Center Management

One of the questions I get asked a LOT is how I manage my students during center time. I spend the first 2 months of the school year getting students ready for small group work but that can be just half of the battle. Right?

How do students know where they are going?
How do they know when to move on to the next activity?
How long do they stay at each center?

This is my rotation board. Nothing fancy but it totally works for me. I have a pocket chart that I got from a local teacher's store and then I created picture cards to represent the centers my students will be going to that day. I have students grouped by colors. I group my students based on data taken in the classroom. My students move in and out of groups every few weeks so keeping the activities the same makes the expectations and rotations easier.

These pictures help students see where they will begin and move to next. I change the pictures out (and add a fluency one if that is a skill that is needed) at the end of the day. Students know what their expectation is since my centers follow the same routines each month.

Here are a few examples of word work centers my students have been working on this month

All my activities come from my monthly literacy packs.

Each activity is 20 minutes long. I have a digital timer displayed on our screen so students are aware of how much time they have left. When the bell rings students know it is time to clean up and move to the next center. I see 3 groups each day and I also see a group for extra intervention support.

Keeping students accountable is another part of managing the centers. With most of my centers, I have a response sheet that my students fill out to show what they have learned. This helps them complete the task and also shows me how they are progressing. If students are writing in journals we go over those in small groups so students know they must get the work done.

I also used this chart during the earlier part of the year to encourage students to try and do their best work during small group time. I always tell them I will be checking it later too. 😊

Now students need to work and practice on these expectations but after a while, they will know their routine and hopefully, your center time will start to feel smoother too!

You can grab a copy of my picture cards by clicking here!

I hope this has answered some questions and helped a bit. If you have any more questions feel free to reply back to me.