I have a confession to make… I hate rotations. I hate the chaos and confusion that inevitably happens, even when I take the time to teach.. and re-teach.. and teach again. So when I started giving my students choice in their literacy centers, yes it hurt a little to let go of control, but it also solved all of the problems I had AND instantly increased my students’ engagement. Win!
Best of all, this system allows me to easily differentiate my centers too! Obviously, you differentiate with any center system you use, but this made it so much easier for me. P.S. I also have Instagram Stories all about how I run these centers saved to my IG highlights if you’re an auditory learner!
Is It Just a Free For All?
No! Every day students get to choose between baskets and a second center. I will go into more detail about what each of these are in a moment, but the second center choice will rotate down each day – so the pink group has magnets today, but the yellow group will have it tomorrow.
My students are grouped into differentiated groups with pink being my lowest and purple my highest. These groups change throughout the year and students grow. These groups are also not necessarily the same as my guided reading groups!
Differentiated Center Baskets
Each group has the choice to go to baskets every day. They can spend the entire morning doing baskets or they can go back and forth from baskets to their second choice center. I don’t require students to do a basket before going to the second choice center either.
Grab the colored circle center labels here.
So what’s in these baskets? Well, it depends on the group and what they need to work on. I use centers from my Themed Centers Bundle, my Differentiated Centers, my Editable Sight Word Centers.. basically a mix of everything!
Some groups need to work on letters and letter sounds, some need to work on sight words, some need to work on specific phonics skills, and some need to work on reading comprehension. Any of these things could be in the baskets! Here’s some examples:
This student is working on beginning sounds using this roll and cover center from my turkey themed centers. I try to make the centers as hands on and fun as possible because students will most likely be doing them multiple times throughout the week.
Second Choice Centers
One of our second choice centers is the magnet center. I have this GINORMOUS a/c unit in my classroom that is just wasted space, so I used that for my magnet center. However, you could easily just use cookie sheets or an oil drip pan!
I only allow 2 students to be at this center at a time, so if they don’t switch themselves out, I just tell them to switch after a while if someone else wants a turn. No big deal!
I wrote sight words on the a/c unit with permanent marker and they can build the words underneath with the magnets. I also printed an alphabet chart I found at poster size and they can match magnets to that. In the blue basket are magnetic word work activities.
Another second choice center is the writing center. Again, 2 students can be here at a time, so I limit them to doing one page and then they have to switch unless no one else wants to go there.
I use my thematic writing center packs for this center and I try to choose themes that match with what we are learning about. At the writing center, there are multiple activities they can choose from such as labeling, writing a story, writing a list, etc!
Another second choice center is to go to our classroom library – this one is always a favorite! I have students who will choose to spend the entire center time here and, honestly, as long as they’re engaged with books, i’m ok with that! Another one of our second choice centers is a technology program (the penguin icon on the rotations board), but we don’t have that at the beginning of the year. Instead, I have 2 groups who can go to the library.
Another second choice center is to go to the bookshelf, and then this rotation also has a third choice – write the room. If students are at the bookshelf, they can only choose from these books and students in the classroom library cannot read these books. That makes it a little more special.
For write the room, I try to keep it as simple as possible! I have sheets of paper with just lines on it. Students take a paper and a clipboard and they walk around the room looking for ANY word to write! You want to write the months of the year? Great! Your friends’ names? Ok! It never gets old!
Frequently Asked Questions
What are you doing during this time?
I am usually pulling my guided reading groups. I just call the kids from that group, they leave their center where it is and come to my table, and when we’re done they go back to their center. No rotations means I can fit more groups in because there’s no wasted time! I also progress monitor during this time and sometimes I just walk around and see how kids are doing and talk with them.
How do you get your students to do this independently?
A LOT of modeling and practice at the beginning of the year. I am going to have a blog post all about this (and I already did an Instagram story about it that you can watch now), but I teach them how to use the baskets first and slowly build up stamina. Then we slowly introduce the other centers. It takes about 2-3 weeks!
How often do you change out the activities in the baskets?
About every 2 weeks, although sometimes its every week and sometimes its longer. It just depends.. usually on how busy I am! Changing the centers isn’t always changing out every basket, either. Sometimes I leave 2-3 the same and I might move the activities from one color to another color.
I hope this helped you get an idea of how you can easily run literacy centers with student choice in kindergarten! What other questions do you have?
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I love this idea and will try this in my pre-k class with some modifications. My district wants rotations, yes even in pre-k! I agree rotations take up too much time!!!! Do you have problems with students visiting unassigned centers? Also, how long is your center time? I think for my age group, I might offer two more centers because their attention span is shorter.
It’s rare that they go to an unassigned center, just because we practice so much and the other kids are usually quick to call them out. 😉 We start with 30 minutes, but it quickly builds up to an hour to 1.5 hours. I find their stamina is a lot longer when they’re choosing what to work on. I’m thinking of adding in some more choices this year, too, just to keep things exciting for both them and me. 🙂
So you assign a second choice center? They can’t choose from any center correct? Is it ok if they stay at baskets the entire time?
Right, they have one second choice center and it rotates each day. You could give your students the choice of any, but I feel like only having that choice once a week keeps things exciting. Yes, they can stay at baskets the entire time or at the second choice center the entire time or go back and forth. As long as they’re engaged and learning I’m happy.
How do you go about introducing the centers?
I introduce basket centers first and I have very simple things in them. We review how to use them and practice to build up stamina for a few days. Then I slowly introduce the other centers. I introduce 1-2 a day. Some things like write the room we can all practice together and some things I introduce and then they can try it a few at a time during centers. By the end of the week or the beginning of the next week they are usually all introduced. That’s when I introduce our schedule and show them that their color group has 2 choices for the day. I hope that makes sense! If you still have questions, please let me know. You reminded me that I need to get the blog post about this up hopefully this weekend!
Hello! Where do you get the colored circles at from the front of your center bins?
I made them. If you email me at [email protected] I can send them to you. 🙂
Thank you so much! I will email you right now!
Would you send them to me too please?
Hi, I just linked them in the post so you can click the link and download them for free. 🙂 Let me know if it doesn’t work.
I got them, thank you!
What do you do if every student wants to choose the second center and there isn’t room for all of them? I guess I am asking how do you decide who chooses when?
The first two who get there get to use it. Kids generally have a good understanding of limited space, so I don’t have too many complain about that. If they race they have to come back and try again, which means someone else will get there first. If you find that they aren’t switching out and giving others turns, you can set a time limit and put a timer there. The other kids will usually hold them accountable as well. Also, when I send the kids out I don’t do the whole class at once. I’ll say “Purple, go find your centers” and watch as they go so I can see if there are any issues.
Great! Thank you!
Thank you so much for the detailed info and videos on Instagram. I hope I get to try it this year! 🙂
Do you have some kids that only go to second choice centers and never a basket? Do you find kids use both baskets and second choice equally?
(I’m just trying to think about prepping the baskets, as it seems the most time consuming for the teacher.)
Do you hold them accountable for turning work in each day? (seesaw picture/recording; turn in a response sheet, writing center work, etc)?
I do, but it’s not as often as you’d think. Many of the second choice centers can only fit 2 kids so I put a time limit. I also try to put things I know they’ll like in the baskets. For some groups that’s games or puzzles and for some it’s printables. If you find the appeal of baskets is wearing off, you can also let them work with a partner. It is a lot of prep at first, but once you have your centers prepped you can easily switch things out. I will also move things from one color to the next so I only have to replace a few baskets.
When I was in a district with tech I did have them take a picture for seesaw and I really liked that. Now that we don’t have tech I don’t collect their work. I tried with the paper but it was too consuming for me. I can see if they are engaged or not and for things that do have a paper I’ll just have them hold it up and show me before they put it in their mailbox.
Thank you!
When you change out the literacy baskets, do you introduce the new activities to the students? If so, how do you do this so it doesn’t take so much time?
I don’t usually because many of the activities are similar or easy to figure out. But if I do need to, I either show it at the beginning of centers, or I introduce it in small groups, or I take about 20 minutes to walk around at the beginning of centers on Monday and just introduce it to one student. Then they can show the other students in their color how to use it.
How often do you change out the baskets?
How often do you change out the activities in the baskets?
I usually change half the activities after one week and the other half the next week. But sometimes changing them just means swapping groups – so an activity that the blue group has may go to the green group.
Is the activity the same in each colored basket? For example, is the red group all doing the same activity in their colored basket plus their second choice?
No, they have 6 different activities to choose from. Each basket has a different center in it.
No, each group has 6 activities to choose from. So each basket has a different center activity in it.
What if you have one resource that you think two different groups could benefit from? Do you prep doubles? I don’t have a huge catalog of recourses built up yet and I have some that I’ve printed, cut, and laminated, but I guess I could always repeat that and put that activity in two different color baskets, right? I’m just trying to make due with what I have and don’t have enough resources to see that everything is differentiated for each group all the time. Especially at the beginning of the year when a lot of my students are at the same or similar playing field.
Yes I absolutely make doubles sometimes! Groups will often need to practice the same skills, so they get the same activities. And sometimes I’ll prep a center and give half of the cards or center mats to one group and the other half to the other group and then swap them the next week (if it’s a center that has a lot of matches or mats to work on). Hope that makes sense!
I love this and have done something similar in my years teaching as well! The only problem that I sometimes run into with giving them free reign to switch without a set “rotation time” is that kids will switch to a new game or choice without fully finishing the activity. Do you ever have that problem and if so how do you address it? Thanks for sharing!!
I just set that as an expectation up front and tell them that they have to finish completely. If I notice they don’t then they have to go back and finish. If it’s a repeated problem, they might have to check in with me or take a photo of their completed center in before switching.
Hi there,
I love the centers idea with choices! I wondered how do you keep all the materials organized that are not being used for centers? File Cabinet? Bins?
Thank you!
Liz
I have plastic sweater tubs for each month and then I also have tubs for each skill to hold non-seasonal centers. I put the center pieces in a plastic baggie and then just throw it in the tub! I keep all my recording sheets digital, but you could also keep a binder or folder ready to go.
Hi Natalie! I’m interested in giving my students more choice this year. I have the following centers currently: writing center, word work (differentiated by group), poetry center, read to self, and computers. I also change out my word work activities about every 2 weeks, but my biggest challenge is teaching them how to do the new activity. It usually takes up small group time which I feel is wasteful. When do you find time to introduce the new basket activities?
Challenge #2: I want my students to be using time wisely and visiting all the centers each week. What do you do if a kid only picks 1 or 2 second choice centers (say computers and poetry) and never picks up a book from the library?
I’m curious to hear your thoughts and solutions. Thank you as always!
Hi! Great questions! I try to choose activities that are predictable and that won’t need explaining. That’s why I like my science of reading centers – because only the skill changes. But at the beginning of the year, you’ll need to do some explaining! I try to 1. Only put out a few activities that I think will need an explanation and 2. Either do a demo really quick before sending them to centers or pull a few students to explain it to right at the beginning of centers. Then they can explain it to other students.
I don’t worry if students are only going to some second choice centers so long as they’re working and engaged. Every student will have different interests and they will have opportunities to read or write throughout the day. But you can always encourage them to try out a new center! Sometimes students choose the same center over and over because they have anxiety about new things and it’s comforting. You can encourage them to try out that new center with you or with a friend for a short period of time and then go back to their preferred activity. And some students will naturally become more relaxed and try new things as the year goes on!
I am so excited that I have happened upon this post. I am a veteran teacher but for some reason this year my center rotations are a nightmare. It takes them forever to begin, work, and finish never is happening. They talk through everything. I have been looking for something that will encourage them to do the work. I have a choice center set up where they choose the word work they do, but they are tearing all of the things up as they are housed in sterlite 3 drawer carts and multiple kids may get in the same drawer at a time. It just isn’t working this year.
Can you describe how you call students to your table for small group during center time? Since there are no rotations, do you just call them by color group? Do they clean up what they’re working on or leave it to go back to after your small group? I have a full time parapro who also runs a small group. I’m just trying to wrap my head around how we would go about calling our groups to our tables without choas. I’m so used to timed/forced rotations, but I’m ready to try something new!
I usually just called the student names, but you can absolutely just call color groups too. They left their center as is and sent back to it when our group was finished.
This is amazing Natalie! Seasoned teacher here who’s ready for something new! Really…thank you!!!