My view on centers

I can honestly say I love the idea of centers. Whether or not these children or my reading coach will like the way I do centers is always the toss up. I like being able to work with a small group and get to better understand my students' strengths and weaknesses. (The things they say in small groups are also hilarious!)

So tomorrow I go in to start explaining how centers will work to these 5 year olds who have just gotten used to who class instruction. I am taking deep breaths and hoping that the activities I have chosen are interesting enough to keep their attention and that most will remember the directions. My biggest concern is that the centers themselves need to be self-explanatory or quick to explain since the children can't read any directions and I can't seem to find a way to make all my directions in picture format.

I am rambling and rambling on and on but the last time I taught kindergarten was the first time I had centers up and running like clockwork. So why ramble and get nervous? Well....this will depend on a co-teacher that has never taught reading before so I will have to given him a list of activities to do with the kids in his groups. Also...I have 24-26 kids in the room so movement and having someone in charge of each group will be very important to making this work. I can't run around cleaning up after each group or that's all I will be doing.

I feel tired just thinking about beginning this mission. I also think it is odd to do centers when in all honesty most of my kids are exactly in the same place. All need to learn letters and sounds. I really only have three or four who already know this and are ready to begin blending sounds into words and I guess for them is why I would like to start centers in the first place. It will give me a chance to get them to practice reading with me and reviewing sight words. I guess I wish me luck and may hte force be with me.

P.S. Friday was a pretty great day!!! We got tons of work done, I had very few behavior issues, and then my great day got interrupted by a data chat at the very end of the day where I was made to feel that either everything I am doing sucks or is not good enough. Being at this school feels like such a chore at times even when the kids are at their best. Oh well! Need to lift the spirits and focus on having a great week.