Centers and Independent Work - Part Three

Writing Centers – Part One

          Writing is a skill that our students should always be practicing, especially across the curriculum.   Some materials you may want to keep in your writing center are: paper (lined, unlined, variety of sizes, shapes and colors), index cards stamps and stamp pads, pens, markers, crayons, pencils, colored pencils, dry erase markers, stationary and envelopes, magazines, greeting cards, sight word cards, vocabulary word cards, writing journals or folders, clipboards, graphic organizers.

Book Review

          One writing center idea is called Book Review and it’s one way to tie writing and reading together. In this center, students write a review for a book they have read. It could be a book from whole group or small group instruction, or it could be a book they’ve read independently. After reading, students write a review of their book containing the following components: summary, rating, recommendation, and connection. You could have a premade form, or you could have the directions posted and students could use lined paper.  Students would write a brief summary of the book, making sure to include Who? (the character), Wanted? (the goal), But? (the problem), So? (the plan), Then? (the resolution).  Students will then rate the book.   Students will write a recommendation.

            That is just one way a book review could look like. It’s just one idea. If you want to use Book Review in your classroom, you’ll need to tailor it to fit your students’ needs.  If you haven’t taught your students to summarize with the “Who, Wanted, But, So, Then” strategy, then you wouldn’t want to include that strategy.  Some other considerations might be:  Are students doing this activity in pairs or independently? You may have students who need a partner as a support. Other students may be able to work independently.   What might this center look like?  Teach your students this center explicitly, I could have made an anchor chart during the lesson and that chart could live with this center at a table in my room. Another option would be to put the directions and an example with a familiar text in a file folder with paper and students could take it to their desk to complete. You might start the students with a premade form, and then transition them to a journal or blank sheet of paper.   What skills would my students need to have in order to do this center? If you use the center as is, your students would need to know how to summarize.   How can I support students with this center? In addition to allowing students to work with a partner and providing an anchor chart and/or premade form, you could also support students by providing sentence frames they might need to write their review. Students could practice this center with text that they have read multiple times, so they are familiar with the story. All of these things could support all students and especially EL students. For students who are on grade level with extension, this center could be extended by letting them write their review online on a class website. If you have technology, they could use the iPad to film their review and make an iMovie to share with the class.  How can I hold students accountable for this center?  Students could write their book reviews in a centers journal that is turned in every week.