How to Run Center and Activity Time in Your Classroom

Running center time or activity time in your classroom is a great way to give students more individual attention, while at the same time making them more independent. I have been running activity centers in my Kindergarten classroom since 1996, and I can't imagine a day of teaching without them. For those unfamiliar with center or activity time (I call it "rotation"), it is when you set up four (for example) different activities for the students to do and they rotate from table to table every 15 minutes (for example). Every child does each activity; it is not to be confused with "choice time" activities in which the student chooses where to go and how long to stay. Here are ways to run center time and activity time in your classroom.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

1. Purchase some form of timer. Timers can be purchased for your computer or as stand-alone clocks that either count up or down. It takes a lot of stress off the teacher if he or she is not having to watch the clock, because the timer will tell them when it's time to rotate stations.
2. Make manageable groups. Grouping the kids can make or break your center time. Personally, I do not believe in ability grouping (grouping the students by their academic ability). I group the students according to who will socially work the best with one another.
3. Decide how many students can be in each group. In California, we have 20 students in our class. I find five students in each group to be ideal. So I set up four activities and have five students in each group. If I had more than 20 students, I would opt to create another activity center rather than increase the number of students in a group.
4. Create a signal for the kids to rotate from table to table. I blink the lights on and off when it's time for the kids to rotate tables.
5. Have the kids rotate tables in the same direction everyday. We always go clockwise in the classroom so the kids are not constantly asking me which table to rotate to.
6. Ask for volunteers to help run the tables where the students may need help. If you cannot find adult volunteers to help you, you can always reach out to the older kids on campus. They usually love helping younger students.
7. Mix up the activities. I always try to make sure that of the four activities, there is some academic diversity among them. Typically I will have one language art center, one math center, one art center and one fine motor activity. Imagine that you are a student who struggles in language arts, for example, and you have to go to four language art centers in a row. It can be quite frustrating for struggling students if all the centers hinge upon skills they do not have.