Welcome back for the second part of my ELA blog post series! Today I am sharing all about my reading center routines and activities.
If you missed the first post about my reading whole group lessons, you can click HERE to get caught up.
Let me start by reminding you of my entire ELA block schedule.
Center Schedule
I used to meet with four leveled groups every single day. On paper that gave me 15 minutes with each group. But it really didn’t. When you figure in all of the transitions, putting away materials, and getting out new materials I was really only meeting with students for about 12 minutes.
That just wasn’t nearly enough time to read, dig deep in the text and have meaningful discussions. I constantly felt rushed and stressed. So, I went to meeting with only two of my groups per day. It was a serious AHA moment and it made my reading groups so much more meaningful. By meeting with only two groups, I was able to have 30 minutes with them. It is still the same amount of minutes as meeting with them every day for 15 minutes- except it isn’t. With fewer transitions, I am actually getting a few extra minutes with each group. We can actually read, dig and discuss all in one meeting!
Here is a look at what my center schedule looked like:
I didn’t do groups on Fridays because I used the time for long social studies and science lessons.I had a larger class and so I needed to have four groups. If you have a smaller class, you might be able to have just three groups. Since you would only have one group scheduled on Tuesday and Thursday, you have an extra chunk of time where you are not meeting with anyone. This would actually give you time to do individual reading conferences, provide intervention, do testing and/or pull your lowest learners back for an additional group time.
Center Activities
I don’t do the Daily Five. I know that many people do, but I found it to be way too much prep, wasted time doing the status of the class, and a lack of students just focused on good books. If Daily Five works for you, go for it!
Here is a look at the activities my students did during reading centers.
Meet with the Teacher
During my meet the teacher time, I would continue practicing the skill that was introduced during my whole group lesson.
Instead of using the leveled readers that came with my curriculum (which my students found boring), I used book clubs during our guided group time. I was able to use high interest chapter books to help practice reading standards while encouraging my students’ love for reading.
Each of my reading groups had a different chapter book based on their needs and reading level. We would spend the majority of our group time chorally reading from the book. During the last 5-10 minutes, we would have a discussion or fill out a graphic organizer that targeted our reading standard that week.
You can grab my book club graphic organizers HERE.
It was really so easy to practice the standards using “real” books. I would teach literature standards during first and fourth quarter and teach informational standards during second and third quarter. My book clubs would read fiction books when we were working on literature standards and nonfiction when we were focused on informational standards.
You can read more about my book clubs by clicking HERE.
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Read to Self
My students loved the read to self center! They get excited to have a big chunk of time to relax and read anything that they want.
My only rules are that they cannot go to the classroom library during center time (or they will spend their whole time there and not reading) and I should never see their eyes because they are always on their book. They can read anything they want and they can read anywhere that they want.
This center is all about letting your students love books!
Respond to Reading (Menus or Centers)
It is important that my students learn to write about what they are reading. They need to be able to use text evidence to support their claims.
I also need a grade to enter in the grade book for reading!
My students are given a reading menu each week. The menu has questions that are suitable for fiction and nonfiction books. The variety of questions means that my students can always find one question that they feel they understand, have the skills to answer, and can respond with the book they have been reading during read to self time.
My students are required to choose one question each week. They have plenty of time to write a quality response with evidence. They have a checklist and even a rubric to reference when they are editing.
You can read more about how I teach my students to respond to text HERE.
Another option for this center rotation:
I had so many teachers literally begging for reading centers that are similar to my math centers. And I listen!
I have a full year of reading centers for third grade. And we are adding second-grade reading centers to the store. The really cool part is that one of the centers is always reading response. Students are still practicing that skill while you also mix in some fun sorting, matching, and task card type centers.
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Technology
I was lucky enough to have a small group of Chromebooks in my classroom.
My school required students to do iReady during this time. I have to be honest… my kids didn’t like the program much, especially the reading. The lessons were VERY long.
I sometimes let them use Moby Max and they loved that. Epic is another option.
I love that the technology center gave me the ability to check the reports to hold students accountable without having more papers to grade. #win
Posting the Schedule
You will need a simple way to post your reading center schedule so students have a reference. I think that it is important that the schedule is easy to change so that groups can be fluid and students can easily be switched to different groups when necessary.
I simply have a poster for each group. Their schedule is typed at the bottom. I laminate the poster and then use a dry erase marker to write student names. It is super simple, but works perfectly!
You can grab my free poster template by clicking HERE.
I love that my reading centers are super easy to prep. At the beginning of the quarter, I copy reading menus and book club graphic organizers for the entire quarter. That’s it. I also love that the centers stay the same all year. I don’t have to waste time teaching new activities every week. And most importantly, I love that students spend so much time reading books. That is what it is all about!
Be sure to check out my next post in this ELA series by clicking HERE. It is all about vocabulary instruction.
Have a Not So Wimpy Day!
I love this blog and all your ideas! My main concern with the whole group and center focus is moving away from the basal. My district allows us to use other strategies and methods, but in 2nd grade, we have to make sure our students are exposed to the basal and the basal assessments so they are ready for 3rd grade. How do you make sure your students are exposed to the basal and ready for 4th grade? Or is that not a huge factor at your school? Thank you for your time.
I see some groups have “Respond to Reading” as their first station. Do kids ever complain that they can’t remember or struggle to start with this station if they haven’t read that day yet?
Good Evening,
My name is Beth Morgan and I am a teacher at village Christian school in Sun Valley,California. My teammate and I have been using your Grammar Bundle for a few years and I have been doing the Cafe with the Daily 5 for several years We were looking at how you organized things and liked the teacher friendly approach you use. I purchsed your reading bundle but I wanted to print out the reading blog information on whole group reading and reading centers. It did not turn out well so is there a location I can go to to be able to print this information. Thanks, Beth
Our school works on a 6 day cycle. How would you suggest incorporating your Monday – Thursday cycle into a 6 day cycle? I do not always have 60 minutes each day for reading centers (or 60 minutes each day for Math centers). Thanks!
I only have 60 minutes to teach reading (language is taught by another teacher). How would you structure this time? I’m struggling with teaching a whole group lesson, meeting with a group, and centers I have no idea how to fit them in
I am at a new school this year. At my previous school I had an amazing basal. The nonfiction stories were amazing. The new program I stepped into was all over the place – too confusing to plan! I know I will have to use the basal more next year, but I am torn. I loved my reading program. Students were so excited to be reading!
Do you have a link for your reading menu?
Sure, Jenna! You can find them in my TpT store using this link: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Digital-and-Printable-Learning-Reading-Response-Menus-EDITABLE-2104529
Hello Jamie,
I have to say that I am so thankful for your page and all your amazing resources. I just have a couple of questions about your reading block. When you do the whole group reading is it with the whole class? and do you read a different book during the whole group reading and meet the teacher time? If you are teaching character traits for example, and you introduce the skill like you mentioned in your post, do you continue reading and then you go over the power point presentation?
My final question is during read to self do you ask students to respond to the questions on the reading menu?
Millions thanks!!
Engi
Hi Engi,
Thanks for asking! The whole group reading is with the whole class. During meet the teacher time, a different book club book is used for the group. During read to self, students are responding to questions from the reading menu. I hope that helps!
Hello,
Thank you for such great ideas and the reasons you give to back it up! I have 1 question you said you meet with each group for 30 mins so 2 groups a day. Do the kids do their center rotations for 30 mins each? If so do you have trouble with kids “responding to reading” for the whole 30 mins? Or are they also reading in that time?
Thanks for your help!
Melissa
Hi Melissa,
That’s a great question. Honestly, when I first started the response to reading I was disappointed in the responses. With time, I learned how to help and encourage my students to create good responses. You can read my tips in this blog post: https://notsowimpyteacher.com/2015/09/5-tips-for-teaching-students-to-write.html
Good Morning,
I see you have the kids do two centers per day. Do you set a timer when you want the kids to go to their next center activity?
Great question, Gwen! Usually students are so engaged they lose track of time if there isn’t some type of reminder to clean up and go to the next activity. You can set a timer or use whatever reminder you normally use in your classroom to cue students to change stations.
Thank you for your expertise. I want to use your rotation Centers. I saw you said it can be used in two weeks?? How? I feel students will get through it in one day. How do you slow it down? Are we using the 5 centers daily?
Hi Jalysa,
I suggest running two reading centers a day. This gives you the chance to dig deep with each reading group and differentiate. Plus, you’ll save time from less transitions. With running two groups a day, students will only go to this independent center activity two times per week. They will either go to this center M/W or T/TH. If you keep the centers out for two weeks, this gives students 4 days to complete these, which should be a perfect amount of time. Please feel free to reach out to us at jamie@notsowimpyteacher.com if we can help you further.