Differentiated Center Set-Up

I am so happy to finally be at the point in the year where we are starting to get the routine down.  The kids are really starting to get into the groove of things.  I did introduce my centers to my kiddos two weeks ago, but they have been pretty simple.  This is the first week we have differentiated them.

I do love how this system runs.  I feel like it is the best way meet the needs of my kiddos.  My centers are differentiated more for my Math Groups, because we ability group for Reading.  I will do some, but it is not as needed as in Math.  Each student does a different center activity every day.  This way, each student at a center is engaged, but not around others, as to alleviate some behavior issues.

Here is a look at how I set up centers.  These are the bins that hold all of the center items.  I have 6 different centers in my room.  Centers 1 and 4 are iPads, so they are not in a bin.

This is a pocket chart that tell students what center they are at for the day.  I run three groups for Reading and Math.  One group with me, one group at centers, and one group at independent work or with a parent volunteer or assistant.  My centers are 1-iPad, 2-Write the Room or I Spy, 3- File Folder Game, 4- iPad, 5-Manipulative-based, and 6-pocket chart.  I have had 7 centers if I need to, but I usually just add another manipulative based center.  This year, we were able to add another Kinder teacher, so we have smaller classes.  It has been WONDERFUL!  Anywho, moving on.....

This is posted above the pocket chart.  This is a good way for students to remember what group they are in if they don't remember.  

Ok, now this is where the the differentiation comes in.  Each bin has 3 manilla folders in it.  Each group has a different activity based on what they are able to practice correctly and independently.  This works really well.  The kids are great about putting their items back in their folder.  Again, it takes about a week of just teaching centers to make it go smoothly.  But after the routines are set up, it is wonderful.  This works great with my Differentiated Apple Math and Differentiated Apple Literacy Centers.

Here are some of the examples of what might be in the different folders.  This is a file folder game.  Group 1 is matching quantities to numbers up to five, Group 2 is making 5 with red and green apples, and Group 3 is making ten with apples.  File Folder Games are center #3. 

This is the I Spy.  Students go thru and circle numbers either up to 5, 10, or 20 depending on their group.  

Here is a picture of one of my reading students doing this.  

Here are some of my manipulative activities that I have as well.  

There is a lot of information here.  Check out my Differentiated Apple Math and Differentiated Apple Literacy Centers, or look at my Mini Bundle.  I have one for each month.  Just print and go!

We have officially been in school for 17 days, and now that centers are rockin, we are ready to take off!  How is your year going?

Welcome to the Jungle!

It's time.  It's done.  My class is put together, and I am actually ready for back to school night and the first day.  I'm so excited.  I love looking at other classrooms, seeing how other teachers set up their classrooms and different ideas they have to maximize the usage of their space.  So, here it goes!

TA-DA!

I'm SUPER happy with how my room has turned out.  I think it will be just enough fun and lots of functionality.  Here is a more in-depth look at some of my centers:

Playdoh and Fine Motor 

I got really smart this year and laminated my giving tree, because it is something that I do every year. I also labeled spots where to put the apples with different letters, so that way I know which apples have been taken.  This helps me mentally plan for what I still need to get.

My cute dramatic play kitchen.  Check out my cute kitchen labels here.

My bulletin board.  Wanna know my favorite part?  I am leaving it up ALL YEAR LONG!  I'll hang student art work up there, but I'm not changing the border and whatnot.  Nope.  Not this year.  Not this girl!

Puzzle fun.  I have puzzles, legos, and some small group games.

This year, my school is following some models from Sue Kempton.  She is fabulous.  I want to be her when I grow up, or a hybrid of her and Dr. Jean.  One of the ideas she shared with us was having books around the classroom in different centers.  This makes sense once you think about it.  If you want your students to have their hands on books, you need to give them more opportunities to do so.  This book shelf is between my dramatic play and puzzles, so on this shelf I have books about food, people, holidays, and buildings.  I LOVE the book labels that I got--you can look at them here.

This is my area.  To the left, you see the science cart.  Our school is fortunate enough to have one for each team.  These have some really great science activities on them.  And, of course, i have my coffee on the table.  What's a classroom without coffee?

Story time easel.

This is my calendar area.  You can see the differentiated calendar cards.  These go with my Jungle pack,   I think they are super fun.  

Here is our schedule and my small group pocket charts.  I have one for reading and one for math.  I will get more into how I run centers a little bit later.  One thing at a time.  

These shelves are essential in my classroom.  I'll explain more when I go over centers.

The next two pictures are my science area.  As you can see, I have some books on the bottom.  These are all of my science books, such as weather and animals.  On the middle shelves, I have a coloring making set from Lakeshore, which was part of our science cart, and I have a pony bead sorting station.  

So this color wheel what a little tricky to make.  I wanted it to be perfect.  I think it turned out fairly well.  Thank goodness for awesome coworkers who help you out when you want to make a 36 in color wheel.  

This is the back of the story time easel.  I will use this for the writing and tracing center.

This is my math wall.  The number cards go with my Jungle pack, and you and find the number puzzles here.

The word wall cards, birthday cards, alphabet cards, and number line are all included in the Jungle pack.

This is one of my favorite handy tricks that I learned from some awesome coworkers.  We have a cork strip that runs the length of the classroom on the wall in the hallway.  I hot-glued a clothespin to a thumbtack, then glued my small labels on the front of that.  This is another great way to display student work that doesn't take a long time.  

Whew!  That was fun!  I am super sleepy now.  Tomorrow we have open house and I get to meet all my new little students for the first time.  It's so exciting!

Have a great day!

The Making of a Classroom

Welcome to setting up for the 2017-2018 school year!  Every year, before I start setting up my room, I start mapping it out on pieces of paper, and prioritizing things.  This year, my school is doing a choice reading focus that has reading material in various spots in the classroom, and we get to focus on purposeful play (YAY!!!!!!).  I also like to have independent work for math and literacy be center-based, and of course I love to be able to see most of my room no matter where I am.

I don't like to wait until our contracts start in August to go in to my room.  I know, I'm crazy.  Let me explain.  I spend ALOT of time in my classroom over the school year.  A LOT!  And, after the year gets started, as you all know, it is extremely difficult to find time to rearrange it.  I like to go in, set it up, go home and think about things, and continue.  My husband things I'm crazy, which is probably correct.  Like I said, I want to make sure I only have to set it up once, and I don't like to always use the same set-up.

I tend to think of my classroom set up process as going thru 3 different phases.
1. General Set-Up
2. Big decorations, clean stuff out
3. LABEL EVERYTHING, finishing details.

Here are few pics of my class in phase 1.  Lots of Setting up, taking down, moving here, moving there, going home, processing......and starting all over!  This is the view from my desk, looking towards the front door.

This is from my desk looking to the back of the room.

This is from the back door, looking to the front of the room.

Today is the second day that we actually had to report.  This means the AC is turned on again, and I don't resemble Mufasa while in my classroom.  So that's a plus!  I'm still working on setting up a few things, but it has come a long way.

  

This is a view from the back door.  I got most of my vines hung up, and yes, I'm doing a fun jungle theme this year :-) 

This is the view from the back of my room, looking to the other back corner.  This is where my art center, painting area, and dramatic play areas will be.  

This is a picture of my cabinets, with my color posters.  

Here is a close-up of my Jungle shape posters.  You can purchase my Jungle Classroom Set Here.

This picture is of my calendar set.  I have patterned calendar cards, which change from month to month based on themes that go with that month, and the pattern structure changes as well.  It starts with AB patterns, and evolves to more complex patterns as the year goes on.  As you can see, I still have decorating to do.

This last picture is of my science area.  One of my goals this year to do have an engaging science center during the year.  I feel like science is something kids can get really excited about, but it's something I've never really felt like I have done it well.  Be sure to look for more ideas in the science area!  You can also see my math and literacy center towers.  I'll go over that at another time.  

With that, I bid you a goodnight.  I'm going to be working hard in the coming days, and hope to have some progress to show you soon.  May your school year start well, and your meetings be short!