In this course, you will learn how to create and implement center activities that boost independent learning in the classroom. You will start out by learning what a center is, what benefits it offers, and how to make the most of it. Next, you will explore some very common mistakes teachers make with centers and gain tips for keeping your planning time to a minimum. You will receive step-by-step instructions for creating a center schedule that students at every reading level can use independently.
Short on classroom space? You will get great ideas for storing your center and explore some alternatives to having a permanent spot for every center. You will master an easy, effective process for introducing centers and their materials to your students and develop strategies for what to do when things don't go quite as planned. The insights you will gain will show you how to adjust your centers routine for both your fastest learners and those who need more time.
Think centers can only be used for reading and language arts? Think again. You will discover effective ways to use centers to support math, science, and social studies instruction. You will also see how you can use technology - such as virtual bulletin boards, apps, and interactive white boards - in your center activities to help keep your students engaged. By the time you finish, you will have a wealth of resources and center ideas you can try out in your classroom immediately.
Cheryl Dick has more than 25 years of teaching experience and is currently a classroom teacher. She's taught 2nd, 4th, and 5th grade and has previously worked as an instructional coach. She graduated from Missouri State University with a Bachelor of Science in elementary education, with a focus on early childhood education. Cheryl also holds a master's degree in elementary education from Texas-Wesleyan University and a second master's degree in educational administration from Lindenwood University.
The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.
Hide Syllabus
Lesson 1
In our first lesson, you'll gain a clear understanding of what centers are. We'll dig into the three components that will make your centers effective and beneficial for you and your students. You'll discover the reasons centers are a valuable part of your daily routine—from increased success with core concepts for your students to additional small group instruction time for you. You'll also begin charting your own course by establishing the very first steps you need to take to make your centers the best they can be.
Lesson 2
You'll learn about some of the common mistakes teachers make when creating centers and discover some ideas for centers that will help you avoid these pitfalls. You'll also examine the benefits of creating durable and open-ended centers and discuss the importance of consistency in making students more independent workers and buying you more small-group instruction time. Finally, you'll gain some useful insights about creating paperless centers and begin your own centers planning by developing a center idea from the information in the lesson.
Lesson 3
This lesson teaches you how to pare down your centers planning and keep it that way, even as you add more centers for your students to complete each week. We'll talk about how long planning should take and where you might find ideas for centers. You'll examine your daily schedule and figure out how long your centers session should last each day and how to determine the number of centers you'll need.
Lesson 4
Wouldn't it be great to have a simple way to set up a centers schedule that all of your students could follow independently? That's what you'll gain in this lesson. You'll discover the reasons behind my centers grouping strategy and how to rotate your students quickly and easily to ensure that every child visits every center every week. I'll also share with you my secret for supporting both individual work paces and early finishers.
Lesson 5
While you're planning your centers, you can save time storing the materials you'll need as you go. In this lesson, you'll learn a great method for doing this. I'll also share a simple suggestion to help you put students in charge of their work for the week and keep track of what needs to be done. You'll also discover an effective way to track student progress and give feedback. Plus, we'll continue our conversation about permanent and portable centers and space-saving ideas.
Lesson 6
In this lesson, you'll learn how to navigate the ins and outs of center introductions. We'll talk about the different parts of an introduction, and I'll give you specific strategies for achieving the best possible result when helping your students discover how to use the schedule board and centers materials independently.
Lesson 7
There are alwasy last-minute, not-to-be-forgotten details that you need to have in place when you're getting ready to have your students start centers for real. We'll explore the items you may want to review with your students, and I'll share a fun game to make that process more memorable. You'll also learn about your role in the first week of centers: watching and adjusting. Finally, we'll do a double-check and make sure your centers are as kid-friendly as possible.
Lesson 8
In this lesson, I'll take you through the simple but purposeful process of changing centers each week. We'll explore how to handle new centers you add as your students become ready for more. You'll also gain a few more examples of every-weekers as we examine how important they are in helping you keep planning under control. Finally, you'll see how you can use the data you gather about your students' progress to inspire you as you create new centers.
Lesson 9
One of the biggest benefits of doing centers is that it "buys" you time for small-group instruction. In this lesson, you'll explore different grouping strategies for three kinds of small-group instruction using data. You'll understand the purpose of each type of small-group instruction and get a taste of what each kind of instruction looks like with some examples of questions, conversations, and activities that might occur during each lesson.
Lesson 10
Did you know that you can use the choice activities we introduced as part of our centers routine during other parts of our day? Here, you'll learn how choice activities in other subject areas are the same and different from those used at center time, and you'll discover an added benefit of using this technique in content-specific areas. You'll also gain a slew of ideas for choice activities for math and language arts times.
Lesson 11
Next, we'll talk about branching out from more traditional literacy and math centers to include centers that revolve around different subject areas. We'll explore centers possibilities in science and social studies that include art, literature, and vocabulary practice. We'll also examine exciting center ideas that incorporate technology like interactive white boards, apps, websites, and software. You'll come away with some ideas to try in each area right away and resources to explore further on your own.
Lesson 12
Do you feel like you need some more center ideas to get your brain juicing? Well, this is the lesson for you! We'll spend each chapter exploring center ideas for literacy and math centers that will boost your students' bottom line. You'll discover center ideas to supplement your every-weekers, ideas for activities that practice specific skills, and even center ideas to practice rote concepts like spelling words and math facts.
Hide Syllabus