Travel Tuesday

This year Mrs. Bee and I decided to try a new routine during the time when some of our students are pulled out for 30 minutes of English language development lessons. We are doing a rotation that repeats every week, so the children who stay with us do a different activity each day.

Travel Tuesday consists of the kiddos rotating through table stations with their very own passport that we stamp upon completion of the activities. We started out having the kids move from one table to the next freely as they completed activities, but that made for a very hectic work time. It was too noisy and I felt pressured to stamp passports and direct kids where to go next while not having time to really sit with kids and interact with them as they worked. Maybe it was because the activities were still new, but it just didn't feel right.

I decided to have the kids stay at their tables for a certain amount of time rather than letting them switch as soon as they finished something. As a result, some kids finish before the time is up and some kids don't finish, but everyone gets a full 10 minutes at each table. We provide a list of instructions at a few of the tables (the "important" ones) so the kiddos can always repeat the activities if they have time.

At one table, the kids have to choose a book (sight word books, Bob books etc.) and they read the book using one of those green witch fingers to point to each word. Then, they use a whisper phone and read into that. Then they take a little stuffed animal from the box and read to their furry friend. Last, they read to a buddy or they read to me. I try to stay at the book table so that I can hear kids read and then I write down what book they read in their passport so I have a record.

At another table, the kiddos practice the sight word of the week. Mrs. Bee and I got very brave and made paint bags. Basically we poured Tempura paint into a gallon size plastic bag, then folded over the top and sealed it with duct tape. The kids use Qtips to write the sight word five times in the paint. These bags are great because when you smooth the paint out again, the words are erased. After writing in the paint, the kiddos use bingo stampers to fill in a bubble letter version of the sight word. Finally, if they have time, they use letter stamps to write the sight word. I have three different types of letter stamps in the box and I put the correct letters for each week's word in a separate plastic baggy for each kind of stamp (small, large and dot).

Those are the two "important" tables and then I put out one or two "choice" tables depending on which class it is. Sometimes I put out pattern blocks, science exploration trays, or a phonics game--something that the kids can do without needing help. We rotate so that each group of kids gets to do two of the stations. I stamp their passports as a way of keeping track of which stations they do each week.

Now that they have done the stations for several weeks, they know the routine and our Travel Tuesday goes much more smoothly. Especially in the PM class where I have a high school helper every day. She does the sight word table and I do the book table and that works out really well. I love that I have a chance to listen to each child read and it's fun to see the kids reading the sight word books successfully.

I feel like I am doing a better job with reinforcing the sight words this year and we finally completed our collection of Heidi's Songs CD's so we now have a song for every single sight word except for saw. This week's songs are super cute and the children have such a fun time singing the songs every day. It's nice to have a component that lets the musically inclined kiddos shine and shake it a little bit.

Wednesday is our Words on Wednesday day, so maybe I will post about that tomorrow. We have been using Words Their Way materials and making our own letter sound sorts each week.