Work Boards

Work boards help to keep students and teacher organized!  For students, they are a visual reminder of what options are available and where they should be during the independent work times.  For teachers, they are an at-a-glance helper when trying to figure out who is where and when.

In the past I’ve used a pocket chart for my Daily 5 work board in the past.  Now I use the SMARTBoard.

During Wake Up Work, students select their session choices.  They use the icons at the bottom of the page to indicate what options they select for each session.  They just slide their option to their cells each morning.  At the start of each Daily 5 session we have a “Status of the Class” meeting, where we review expectations.

I always add my picture for when I meet with their group, so they know ahead of time that session is not free.  Same with pull out or push in teachers.  I add a picture of the pull out teacher to the student’s cell in the appropriate time slot.  Any free cells, students self-select.  Some days we all do the same session at the same time (choice).  Some days I pick for all sessions.  Some days they pick for all.  Some days they pick for only one and I pick the rest.  It all really just depends on the timing, the schedule, and what I feel like.  🙂  Nothing is set in stone.  They know when there are limits to a specific area (only 4 can do audio books).  They know how to count across each session to check for numbers.  Most areas I have no limits (read to self, read with a buddy, writing table).  Makes life easier!  They know that if they are doing read with a partner they have to actually HAVE a partner, and that it’s their job to find one.  Picking partners is a mini lesson that is taught and practiced in September.

 Download My SMARTboard Daily 5 Sessions Work Board

Download my SMARTboard Daily 5 MATH Sessions Workboard

 Download Other (Project) Work Board Materials

Project Work Boards:  Whenever we are in the midst of a large project, I like to create Status of the Class sheets (another type of work board).  I create these in MS Word or on the SMARTboard.  I add student names as well as icons and titles/names for each state of the project.  We use these for several projects including our Penguin Unit Project, Movie Maker Projects (Personal Narratives & Remembering First Grade), as well as during Writer’s Workshop (stages of the writing process).