Friday, November 16, 2012

It's Center Time!

Jessica over at Second Grade Nest is hosting a Thanksgiving Linky Party, which I linked up to.   Thanks for the opportunity, Jessica!

Second Grade Nest

She asked what we will be doing with our kids these last few days before Thanksgving break, when everyone is really looking forward to a few days off, and concentration wanders.

I plan on doing centers daily!  I find that centers really help my kids to be settled and focused on work.  During center time today, there was that satisfying, low murmur of kids who were totally engaged in their work.   Here are some pictures.  I've included links to all the great TpT products that I'm using at the centers.  Some are free, some are not, but all have made my life sooo much easier!  Just click on the pictures!

Here are my center clips.  I hot-glued the kids' names to clothespin.  We store them on this little chart I bought at Target for a buck a few years ago.

They clip their names to this center pocket chart.  The blue dots tell the kids how many can be at that center at one time.

At the SMARTBoard center, the kids are playing "Turkey Toss."  They LOVE this game.  I have this linked to the PDF version of the game.  If you are interested in the SMARTBoard version, just let me know!  I'd be happy to talk to you about it.  In this picture, the kids are playing the three dice version like in "Bump."  In Math class, we will also play "Turkey Toss" but use the two dice version.  In that version, they have to add or subtract and use strategy to decide which operation gives them the best move.  For instance, if they roll 4, 2, they can get a 6 and put a chip on the board, or they can subtract and bump the opposing team off the board!

Here are two of my centers, one in the math center and one in my library center.  "Turkey Feathers" focuses on common core objective 1.NBT.2. Understand that the two digits of a two-digit number represent amounts of tens and ones.  The "Plenty of Vowels" center, which I've been using for years, was the inspiration for the short vowel center in my TpT store.


There are tons of books available in my library center at all times, from big books to magazines, to student-made books.  I have them all color coded and sorted into baskest using my free differentiated   book basket labels.


At the pocket chart craft center, the girls are hard at work on their cornecopias.  I don't have a product for this, but maybe this summer I'll create one.  My kids love doing the different paper crafts at this center!

At the writing center, the kids are using a free Thanksgiving mini-book by Doodles and Kreations.
 

In addition to these centers, I have two computer centers, a painting center, and a shelf toys center.  As you can see, I am quite prepared for the last two days before Thanksgiving break with lots of great and engaging learning centers, many of them from TpT!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

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