THE PATH
We help K-5th-grade teachers tame their center rotations so they can actually teach in small groups while off-group students finally work independently.
Your students are at different stages of academic development. How are you supposed to teach them all?
Teaching a group of 30 students all at the same time just isn’t the best practice. Not for the bulk of the material that students need to learn. Students have different learning styles, master material at different times, and some need more time to process material presented to them.
Small-group instruction allows you to meet with students and give them the personal attention and guidance many need to process and retain what they learn. The problem becomes what to do with your off-group students. You know, the ones who are not at your table. They can’t just sit there and stare at the walls or worse, work on a packet of boring worksheets waiting for their turn.
Engaging, meaningful, and hands-on learning centers are the key. But they can create myriad problems and obstacles if not implemented effectively. This is exactly why I created Learning Centers Made Easy™ and the Easy Centers Framework™.
From the start, your small group block center rotations can run like a well-oiled machine and allow you to actually teach in small groups while your other students work independently.
Your students can't work independently in centers. They need too much help.
You have the system needed for students to rotation through centers or stations. But you are still having an issue with students not able to work independently. The interruptions at your teacher table are endless and they simply won’t stay in their centers and complete the work.
Yep. Been there. Done that. Got the t-shirt! The Easy Centers Framework™ was born out of the need to solve this problem. For years I was told it was a classroom management issue. While there is an element of classroom management involved, my students were not unruly and classroom management was my expertise. They often put the most difficult students in my classroom because of it. But centers…yep…that’s where all the problems reared their ugly heads.
See the problem wasn’t with the system…well the center rotation system. It was with the actual activities themselves. The activities I put inside the centers were meant to be engaging and help students, but the reality was that they only produced endless questions and “teacher, I need help” blurt-outs. The unending line at my small group table was frustrating. Then one day I started jotting down some observations during small groups.
I noticed that students were eager to go to centers each day. They didn’t dread them. They wanted to do hands-on activities. And that is about where the positives ended. The moment they got into the centers, they didn’t know where to start. They weren’t sure how an activity was supposed to be completed. They weren’t able to complete the activities in the allotted time. They became frustrated. They became disengaged. They then became off-task, bored, interrupting and distracting students.
That’s why the Easy Centers Framework™ is the solution! When your center activities have clarity, consistency, and functionality, your students are set up for successfully working independently. Clarity, because the expectations and outcomes are clearly explained. Consistency because the activities follow familiar game styles that students already know how to play. The content and skills change, but how they complete the activities does not. Functionality because students are not overwhelmed and can complete the activities in the alloted time meaning they feel successful and know they are capable of reaching the goal…so they stay engaged.
One more thing to plan. More time spent searching for these "magical activities". NOT!
Absolutely not! LCME™ is the solution. You shouldn’t have to spend your weekends and weeknights scrolling endlessly looking for activities that your students can actually complete independently, so you can teach in small groups.
LCME™ is a growing library of literacy, phonics, grammar, and math center activities that follow our Easy Centers Framework™ and are designed to make centers run like a breeze.
Best of all…your time is saved, and you can take back your non-contract hours to spend on things that they should be spent on…friends, family, and self-care!
Inside LCME™ Pro+, you will have a proven step-by-step system — tried and tested in real classrooms from Kindergarten to 5th grade — and used by real teachers to successfully implement centers during small-group instruction. You also get access to an endless library of literacy, phonics, grammar, and math center activities (currently over 3500 activities) that will save you time (and money…ahem TPT)! You also get every center activity we create in the future.
Got Questions?
If you are ready to finally meet your students where they are at and successfully teach in small groups while also ensuring that your off-group students are working independently on meaningful, engaging, teacher-created activities that give them the review and enrichment they need to master the skills, join our growing community of teachers just like you inside Learning Centers Made Easy™. We are here to support and encourage you along the way. Your success is our success and we can’t wait to celebrate your huge wins with you!