Whole Group Organization

Organizing Rotations

As teachers whether in the general education classroom or special education, you can benefit from ELA Rotations.  However, organizing rotations is the first step.

There are a lot of moving parts to ELA rotations.  Organizing is KEY!  How I organize my ELA rotations are:

• I use a 2 hour block with 20 minutes for each rotation.  15 or 30 minute rotations are also an option.  There will be   6 rotations in all.  3 will be reading, and 3 will be writing.  Reading and writing activities will overlap.

• Option 1: Each student will have a clipboard with a paper for the week of which rotation they are at for a specific time for each weekday.  They will keep any extra or unfinished work on the clipboard as well.

• Option 2: You can also have each group have the same rotations and put it on the board or smart board.  Then, students won’t have a separate paper.  This is an example of a reading small groups.  

• Several students can be at the same level, however, they just need to follow the noise level expectation.

• An example of a day/week of a 2 hour rotation will be:
  • Rotation 1 – Teacher Table – Reading
  • Rotation 2 – Reading-Independent Reading
  • Rotation 3 – Technology – Reading – RAZ Kids
  • Rotation 4 – Teacher Table – Writing
  • Rotation 5 – Word Work – Rainbow Writing
  • Rotation 6 – Technology – Typing Program

or

• • Rotation 1 – Teacher Table – Reading
  • Rotation 2 – Reading-Independent Reading
  • Rotation 3 – Letter Beads
  • Rotation 4 – Teacher Table – Writing
  • Rotation 5 – Word Work – Telephone Words
  • Rotation 6 – Independent Writing

• I use a visual timer next to me so students know how long they have before rotating
• LOTS OF PRACTICE!!!! This doesn’t happen overnight.  Start out small.