Our 100th Day of School was today and so this week I had to have a rodeo themed center. I just couldn't resist! I stole this idea from the Dec. 06-07 issue of The Mailbox Magazine. You use a lasso for the corral and program cow cards with your high frequency words. Place paper clips on the cow cards face down in the corral. Make a lasso for the students to use to pick up the cards using twine or a shoelace and a horseshoe magnet. The students take turns lassoing a cow card and reading the word to everyone in the group. Everyone then writes the word on their Word Corral Center Sheet (This part was my addition because I like to have a center product.). After all cows are out of the corral, the center is finished and it is time to round them up into the ranch (the basket or time to clean up). What a fun center! I found the Word Corral Center sheet by searching google for a cow coloring sheet and drew lines inside for them to write the words on. So easy!
So...how do you do your centers? I don't like the way that I am doing mine right now, but don't know how to change it. Do you let your students decide when it's time to change or do you tell them? Do you change the centers everyday or keep them the same for a week? How many kids do you put in each center, and how many do you do your small groups with? So many questions...just wondering what your way is. It seems like you must change out the centers quite often since you are always coming up with these great ideas with lots of pictures! I love it! I'm so happy you started this blog! Any advice for helping kids with odd and even, and counting by two's? My kids are struggling with this big time!
ReplyDeleteHey Elizabeth.
ReplyDeleteIt's Beth. Just last week I introduced counting by 2's. I gave each student a pair of snowpeople. They colored each snowperson, keeping the pair together. After everyone was finished, I had them place their pairs in a pocket chart. We counted the snowpeople by 1's, placing a number card infront of each snowperson. Then as we "skipped counted" I turned over the "skip" numbers, leaving only the 2's. I kept remindng them that the skip numbers were still there, we just were not saying those numbers. They really got it. And I have a very challenging class. I have to teach everything on a very simple level. I will send photos when we get back to school.
Beth
Jill, I found the exact same cow to print after we talked about it. How funny is that for us to choose the exact same cow!
ReplyDeleteI am watching the weather!!!!
Beth