A Kindergarten Smorgasboard Monday Made It: Literacy Center Rotation System!

BAM!  Here is my Monday Made It Project!

Here is some background...

One of my literacy centers is called "The Tub" and it really is a plastic tub that is filled with a variety of literacy center activities!  Those activities include letters, sounds, word work, writing, sight words, segmenting, CVC words, syllables and every type of literacy skill you might imagine.  The tubs are differentiated so one group might have activities for sounds in their tub while another group might have activities for sentence writing in their tub.  The tubs are fluid and change as needed just as my groups are fluid and change as needed.

So, you used to walk into my classorom and see 4 plastic tubs sitting on the floor.  They were labled and color coded so the students knew exactly which tub they were to use.  Now, my problem is that my new classroom is TINY.  People, even the mister was concerned at how small this room is.  Yeah.  Teeny Tiny.  And we all know how much I like my stuff.  So, I needed a way to reduce my stuff.  I knew that using four tubs on the floor would not work so I needed a plan. 

When I finally got to see my new classroom, I saw this:

At first I thought...that big ugly thing must go.  

I simply wrapped two strips of Duct Tape around the front of the totes.  I only did the front and did not go all the way around the totes.  

Then I covered the top of the beast with coordinated tape and added some baskets and this is my masterpiece!

How awesome is that??

Each basket will hold 1 center activity.  That means each group will have 9 choices when they are at "The Tub" during center time.  What I envision ( and we all know the 5 year olds make our visions come to pass...exactly as we see it...) is the 'staches grabbing a tote and taking it somewhere in the classroom to work.  When finished, they place everything in the tote and return it!  

So how do the 'staches know which center to go to?  They look at the center wheel!

I revised my wheel to cut down on the number of centers and choices...again...teeny tiny room...

So each group will have 2 choices for centers except the group that is assigned to work with me for guided reading.  The two center choices provide some independence but they also provide ample activities and choices to keep everyone busy!  

My centers (The Mr. Greg version of the Daily 5) this year are: 

"The Tub"  (Word Work, Work on Writing)

Write The Room (Work On Writing)

Listening (Listen To Reading)

Computer (iPad)

Library (Read To Self, Read To Others)

Let's keep summer going with a give away and a freebie!

Here is the newest Kindergarten Smorgasboard Common Core creation!  And it's a glittery one!

This is a perfect set of math and literacy centers and activities for your Chicka Chicka Boom Boom unit!  Over 100 pages of differentiated fun!