Literacy Coaching in Progress: literacy

I love using literature circles in the classroom because they build students' motivation to read and helps them become life-long readers. But, I hate literature circle role sheets….copying them, keeping up with them, and grading them give me a headache! So I decided to create simple job cards for my literature circle meetings. Each card tells students what to do to prepare for their circle meeting, and what the expectation is for sharing at the circle meeting. Students write their responses in a reading journal (we use these all year). Students choose their job from the board pictured below.

I give students a calendar of the literature circle's reading assignments and circle meetings. This example calendar was created at calendarsthatwork.com.

Now I score students weekly with a simple rubric and viola…..literature circles don’t give me headaches anymore! I've also updated my job cards to better support Common Core.

Interested? The job cards are available for purchase in my TPT store. A preview is available as well.

Happy reading!

Students love going to centers/workstations (or whatever you choose to call them). However, teachers don’t always love them! Our students need something to work on independently while we meet with small groups, and we want students engaged with meaningful activities. But, the planning and organization of workstations can be overwhelming for many teachers.

So what’s an effective solution? Meet Debbie Diller! This educator has published books with time-saving solutions for work station management. She suggests consistent stations that stay up in your classroom all year. No more frantically creating (or finding) centers each week! Some of the stations she describes in her books are classroom library, buddy reading, big book, poetry, newspaper, writing, etc. She suggests different stations depending on the level of your students (primary or intermediate). She also explains the teaching and behavior management thoroughly. I would recommend her products to anyone who has felt the frustration that running centers can cause.

I have created a set of posters that correlate with Diller’s workstations. This center set includes 24 signs with various elementary literacy skills. Most stations have 4 signs that can rotate daily. (Bonus signs are included if you need an extra fifth day activity.) All signs can be reused weekly. I put a clear sheet protector in my centers and switched which poster I put in the sleeve daily.
Stations included in this packet are: Classroom Library, Writing, Buddy Reading, Poetry, Word Work, Article, Game, & Computer. You can find the intermediate posters in my TPT store at: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Literacy-Work-Station-Signs