Maximizing the Minutes:
Check out these online timers...these are great to count down the time.
If you need something more peaceful, I like this fireplace timer.
Time keeps ticking: back in the day, we used to teach English in a 45 minute block before we went to block scheduling. It was hard, but it could be done! Now I teach library in that same amount of time.
Students enter the library and line up on velcro dots. If you have tile instead of carpet, any graphic or indicator taped to the floor will work. Students just need a visual.
After students enter the library and are standing on their velcro dots, it takes about 3-5 minutes to sort them into their stations. They can view the board from their spot in line, but I also announce the names and then send them to their table one group at a time.
HINT: after a couple of weeks, students in the upper grades enter the library, look at the board and just walk over to their stations. They get down to business quickly because they do not like to waste time! More about the mechanics, seating, and Google charts can be found in the post, Create Stations....the mechanics.
Once students walk to their stations, they begin the activity in their tub right away. It is set up so that the stations do not require a whole lot of instruction to get them started. (The only exception to this is the robot station.) After 5-10 minutes of building, I take one group at a time to the shelves and help them make their book selections for checkout. After they take their book to the checkout desk, they return to their (SAME) station. With 10 - 15 minutes left, we listen to a story. I will have the kids transition to the story well or the areas around the story well (now we are all 3 feet apart), so they can hear and see.
We'll break it down here...If the class starts at 9:45 AM...
9:45-9:50 - Sort students into their stations, and have them report to their tables. I use this chart: GOOGLE SLIDES to COPY (this is the same chart I shared in my post The Mechanics).
9:50-9:55 - Students begin stations. They open their bin and begin to build, design, or code. At the beginning of our kindergarten, first, and second-grade classes, we take a moment to let them know how many books they can check out (sometimes the younger students can't remember if they returned their books, so we give them a reminder).
9:55-10:15 - Stations start to check out one table at a time. We help individuals find books.
10:15 - 10:30 - Story and/or lesson: we listen to the story or participate in a 15-minute mini-library lesson. At this point, students will transition to their "listening" spot. Red station gets the chairs in the story well. Other stations move to the colored dots that surround the story well. If their station is close to the story well, they will just remain at their table and remain seated on their stool. When we no longer have to social distance, students will sit together in the story well.
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| One station fits in the story well. |
This is a new schedule for us, but it is working well. In the past, we always started in the story well with a story and a lesson first. However, COVID-19 had us mixing things up and changing the order of how we operated! We currently don't use the story well like we used to; instead, we have some students sitting in the story well with social distancing and other students remaining in their station seats. If you like to start with the story and lesson and then move into stations, that worked for us too! There is a lot of flexibility. In the end, I felt that starting with stations had us transitioning fewer times in the 45-minute time period.
