One day at a time

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Home : 2007 : July : 26

One day at a time
By lenarmc

I introduce one workstation per day. I show the class how the station works, and then I call two students up to the station to practice since I only allow 2 students at a workstation at one time. We then talk about what
they did right and what they may have forgotten to do. Some of the workstations are pretty easy and self-explanatory so they don't need as much rehearsal as the others. I make sure they really practice the listening station and computer station. I also make sure that they know how to do an inventory sheet for my phonics station. We spend most of our time practicing in the classroom

library (reading station) on how to select just right books, how to handle the books, what the colored dots mean, etc. After about 3-4 weeks of rehearsal, we have dry runs with the management board.
After about 6 weeks, they are usually ready. I start the 6th week with just one station per day so that I can observe. After each observation I bring the class back to the meeting area so that we can discuss. About the 7th week we add a workstation. By week 9, we are doing the full 45 minute workstation schedule.
I work at a Reading First school so I was fortunate enough to attend a workshop done by Debbie Diller on workstations. You should read her book because it is very easy to read, and I've have had to do minimal maintenance for each station. The stations are also easy to maintain.
The easiest thing to remember is to slow down to speed up. The more time you spend rehearsing, the less amount of time (if any) that will spend problem solving when you should do guided reading.