Organizing ELA Rotations
As teachers, whether you are a classroom teacher or a special education teacher, organizing ELA Rotations is key to making sure they seamlessly.
Rotations
There are a lot of moving parts to ELA rotations. How I organize my ELA rotations are: I use a 2 hour block, two options:
- 20 minute Rotations – 6 rotations in all, 3 will be reading, and 3 will be writing. Sometimes reading and writing activities are interchangeable .
- 5 minute rotations – 8 rotations in all, 4 will be reading and 4 will be writing.
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.
- I have a Freebie for you in my Free Resource Library if you sign up below. You will have a digital and printable copy of the students ELA Rotation Chart.
Teacher Tip: Create one set for the classroom and just re-copy it each week or until it needs to get adjusted.
Option 2
- You can also have the students have the same groups for reading and writing. Then, you can put it on the board or smart board. Then, students won’t have a separate paper. This is an example of small group reading rotation
Whole Group Schedule
- Several students can be at the same rotation, however, they just need to follow the noise level expectation.
- An example of a day/week of a 2 hour rotation for one group would 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
Visual Timers
- I use a visual timer (not commissioned link) next to me so students know how long they have before rotating. The one I liked is similar to the one I use, however, there are a variety of visual timers available. You might find one cheaper.
- Another option is to display a timer on a digital board using Google Slides. Let me know if you want more information.
There is a lot that goes into ELA Rotations. Ultimately, the students will need lots of practice! I will be talking more about setting up activities for the groups and suggestions for each rotation in future blog posts! So, keep a lookout for that!
Don’t forget to get access to my Free Resource Library to get a copy of the Student Rotation Charts!