You can add/change cards and posters to keep your kids interested and challenged.

Take a look and let me know what you think! I would love to hear your feedback!

Take care, 

Dylan {The Savvy Schoolteacher}

Be Brave Enough to Try New Things!

Hi everyone!

I hope your school year is off to a great start! I finally have time to be 

brave and try some new management strategies.

I have always had my desks in teams. The kids get to come up with team names (usually named after Minecraft or Frozen). This year, I added stickers to each desk. At first, I put a different colored sticker on each desk of the team. That way I could call all the “Purples” to get supplies for their whole team. I love that I can disperse papers, supplies, etc., faster while also turning over some responsibility to the kids (empowering kids is a huge plus!).

Then I got to thinking, identifying colors is easy for my first graders. Maybe I can use this system to help reinforce/preview concepts. So I replaced the colored stickers with labels that have "doubles" number sentences.

Now I can call the “fours” and any child with 2+2 written on their label will have a turn. I love that the kids have to think about it and discuss. 

The first time, some kids with 4+4 tried to go, but their teammates stopped them to discuss what their sum would actually be.

By the time I introduce doubles for a few weeks, my kids will already have seen doubles for a while and hopefully, doubles will already be automatic! As we move through the year, I might change these to shapes, verbs or adjectives, soil types, or any other concept I want to reinforce! Note: If you do teach Kindergarten, the colored stickers are probably more appropriate for review- you can use whatever your kids need!

The other thing I want to show you is my new shelving system. Like I said, I’ve always organized desks into teams. In the past, the teams were made up of 4-5 kids. This year I changed it to 3 teams of 6 or 7. Having fewer teams seems to allow for more space to move around.

I put a small set of shelves at the end of each team. 

This is where teams can keep a set of manipulatives, sharpened pencils and any other supplies we use regularly. 

So now, I can have the “twelves” get all the Unifix Cubes for their team and no one gets in anyone’s way!

So far both of these systems have worked great! Let me know what management systems you have tried or have always wanted to try! I love hearing new ideas!

Best, 

Dylan {The Savvy Schoolteacher}