Starting kindergarten stations

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Starting kindergarten stations can be a bit daunting! Let’s see if this post can help!

Starting kindergarten stations can be tough! How do I start stations in kindergarten? Let me show you. Sanity savers and tips so you can love your back to school station time!

Starting kindergarten stations? Do it simply!

My goal for that first week of school is to have students GO to their station and STAY! So when I have a fun and engaging task for them to do there, it is simple.

Puzzles are easy. You don’t need to explain much… “This is a puzzle!” DONE!

How do I start stations in kindergarten? Let me show you. Sanity savers and tips so you can love your back to school station time!

We love playing with Playdoh!

Listening to books is an easy station to introduce. I like to first have a student model how to listen to the beeps and turn the page. For many students, this is a completely new thing for them. (Pretend not to notice my messy desk.)

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And we practice handwriting on the overhead station! Simple!

Start kindergarten stations! How do I start stations in kindergarten? Let me show you. Sanity savers and tips so you can love your back to school station time!

The library station is a slam dunk! Easy!

Starting kindergarten stations? Build them over time!

The writing station starts out really simple. Students just go there and write! They may only take one paper to work on. Over time, I nudge them toward doing more, but the first few weeks, I am happy with just going,writing, and staying.

As the month progress, we expect more. This station will be with us ALL YEAR.

The same is true in our pocket chart station. We learn it in our whole group then move it into our stations a few days later.

After the first week, I might discuss this station like this, “Friends, when you go to the pocket chart today and every day, I want to you write one of the sentences you made. Let me show you.” NOW, every day, I expect an attempt at writing. I applaud their best efforts.

When you start stations, keep the activities predictable!

When students know the structure of an activity, then you can change the content they are working with. As the year progresses, the complexity will go up.

We played this game several times as a whole group. Then on the second week of school, it is ready to go into a station. My students were told this was a “bump” game. I have a billion “bump” games in my stations, so I wanted to be sure they understood how to play. From now on, I can swap this version out with another “bump” game and I don’t have to reteach the rules. It. Is. The. Same. Game… but with a different academic skill or theme.

Snap Cubes can be found HERE.

When you start stations, building Independence is KEY!

We know they are going to have some dependency tendencies. This is kindergarten… right? BUT I want my students to be empowered to solve their own problems.

“I Can ” cards are a great resource. Remember, you can make your own. All you need is a pen and a piece of paper. Kindergartners think their teachers are magical! They will love your drawings!

My students hear me say… 100 times a day, “How do you think you could solve that problem?”

I also praise those students who were “problem solvers” during our station debrief period. This is the time after station rotation #1 where we all return to the carpet. At this time I can send out compliments and offer short clarification.

Set high expectations

There can be a lot of important work being during stations. Set the behavior expectations high. Yes, there will be some chatter. The amount of chatter depends on how you set your expectations.

Beware… Transitions can be the death of you!

Finally

I will advise you to NOT put 10 new and different stations out at one time. You will lose your mind. If you look at my plans you will see they build over time. Students can listen to about 2 new station introductions a day… that’s it! AND… if they are not going to that station for several days, I know I will need to touch base with them so they are doing the task as designed.Generally, I introduce a few stations on Monday, then a few more on Wednesday…

This time is important. Getting routines in place are important. I know small group instruction starts around the 3-4th week of school, so how I introduce stations is important. They must be independent.

Comments

Emily Brown says

July 30 at 5:07 am

So helpful! I am SO excited about this year because I have so many thing from last year that worked and that are ready to go!! Learned a ton at the SDE conference, too!! 🙂 Thanks for sharing.

- Deedee says
  
  July 30 at 8:09 am
  
  You are welcome!!!
  
Christine says

July 30 at 12:00 pm

How many Stations do you have and how many do they do a day?Do you expect students to go to all Stations? How do they move?

- Deedee says
  
  July 30 at 12:32 pm
  
  Stations Management I bet this post will answer a lot of your questions! If not, let me know!
  
Lauren says

August 24 at 8:05 am

Hey Deedee!

I have a quick question, how do the students know what part of the room to go to when they grab their station bin? Do they have a certain place to go with the station or do you just have them work at their desk?

Angie says

January 18 at 2:05 am

Hi Mrs. Willis,

Do you offer your writing lists anywhere? They look amazing!

- Deedee says
  
  January 21 at 8:06 am
  
  Yes! They are in the Writing Stations units. Simply click on the links in the blog post.
  
Joanna says

July 27 at 9:33 pm

Thanks so much for this post! I’m a first year teacher and it was super helpful.
Do you do guided reading during this time? If so… how many students do you pull at a time for guided reading? As you pull students for guided reading, it leaves students to work by themselves at that station. Does this cause a problem if they were playing a game? Thanks!

- Deedee says
  
  July 28 at 8:30 am
  
  Hi Joanna!
  
  It does not for me. I have students leaving my room all the time (speech or vision tutoring). This is how I handle it. If they are left alone at a station, I tell them to play with my dog, Dexter. Who is not in the classroom, but they hear a ton of stories about him… so they use their imagination. I actually have a picture somewhere where they put “Dexter” down as their partner in a response sheet. HA! One sweetie came up to me and said, “Dexter won!” I just replied, “Well, he is a smart dog.” (which is not really true… bless his heart!”
  
Jess says

August 14 at 2:20 pm

Hi DeeDee,
Do you have the updated literacy station cards somewhere? I love the cute graphics

- Deedee says
  
  August 18 at 3:17 pm
  
  Hi Jess!
  
  I updated them a few years ago. You can find some of them in this unit:
  
Samantha says

September 6 at 6:29 pm

Hi! This was super helpful! What is your procedure for students that have questions or get done with your work or station early while you’re working with a group? How do you manage those situations?

- Deedee says
  
  September 9 at 7:59 am
  
  Here is a post on early finishers: Early Finishers
  
  We have an anchor chart for what to do if they have questions… Basically… they are not allowed to talk to me while I am at my table unless “they are bleeding or their hair is on fire.” This makes them laugh. I don’t think I have a picture of the anchor chart, but it is a “self-help strategy” chart. You can find it: Anchor Charts
  
Rhonda says

January 16 at 7:08 pm

I love your stations…am slowly adding your bundles to my rotations. Finally feel like I am getting a handle on my literacy stations. Now I am working on my math stations. Due you have math station cards like the literacy ones?
If so, where can I find them?

thanks

Do you like FREE?

How to Start Stations ~ Fitting it all in!

Starting kindergarten stations? Do it simply!

Starting kindergarten stations? Build them over time!

When you start stations, keep the activities predictable!