Center Struggles

So, two weeks in and I’m already struggling with centers.  I am so used to teaching upper grades that are so much more independent than these children.  Plus, I have short chunks of time with which to work.  Here is a look at my schedule:

I have 3 good sections of time for centers, but figuring out how to manage them has been a challenge.  I was originally trying to rotate my children through 3 centers, plus me.  However, this amount of movement caused chaos in my room.  Then another teacher said that her kids stay at one center for the whole time and switch each day.  I tried this, but apparently my centers aren’t long enough, and my kids lose interest.  So, next week, we are trying a compromise.  We will be using the schedule below (click on it to get a schedule and the forms that I am using with it for FREE) and kids will switch centers once, so that they should go to 2 centers a day (except for Math on Tues. and Fri).  I am hoping this will allow enough movement to keep them focused, but not so much that they lose it.  I will let you know how it goes as the week progresses.

 

BTW – If you haven’t seen the TPT newsletter, my Reading Logs were chosen to be a part of it!!  I am super excited!  I am also having FB page contest, so don’t forget to enter!