Howdy! So my fall break is winding down. I zoomed into my classroom for a few hours to get some stuff done and ready for our return! I switched out our centers…I got things organized and cleaned up. We’re about ready to head back for the next 9 weeks! I guess…
I am planning a few posts on what I do with my guided reading and math time, so I thought I would start off by giving you a glitterific tour of my small group area!
Today I want to show you my small group area. This is where I spent a majority of my team working with students in math and reading groups as well as one on one!
This is the nerve center of my small group area. In these three drawers you find the supplies for guided reading groups, guided math groups and you find our level books.
In the guided reading drawer you find letter cards, a letter tracing book (you can get this book HERE!), sight word cards, cvc word cards, and a few other random items! This is where I pull resources when working with students during guided reading.
The bottom drawer is where I keep guided reading books for the week. Each Monday I visit our book-room and pull 4-5 sets of books to meet the levels of my ‘staches. I keep the books in this drawer until we use them. After we read the book the first day, the students keep it in the book bag. I keep the remaining books (or empty bags) in the drawer so I don’t lose them. I lose a lot of things…
The middle drawer is my guided math drawer. This drawer has everything I need for math groups. You find work mats, number cards, counters and manipulatives and other math supplies.
Behind my table is my office supplies. I have everything you need in here. Tape, glue, staples, crayons, markers, stickers, Velco, scissors and everything else under the sun. I like having this stuff right behind me so if I need it, I just spin around and grab it. I also have the drawers somewhat organzied. The top drawer is writing instruments, staples, tape, pencils and the such. Drawer 2 is basic supplies such as crayons, Velcro, markers and such. Drawer 3 is fastener stuff. Duct tape, masking tape, and zip ties!
And finally, I keep our QR code center beside my table. Everything we need for QR codes is in this basket. We have the cards, recording sheets, crayons and my iPhone are here. This is why this center is located right next to my table….the ‘staches use my iPhone to scan the QR codes so they stay right with me while working on QR codes!
Now, I want to show you a little project that has helped me keep a bit of sanity (yes people, surprisingly I still have sanity!) and keeps me organized!
One of my big things with our centers is that I like students to have a recording sheet for their centers. This isn’t true for every center but a lot of our centers have recording sheets. The recording sheets keep the ‘staches accountable and gives me a product I can glance at (NOT GRADE!) to see if they’re doing their week and understanding the skills. Keeping up with these sheets got to be a disaster! I had papers everywhere…when we needed more I had to dig and scramble…and then I’d get annoyed…and I’m ugly when annoyed…so what’s Mr. Greg to do?!
Well…here is the solution! I recently was contacted by my friends at Barker Creek asking if I would like to review some of their products. Of course!! Right?! They sent me these great file folders (which came with coordinating paper and labels!) so I knew immediately how I was going to tame the center recording sheet monster!
CLICK to see more!
I set up my handy dandy file holder and placed the folders in the rack. In the folders I placed extra copies (about 20 each!) of our center recording sheets. Now, the center sheets are organized and all in one central location! When we run out, I can just reach over and pull out what the ‘stache needs!
I organized these folders like this: a folder for ten frame recording sheets, a folder for I Spy sheets, I folder for dice games, I folder for letter sheets, and a folder for write the room sheets. There is also a folder where I store the originals!
What I love about these folders is that they match our room! We have blue and green as our color theme so these green folders match perfectly! And that’s important, ya know?!
A huge thank you to Barker Creek for sharing these with me! They are just what I needed and they look good! It’s a perfect combination! Be sure to visit my friends at Barker Creek and check out their stuff (especially all of the awesome file folder designs!!)
They also sent me a set of Draw, Write, Now books! I will be sharing more about these on Halloween and giving away some of the books! Stay tuned!
