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In my current school I have each class for an hour every five days. That can present a challenge for younger students who need to switch activities more frequently. Enter centers!
After the lesson/story portion of our class, students rotate through three centers for the remaining 25-30 minutes of our class. I find that asking students to physically move to a different space helps them understand that their task changes with each center. Our centers have changed over the years, but this year the centers are big table, small table, and checkout. They are customized to our space and could be easily changed to fit yours! I use the text and timer features on classroomscreen.com to keep us on track.
Checkout: Just as it sounds, this center is the time when 1/3 of the class gets to check out books. It allows me to answer questions, guide students toward what they're searching for, and spend time with any individual consultations necessary.
Small Table: This is usually a fine motor or an iPad activity. We've used: story journals (color a picture and write a sentence based on the book we just read), purposeful coloring, pattern blocks, Play-Doh, free drawing/coloring, Tate Paint, Storyline Online, PebbleGo, Tumblebooks, guided drawings via Art Hub for Kids, and more.
Big Table: This center always involves some type of building material. We have used: Legos, Keva planks, Brain Flakes, Plus Plus, iO Blocks, and cup stacking.
*NEW* this year we will occasionally have a big table challenge. If students choose to complete the challenge, I take their picture and post it on our library website. The challenge pictured is a Keva Brain Builder card.
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