Tricks of the Trade Thursdays- Center Organization

Okay, first let me say, sometimes blogging makes me feel so dumb. Tuesday I made a signature picture. It took several hours. Yesterday, I created my first giveaway with Rafflecopter. I am still hoping it worked. I know I need to tweek a few things, but it took so many tries. It took about 45 minutes. I was so tense afterward. 

But, as hard as they seemed, I am so glad I did them. I kind of like my little "Herald" guy. And because I am close to my "blogiversary" I needed to learn how to do the rafflecopter. 

Oh, and plus I was adding the link for everyone to see the great bloggers doing a giveaway. HTML is a little scary. 

Be sure to enter my giveaway here! 

Finally,  today's post. This I know how to do. LINK up for a PARTY!!!

Time for Tricks of the Trade Thursday with Joy in the Journey

Today's topic: Center Organization/Stations Set up 

For me, in middle school, I haven't quite perfected centers. 

First of all, I have called them centers, stations and rotations. I think I need to choose one and stick with it. 

I have used a pocket chart to let kids know where they go. This was for one group of kids though. It worked well. They did one center a day, I moved their names each day. There were only 13 of them. It was a math lab class. 

But for the other 100 kids I have this didn't work. 

Plus, with larger classes, having them move around is hard. 

One way I did center activities was give the group of 4-5 kids their six activities and they work together on the six things. 

Each group had "packet". They labeled fractions on a number line. They had recording sheets and stayed at their seats. 

The other way that I want to work on is to have 5-6 stations and make me (teacher table) one of them. 

Either kids will move rotations or baskets with the items needed will move. I would also like to have computers has one of the stations. For me, I need six rotations to make small groups. I also need the independent work to be something they can actually do independently. If they need my help, then I can't work with kids at my table. By doing this, I can incorporate more practice time of skills though, and they really need extra practice. 

When doing stations though, I keep all materials in baskets. I include instructions in the basket and on a wall that has the rotations posted. This way there is no excuse for not working.

Before I even begin stations, we go through what they look and sound like. This is the poster I started the year with. Because I am middle school, I may just stick with "rotations" and change it for August. 

Click the picture for a FREE copy. There is one for centers, stations and rotations. 

As I try and figure out how to make this work in my classroom, I can't wait to see what others link up!