Reading Rotations: Organizing it All

Now that you have the basic overview  (if you missed this post, I would highly recommend going back and reading it) of what is happening during Reading Rotations in my room, I thought I would show you what I have done to organize it all and get it going with my students.

I have 4 different groups in my room.  I named them....and you will be blown away by the creativity here....A, B, C, D.  I know.  I told you.  So creative.

My reading groups are homogenous.  I think that, for me, I am able to target the reading needs of my students better this way.  There are many times during the day that we use heterogeneous groupings in my room, but this just isn't one of them.  I know some of you prefer to mix your reading groups up, and that is fine.  Either way will work in these reading rotations.

Once my students were grouped, I gave each child a schedule for their own group.  The schedules look like this.

You will notice that there are three rotations.  At this point, you are probably having a slight tinge of anxiety over the fact that I have three rotations but four groups.  Let me explain.

In the first two rotations (Rotation 1 and Rotation 2....again....super creative here) I meet with TWO of the smaller groups.  So, say on Monday, I will meet with A and B during Rotation 1.  All 16 kids come to the rug at once.  I give my directed lesson to them.  Then, during Rotation 2, groups C and D meet with me.  They come to the rug and get THE SAME lesson as Rotation 1.

Why do I do it this way?  Because now, during Rotation 3, I am free to move around the classroom pulling small groups for remediation/enrichment, or doing one on one conferences with students about their reading.

I also find that if I do the whole group lesson with 16, instead of 32, I have more kids listening.  Since they are closer to me (on the rug) I can make sure I have their attention more effectively.  Doing the lesson twice also has the advantage of the kids hearing it two times.  While they aren't with me on the rug, they are doing work at their seat.....and you can bet they are hearing SOMETHING of what I am saying.  Also, having the groups and the timed rotations ensures that I don't talk too much.  I am limited on my time, so I focus what I say.

Now that the students know where they are going and when, the last thing I gave them to make sure they remain organized is this recording sheet.  On it, they mark what they did for the day, which book they read during Read to Self, if they completed a reading response card, what comprehension choice activity they did, what the reading response activity was, or if they met with my aide.  It is pretty open, but it allows the kids to record their activities.  I then put a score on it at the end of the week, and send it home for a grade, with any papers to go home attached.

Ok...so now you know the basics AND how to get it organized.  My next post will be about what the kids are doing in each station in much more detail than I gave in my first post.

You can get the rotation sheet here.

What questions do you have for me now about reading rotations?