It's finally here! My automated center rotations wheel!

It's finally here! My center rotation wheel! And the best part - IT'S FREE!!!!


I hope you enjoy this little management tool. It has truly been a lifesaver for me!!

Click on the wheel to grab it from my store for free!! It has been such a lifesaver for me during centers! I hope it is as helpful for you too! 

Unfortunately, I currently cannot make any modifications to the wheel.

The wheel is set up to completely keep your centers on track – all you have to do is press play! You must first assign your students to one of the 6 color groups. I don’t group students based on abilities and/or levels. My center groups are heterogeneous. I evenly distribute the high, med, and low students in each group. I have found this method to be successful because students are able to get help from their peers within the groups versus the entire group struggling. When I pull my guided groups, the students I’m pulling are all spread out among the different centers. This is why I’m not listed on the wheel as a rotation. To add your students name into the wheel – simply click in the text box and replace the “Enter students names here” with your students’ names. If you change your students’ groups a lot, you may want to consider creating a poster with the names of students in each group and delete the text box from the wheel. 

Centers Management Tool

Friends I know I promised that I would be uploading my amazing...fantastic...automated centers rotation tool over the weekend. {did I mention how awesome it is!?!?!} However, my computer is not working with me tonight. Until then...please enjoy this little sneak peek {I mean teaser}.

Putting the finishing touches on my automated centers wheel- Serious life saver the past few years!!! Did I mention it'll be a #freebie in my store soon! #tpt #iteach3rd #teacherblogger #teachersofinstagram #teachersfollowteachers #daily5 #centers #readingcenters #languagearts #iteachtoo

A photo posted by Sweetlifeof3rd (@sweetlifeof3rd) on Nov 8, 2015 at 7:44pm PST

Finally swimming above water....

Really....have I not posted since summer? I can't believe I have once again neglected my blog! I have good reason though! This year I decided to test out being superwoman...guess what...I'm not! I thought since I finally finished grad school, I could take on everything. Ha! Ha! Ha!   WHAT WAS I THINKING! So on top of my regular day job of teaching {and we all know that it's a piece of cake since I get out at 2:45 on the dot everyday!} - I decided to be PTA membership VP, ERTC {technology contact/support for our campus}, head up the computer lab, roll out our iPad check out system,  serve on: technology campus committee, parent involvement committee, and GT committee....oh and be a part in the Leadership PLC for our campus! Not even considering that I have 2 kids that both decided to do activities this year that consume every single day of the week, including weekends!{soccer, volleyball, flute lessons, Hispanic culture club, choir, soccer...and some more SOCCER} Sooooooo.....this is why I've been so backed up in posting!

But I think I've finally found a balance and schedule I can deal with and I'm BACK! And I'm coming back BIG! I created something that I have even blown myself away with...I know could I brag any more....but it has seriously changed my life. I'm not ready to reveal it just yet, but let me just say it has changed reading centers for me  for-ev-er {can you hear this in the sandlot voice like I do?} I have done a dry run of it already, but I want to make sure it is PERFECT before I share it with you! So come back and see me soon! It may just change your life too! ;) And I may even give a few away!

Tech Tip Thursday - Word Ball

Word Ball is one of our favorite apps on iPad! The great news is this app is available for Droid and Nook users as well, it ranges from a free version to 1.99! It is similar to Boggle - but on speed! The balls {letters} bounce around the screen and you must create words by tapping on the balls. Words are based on a leveled point system, the more challenging a word is, the more points it receives! It also receives points for what letters are used - vowels get the smallest amount of points, but letters like Q and Z offer the most points. As time goes on the balls {letters} you don't use shrink and eventually disappear - making it more challenging to create words. Words also have to be at least 3 letters long. If a words is misspelled, it will let the play know and not award any points. When the game is finished, students can review the words they created. This app is perfect for your word work station! It is appropriate for students of all ages, even I enjoy playing it. It naturally lends itself to having students focusing on spelling patterns.

You could have different variations of this game to make it more interesting & challenging:

• Play regular - allowing students to create any words
• Create words only using a certain spelling pattern
• Each word they create they must create a word that rhymes with it
• Only words that begin with a certain letter
• Only words with a certain theme or subject {vocabulary}
• Class challenge - by keeping track of students scores

WARNINGS: The program is set up to be able to play against others, however the option must be setup. Students could potentially try to get in and change these settings, so a discussion about this may be necessary. Also on the opening page, there are options to buy different versions. It is important to make sure you have your settings in place that a password must be used to purchase apps! The free version has banner ads, as we know you never know what you are going to get with the ads!

Summer Reading

I love summer! I love to read! And I love to read during summer! Every time I turn around, I find a new book to add to my reading list! Here are my top 5 (really 6) professional books that I plan to finish reading this summer! Would anyone care to join me?

#5 Barry Lane  But How Do You Teach Writing  I'm excited about this one! My principal is sending me to the Barry Lane & Gretchen Bernabei training at the end of the month. I used both of these authors' books during my graduate and undergrad courses. Would love to find others to bounce and share ideas with this one.

#4 Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller. I missed the book study last summer, but I've heard nothing but amazing things about this book! I've been told this will be a quick read! I will probably start my reading with this one first.

#3 Choice Words by Peter Johnston. We are doing a book study with this book as a school. Our focus next year will be vocabulary & questioning. This is another quick read and very short book! I'll probably read this closer to start of school so it will be fresh in my mind for our discussions.

#2 Words Their Way: Word Study for Phonics, Vocabulary, and Spelling Instruction. This is an oldie but a goodie ;) I've ready it and used it in several of my undergrad classes. I really want this to be my focus for spelling/phonic instruction next year. I will do a quick read, just to refresh!

#1 Daily 5 & CAFE  - I plan to be part of the blogging book study over on We Read, We Blog, We Teach in July. I have read parts of Daily 5, but have never "dissected" it. I also plan to use CAFE and adapt it to my classroom.





Here are my BONUS books! All of the others are pretty quick reads and won't take me long. So I actually have 7!!! I can do it ;)

Guided Math Instruction  I will be behind, but I plan to chime in when I can with the book study over on Primary Inspired. With all of this language arts....I needed some math in there too!

               

How the Brain Learns - This will also be another book study I do with some of the teachers on my campus. I'm very intrigued with the topic!       

It's going to be a BUSY summer! I'm not going to sweat it if I don't finish all of these books. I will just continue reading them into the year. So - what are you reading this summer?

Daily 5 (or rather Daily 7) goodies to share....

I seriously can't believe it has been almost 2 months since my last post! This school year is C~R~A~Z~Y!!!! Or maybe it's just me that is crazy! Along with teaching...I'm taking 9 hours of grad school (which is kicking my butt!!), I will be teaching 2 technology classes a week to students after school, and I will begin tutoring 1 day a week after school....not to mention my poor family who is suffering without me most nights! So this is why I haven't posted in awhile (and I'm up at 3:30 in the morning) But I wanted to share good news about my daily 5 centers!

My daily 5 centers are working! Yea!!! Last year I could not get them to run smoothly for the life of me and ended up taking away the choice for students. This year it is running so smoothly...that it's kind of scary! I have to admit though - I don't have Daily 5, I have Daily 7. I love the original Daily 5, but my students needed a little bit more than those skills. (Yes I know the upper grades are only supposed to do 3 - but some of my kids come in so low that we really need all 5!) So let me explain how it all works! Along with the originals, I also have skill builders (cause/effect, sequence, main idea, summary, etc) and technology! My skill builders center is differentiated and has activities for students who are on level, below level and above level. Most of the activities that I have are from the Florida Reading Center (love it!!). I store all of the activities in that nifty cart I found over the summer! There is one weekly activity that everyone must complete, then they can choose a drawer that is labeled with their level (1 star, 2 stars, 3 stars). It is working out quite nicely and it really is giving students that extra practice they need. For technology, I have several things going on here. I use our textbook adoptions (Treasures) website to assign the skills that we are using that week in centers. Once the students complete this skill they have many different options including spellingcity, learning.com, tumblebooks, and more. I eventually want to get to where the students use programs such as inspiration to create graphic organizers for the skills we are learning - we're getting there it just takes baby steps. All of my centers have a must do/can do poster. At the beginning of the week, I just write down what activity must be done, along with directions, and the activities they can do if they finish that task.

The reason I think centers is so successful this year is because I only allow 3 people at each center, except buddy reading (only 2) and technology (4). Since the students are so separated, I don't have as many off task and they are able to be very productive!! I have 3 small pocket charts (ones from Targets 1$ spot). Each pocket is a new rotation. Inside each pocket is a card with the centers name. The students each have 3 name cards. In the morning I post which groups I will be meeting with during each rotation. Throughout the morning/day, I call on students who are being productive to go choose their centers for the day. They just put their name next to the center they want , if they will be working with me they don't choose a center for that rotation. I couldn't let go of not holding the students accountable for the work that needed to be accomplished during centers. So I created a checklist. I based the checklist off the group I see the most. So the checklist would be attainable for even them, meaning the other groups should definitely be able to complete the requirements. I also assigned points to each activity so the students would have to make good choices when picking centers so that they could get everything they needed done. At the bottom i have the total points earned for that week, but I added a field for subtracting points and bonus points. I didn't want my students to finish the checklist in 2-3 days and be off task for the rest of the time!

So far it is working out nicely! I will try and post pics soon....but don't wait around for them ;) I hope your year is off to a great start! On another note...thank you to everyone who has given my blog an award!! You are too kind! I will go and post the awards soon!! Thank you again!