How to Create Work Centers for Third Grade
Flexible learning centers allow a teacher to work one-on-one or in groups with some students while others complete independent activities within work stations. Most third graders enjoy the physical release of moving from station to station within a center and are able to function well in center groups, but they require activities that allow them to work quickly and move on to something new as their attention spans are still relatively short. This plan for creating a learning center is based on Laura Ingalls Wilder's popular third-grade-level novel "Little House on the Prairie."
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Instructions
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Arrange four work stations, each with its own subject focus. The first station could be for story-related crafts, the second for writing or drawing a student's own biography, the third for science projects related to the story, and the fourth for learning about history and the changes that have taken place in every day life since Wilder's childhood.
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List activities that will take place at each station. At the crafts station students, will do beadwork using Native American style beads like those the Ingalls family found on the prairie. For example, students could make a corn husk doll or stitch pre-cut felt letters and shapes onto fabric quilting squares. At the biography station, students will follow guided steps to write or draw about their own lives. At the science station, students are guided through the steps of planting and tending their own tiny crop of grass seeds or learn to design a sod hut. Students at the history station will use images and text to learn about the westward movement and how technology has changed over time. They will use art supplies and their imagination to project how technology might change in the distant future.
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Arrange the physical space for your center. Have a work table for each station to hold materials and allow students to work comfortably. Individual desks also can be used. Separate the stations with office cubicle type dividers that can also hold materials and posted instructions. Assign space for material and project storage.
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Split the classroom into at least four groups and teach students a routine for moving as a group through the stations. Do this the same way each time and in an orderly fashion. Students could move counterclockwise at designated intervals, for example.
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Assign students the responsibility for putting away the center materials and allow a set time for them to do so.
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Tips & Warnings
Activities can be updated with the addition of new cards in a sleeve or fresh materials help keep students interested in the center.
Include a variety of tasks that range from difficult to easy while keeping the time spent on each activity relatively short. Try to appeal to the five senses.
Evaluate the center's success through informal observations and class discussion or more objectively with graded testing.
Ask class members for suggestions of an appropriate name for the center through classroom discussion or a vote.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit school image by Jerome Dancette from Fotolia.com
