New to 5th grade - need center ideas!!!

[carrieSAtoUSA]

I have taught lower elementary for 15 years and this is going to be my first year in 5th grade. I am really excited but nervous as well. I will be having a wide range of abilities in my class and would really like to get some good centers going so that I can work in small groups. ANY and ALL ideas would be most welcome!!!

[moblander]

I taught fifth grade for four years, and during my first two, I did not do centers. Students did not miss them, but, when I switched to teaching Open Court Reading, I found that I wanted to do centers during my workshop time. While I would work one on one with a student or with a small group, I would have the others work in centers. I set up a listening center where they would listen to the week's reading story, an art center where they could work on their art projects, a current events center, games center, math center, and writing center.

[javamomma]

Kids magazines! This makes a great center/reading area. It is also a super high interest center.

[fireboat]

I've taught 3rd and 4th. Some of the center ideas I've used:

1. Card games - Some I've printed from the Internet, some I've made myself using index cards. The "Everyday Math Deck" is great b/c you can play dozens of games with it. Also, vocabulary matching games, etc.

2. Puzzle center - Put a 1,000 piece jigsaw on a table in your room someplace. Kids can work on it silently for awhile when they're in center time or done with their other work.

3. Educational Board Games - Again, you can print lots of these from the Internet.... or you can buy pre-packaged ones. I have several math board games and a 50 states game. The kids love it.

4. Computer center - If you have a student computer in your classroom, you can choose an education "game of the week". They can play this game for a given number of minutes during center time. Many learning games can be found at: http://www.goofysmartkids.com There are plenty of other educational computer game sites as well.

5. Puzzle worksheet center - I always have a bin full of puzzle worksheets -- Word searches, crosswords, word scrambles, etc. etc. They always relate to a topic we're learning about.

Good luck. I hope this helps.

[MsTeacherLadyMa'am]

Newpapers. Call your local newspaper and see whether or not they give free copies to schools.

Also, I bought two "Take It To Your Seat" centers books. One is Literacy Centers and the other is Writing Centers. The pages are perforated so that you can tear them out and laminate them. They are published by Evan-Moor and I strongly suggest them!

[carrieSAtoUSA]

Thanks for all the great ideas. I have ordered the Literacy center book and am excited about using it. My Reading block is the one block that I am struggling with. I have 90 minutes to use whilst some of my children are doing a program called READ 180. During this time, I need to do all my language arts, except writing. I am struggling to decide how to do what! These books will certainly help whilst I work in small groups with the other kids. Thanks everyone!

[Zookeeper]

Debbie Diller has an excellent book out for older grades and centers (literacy stations). Have you heard about the Daily 5? It is a book written by two sisters (Stenhouse Publishing). I am using it in my first grade quite successfully, but it would work well with upper grades. It is not the change out the centers weekly thing.

[carrieSAtoUSA]

No, I haven't heard about the daily 5 but I will definitely look into it. It sounds good, especially if you don't have to switch out every week. Thanks for sharing!