Center Prescription Plan

How to Create a

Prepared by Dr. Carolyn Keasal

Center Management Plan• These are directions for creating a scheme for having centers in which students are mixed

ability, while you are instructing same ability students in small group. You will create a Prescription for Centers, with cards that show students where to go each day. The cards could be kept on the students’ desks or in a “center work folder” so they could look at them to know where to go on that day. If the card was laminated the students could cross out the centers that they have done with a dry-erase marker. Or they could mark the day they are one with a gem clip.

• To see who goes where and make sure that centers are not overcrowded, you could have the color-coded student names (color coded by reading group) on pieces of paper and also the names of the centers. You would physically arrange the students’ names of those students who are not with the teacher so that they are mixed ability at the centers, making sure to limit the number of students in each center. As you do this you would build the center prescription card to match where you place the names. This takes quite a bit of time and thought; however, once you have it, you could use this over and over again each week…unless you decided to add another center or substitute one, in which case you would have to rebuild the center cards. If you wish to try this with this scheme I have given you, you could type in the names of the students instead of “Student A”, Student B”, etc.

• If you have trouble don’t hesitate to ask me and I will be glad to assist you. I suggest you keep the codes to the cards in case you lose a student or gain a student, you can make the necessary adjustments.

• Please send me suggestions if you have some for how I can improve this. Thanks!

Carolyn KeasalAlabama Reading Initiative Regional StaffEmail: ckeasal@alsde.edu

Steps in Creating a Center Prescription Plan for a Classroom

What you need to know before you begin:1. How many rotations will you have (counting the teacher small group)? _____2. What is the order of groups (as they come to the teacher) and what level are

they?1.2.3.4.3. How many students in each group?Group 1 –Group 2 –Group 3-Group 4 –4. Would you want a time when the students who are not with you are completing

seatwork at their seats, as a part of this rotation?

•Sometimes I print out the empty grids (each one representing a student) and pencil in the number sequences, representing the centers. This allows me to lay them all out side by side at one time and helps me to ensure that I have three “students” in a center and that I have not repeated an exact sequence for two students in each rotation, etc.

•Each number sequence I use begins with a different number and all five numbers in the sequence are different. I use the same five or six number sequences over and over. This way…if I get the numbers in the first row correct, then just fill in the remainder of the sequence of numbers in the row, all will work out and I don’t have to check every day of the week to be sure that the numbers jive. If the first number does and I use the same five or six sequences then the other numbers in the row will jive also. The sequences I use are: 1,2,3,4,5…..2,3,4,5,6….3,4,5,6,1…. 4,5,6,1,2……5,6,1,2,3…..6,1,2,3,4 (those are if I am working with 6 centers). If I am working with five centers I use: 1,2,3,4,5…..2,3,4,5,1…..3,4,5,1,2…..4,5,1,2,3….and 5,1,2,3,4. These are the sequences I use for the columns, in addition to the teacher column which is T,T,T,T,T.

•For each rotation there may be a different number of centers “used” for that day. In the directions I have put a formula for figuring how many centers you need in that rotation. After you have done this…if you need only five centers used during rotation 1, for example, then only use 5 sequences of numbers for that rotation (row1, or row2, or row 3 or row 4). If you need 6 centers because of a greater number of students who are NOT with the teacher during the rotation, then use 6 sequences and so forth.

•It is pretty easy to copy and paste a column of numbers, “T’s” (for Teacher center), and the icons representing the centers. This makes the work of fixing the cards so much quicker than individually filling each box. To do that you hold down “ctrl” on the keyboard and click on what you want to select then do “ctrl c” for copy and “ctrl v” for paste after you have selected the area you want to paste them in. Much faster!!

•If teachers find that two students can not be together in a center they could have these students swap cards with other students (you would have to change the name on the card, however, if you put names on them instead of letters.) To be sure that these students are not scheduled for the same center at the same time, hold the grids next to each other and be sure those two do not have the same number in the exact same place on the card!

•Please contact me if you would like my assistance with this. Once the cards are done, the rest is easy for the students and for you!

Let’s BeginStep 1:Fix grid boxes that represent the number of rotations (including the teacher rotation). You need enough boxes so that each student is represented by a box. (20 students – 20 boxes). Each row will be a day of the week. The columns represent the rotation within a day.

Rotation 1 Rotation 2 Rotation 3

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Step 2:Give each box a letter name (that will later become the student name and designate if it is for AL, OL, BL. If you have 4 groups/4 rotations then it might be AL, OL-1, OL-2, BL (ex.)

A -OL B -OL C -OL D -OL E -OL F -OL

G -OL H -BL I -BL J -BL K -BL L -BL M -AL

T -ALS -ALR -ALQ -ALP -ALO -ALN -AL

In this class I have

OL-7

BL -5

AL- 8

Step 31. Let’s begin with the boxes for the OL students. Put a “T” in the column of the grid that stands for the

rotation that they will come to the teacher for small group instruction. (I made the background colors to match the group so you could see them more easily. I normally just leave them white. After you do the OL group go ahead and do the BL and then the AL groups. This is the easy part!!

A -OL B -OL C -OL D -OL E -OL F -OL

G -OL H -BL I -BL J -BL K -BL L -BL M -AL

T -ALS -ALR -ALQ -ALP -ALO -ALN -AL

In this class I will call the groups in the following order: OL, BL, AL

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Step 41. Figure how many centers you will need based on how many children you would like to have in a center at

one time. Here’s how to do that: Take the total number of children in the class and subtract the children who will be with the teacher at the small group table. The difference will be the students that are in centers during that rotation.

Example: Teacher has 7 students in her OL group and 20 total students. 20 – 7 = 13 students in centers during the rotation.

Divide that number by the number of students you would want at a center at one time (3) so 13 / 3 = 4 1/3 so you would need 5 centers during that rotation or you could have 3 centers that have 3 students and 1 center that would have 4 students. Make that decision. For the purposes of this illustration I have chosen to use 4 centers (during this rotation) that could hold 4

students each, but I want to plan for three students to be in each of four centers and one center will have 4 students each day

I’m going to have 5 centers in my room…but during this particular rotation only 4 of those 5 centers will be used. The other center will be used on other days or in a different rotation.

Step 5:

We will name the centers with numbers, 1,2,3,4,5 (for example) Begin placing the numbers in the boxes in a center rotation column.

Step 61. Move to the next grid box and begin the numbers differently, but for the ease of doing this keep the numbers coming in a

predictable sequence. (2,3,4,5,1) (3,4,5,1,2) (4,5,1,2,3) (5,1,2,3,4)...but remember only use enough sequences for the number of centers you are going to have during that rotation. (So if I decided to have 4 centers, I would only have four sequences that I use during that rotation (1,2,3,4,5 2,3,4,5,1 3,4,5,1,2 4,5,1,2,3) --- After doing this you have completed the first rotation schedule – Congratulations!! Can you look at the grids and see who is in centers together in that rotation for the first day? ( H, L, M are in center 1; I,N, Q are in Center 2; J, O, R are in center 3; and K, P, S and T are in center 4) A -OL B -OL C -OL D -OL E -OL F -OL

G -OL H -BL I -BL J -BL K -BL L -BL M -AL

T -ALS -ALR -ALQ -ALP -ALO -ALN -AL

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Step 71. Now figure how many centers you need for the second rotation. Total # of students minus # of students that are with the

teacher in small group instruction (20 – 5=15). Divide that by 3 students in each center – 15/3=5 centers that you will need to use in the second rotation. Keeping that in mind, you will need 5 different sequences of numbers. (1,2,3,4,5 2,3,4,5,1 3,4,5,1,2 4,5,1,2,3 and 5,1,2,3,4.) Put them in the appropriate boxes. Note: I did check to be sure that two or more students in the same group did not have sequences of numbers that were the same as each other for both rotations – so they would be mingling with different friends during different rotations in the same day.

A -OL B -OL C -OL D -OL E -OL F -OL

G -OL H -BL I -BL J -BL K -BL L -BL M -AL

T -ALS -ALR -ALQ -ALP -ALO -ALN -AL

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When I do this I only have to look at the number in the Day 1 places because I only have 5 sequences of numbers. If day 1 works, then the other days work also.

Step 81. Now figure how many centers you need for the third rotation. Total # of students minus # of students that are with the

teacher in small group instruction (20 – 8=12). Divide that by 3 students in each center – 12/3=4 centers that you will need to use in the second rotation. Keeping that in mind, you will need 4 different sequences of numbers. (1,2,3,4,5 2,3,4,5,1 3,4,5,1,2 and 4,5,1,2,3) Put them in the appropriate boxes. Note: I did check to be sure that two or more students in the same group did not have sequences of numbers that were the same as each other for both rotations – so they would be mingling with different friend during different rotations in the same day.

A -OL B -OL C -OL D -OL E -OL F -OL

G -OL H -BL I -BL J -BL K -BL L -BL M -AL

T -ALS -ALR -ALQ -ALP -ALO -ALN -AL

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Note: you also want to be sure that the student has 2 different sequences of numbers in each of his rotations so he is not going to the same center in the same day!

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Step 91. Voila!! The hard part is over! Now you want to give each center a picture and title in addition to the number you have

already given it. Then you put the little pictures onto the card templates…but what you have created already is the code for what picture goes on what card and in what position. Then assign the students a letter that corresponds to the letters on the code boxes and their leveled reading group. Lastly, type in the student’s name. You might want to color code these names as shown.

O -AL

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A -OL

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H -BL

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Center 1 – Letter and Sounds

Center 2 – Reading

Center 3 – Writing

Center 4 – Word Work

Center 5 – Listening

Teacher Small Group

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

1 2 3Student A’s Centers

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

1 2 3Student H’s Centers

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

1 2 3Student O’s Centers

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

1 2 3Shawna’s Centers

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

1 2 3Bradley’s Centers

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

1 2 3Martavious’ Centers

A sampling of the center cards: one from OL, BL and AL

Student names added. (Color-coded for group level)

Note: If you are unsure about how many you have in centers and are they mixed ability, in the template for this there are rectangles with the student names (letter names/color coded for group) on them and rectangles with center names, icons, numbers on them. Lay the center names out and then look at one rotation and put the students where they are as shown in the code cards. You can check yourself this way.

If you have difficulty with this ask your reading coach to work with you on this or contact Carolyn Keasal at ckeasal@alsde.edu.

Student A Student B Student C Student D

Student E Student F Student G Student H

Student I Student J Student K Student L

Student M Student N Student O Student P

Student Q Student R Student S Student T

1

Letters and Sounds

2

Reading

3

Writing

4

Word Work

5

Listening

Teacher Small Group

Student H

Student M

Student L

Student I

Student Q

Student N

Student J

Student R

Student O

Student K

Student S

Student P

4

Word Work

3

Writing

2

Reading

5

Listening

1

Letters and Sounds

Student Q

This is the depiction of Day 1, Rotation 1. The blue on-level group is not in centers. They are with the teacher in small group instruction.

Teacher Small Group

Student E

Student C

Student A

Student G

Student F

Student D

Student B

On the first rotation there is no one in this center on Day 1.

Note: all center groups are mixed ability but the teacher group is same ability. This is the beauty of this plan!

Carolyn Keasal