New Center Wheel!

Earlier in the year I saw a post from Mr. Greg at the Kindergarten Smorgasboard where he shared his center wheel. I saw it and thought it was a great idea but have been trying to figure out how exactly to make something like that work in my own classroom. I so desperately want to be in control and tell me kids "this is what center you do today" or "lets go to this word work center first and then the iPad's next." I did that for the first two months of school.

Originally, I had four groups of 3-4 kids in each group. I take a group, my assistant keeps a group, one group is on the computers and another is at word work. I would trade out word work with listening to reading periodically to mix it up and make sure they had a chance to do both of those things. But then some days, I'd switch groups or a kid would be out so they would have to play catch up. My assistant may get called to cover a class...what do I do with her group then? Sometimes, I have to do benchmark testing. My group is stuck with busy work while I test a child. I knew something had to change!

So here is what I did....

I kept my four groups but removed myself and my assistant from the rotation. I have so many center options and not all of my kids like the same things each day so I wanted them to have an option but not have chaos. So, I created a wheel.



I put my kids' names on circles (very simple, laminated construction paper) with a visa-vis pen. If I need to change names/groups I can easily do it.

Next I divided a large paper plate and small paper plate into four sections. The small paper plate is colored to match the colors on my spots. I laid the small plate on top of the large and attached them with a brad/spinner. The large paper plate has two pictures in each section. These are the options my kids have for that day/center time. They choose one of the two in that section that is beside their color group.

If I need to test I can pull kids from their center to work with them. I can pull kids based on skills they need to work on to my small group table and then send them back to their group when they are finished.

Here is the finished product. I put it on my bulletin board "Incredible Readers" with their chart that tracks who has turned in their reading log (thank you Pizza Hut). 

On Friday's any work my kids have not completed in centers must be done after lunch. We have about an hour between lunch and snack/recess time. During this time they finish up work from the week and then they get to play with the blocks, puzzles, on the iPads or computers. Two weeks ago all of my kids finished early and I pulled up Team Umizoomi on Amazon Prime. Fun Friday is a grea t incentive for them to finish their work on time through the week.