You know I love a good list and now it’s time to get a list together of the classroom centers you need. Now just to be clear – this isn’t a wish list and this isn’t an “if-I-build-it-it-will-come” situation. You know the size of your classroom. You know how much staff you have. It will do you no good to list the 32 centers you want to some how fit into your regularly sized classroom. It’ll just annoy you when you need to cut down the list. So be reasonable. And remember you’ll need more centers than you have groups of kids. And you will need several independent work centers for when you students aren’t with you or an aide.

Centers You May Want in Your Class:

• Morning meeting/Circle time
• Direct Instruction
• Fluency
• Paraprofessional Run Station (reading, spelling, math, etc.; we call ours Language and the aide works on reading IEP goals in the morning and communication/social skill goals in the afternoon)
• Science/Social Studies (many schedule might not have time for both science and social studies every day do you can always alternate days)
• Independent Work (work station, table time, factory, etc. – any name works!; I have 2 independent work stations in my room)
• Computer
• Break Time/Play Time
• Quiet Reading/Book Time
• Drawing/Art
• Math Centers
• Reading Centers
• Writing Centers
• Group Time (social groups, games, etc.)
• Sensory Center
• Life Skills
• Cooking (if you don’t cook every day, you could work on cooking related tasks such as looking up recipes, planning cooking, and recipe activities on days you don’t cook)

 

Which stations you have in your room, depends completely on the group of students you have had. Throughout my years of teaching I have had all of these stations in my classroom at different times. It depends on the level and needs of your student, staffing, and grade level.