Below is an example of a phonics lesson that includes station rotations.
Pre-Assessment
It is important to have an idea about what your students are already capable of before grouping them for stations. This way, you can plan your small group instruction accordingly. I love using Socrative to assess. It's quick, easy for the students, and gives me immediate data that I need for grouping. In this lesson, I wanted to see how well my students could decode words with long e vowel blends. This way, I knew which students need more practice with decoding and blending and which students are ready to extend their learning.
Socrative quizzes are super quick. My students were able to take a 7 question quiz in less than five minutes. This kind of pre-assessment can be done at any time in the day. Morning work would be a great time to assign a quiz. For this lesson, I pre-assessed the day before doing stations. I pulled students in groups of 6 to take the quiz at my small group table at the end of the day.
Socrative quizzes are super quick. My students were able to take a 7 question quiz in less than five minutes. This kind of pre-assessment can be done at any time in the day. Morning work would be a great time to assign a quiz. For this lesson, I pre-assessed the day before doing stations. I pulled students in groups of 6 to take the quiz at my small group table at the end of the day.
After all students took the quiz, I was able to download the results within seconds. This helped me group the class for stations the next day. The results let me know which students need more practice decoding these words, and which students are ready to apply their knowledge in an extension activity. This way, I can plan effective small group instruction for phonics the next day.
Stations
Typically, I set up four different stations for a lesson. This way, there will be six students at each station. Two stations are normally a partner or independent activity that practices a previous or current skill that we've been working on. One station is a "tech station", which is typically a Wixie assignment that focuses on a skill. The last station is the "teacher station", where I deliver differentiated instruction based on the results from the pre-assessment. Each group of students spends 6-8 minutes at each station before we rotate. At the end, each group has visited all four stations.
Practice Station - Independent
This first station was an independent practice activity. This allowed students more practice with decoding words with long e vowel teams. On index cards, I wrote various long e words- both real and nonsense. Students had to read the word on each card, and record it as a real word or a nonsense word on their recording sheet. These worksheets are turned in after they finish the station, and can be used as another form of assessment.
Practice Station - Collaborative
This is the second practice activity station. I like to have at least one station that includes group or partner work so the students can work together and learn from each other. This is a 4-in-a-row game I made using Microsoft Word, but there are plenty of games you can download from Teachers Pay Teachers if you don't have time to create something on your own. In this game, students take turns spinning the spinner. If they land on "long e", they cover a picture with the long e sound. If they land on "short e" they cover a short e picture. The first partner to get 4 in a row wins.
Tech Station - Wixie
The tech station is usually the favorite, especially when we use Wixie. For this lesson, I put together a short Wixie assignment that focused on long e words. On the first page of the project, students were asked to sort pictures into "long e words" or "short e words". On the next several pages, students practiced spelling by filling in missing letters for long e words. On the last few pages, students read a sentence that included long e words and drew a picture to match the sentence using the drawing tools.
I love using Wixie as a station because I can create a mini lesson for students to complete independently. On each page, I can record myself giving directions for the activity. This means that I do not have to give any directions in person and students can do it all on their own without my help. Another benefit is that I can view all completed projects on my teacher account at the end of the day, which means I can use this as yet another form of assessment for the lesson!
I love using Wixie as a station because I can create a mini lesson for students to complete independently. On each page, I can record myself giving directions for the activity. This means that I do not have to give any directions in person and students can do it all on their own without my help. Another benefit is that I can view all completed projects on my teacher account at the end of the day, which means I can use this as yet another form of assessment for the lesson!
Teacher Station
The teacher station is where the differentiation happens. In this case, I knew there were some students who can successfully decode long e words, and some students need a little more practice. I planned activities that catered to all levels. Even though a lot of my students can decode the words, they are not all on the same reading ability level. Although I wanted these students to practice reading passages that included long e words, I knew that I still had to differentiate these passages to accommodate their levels. You can see below the two types of readings. Some students were able to read on their own, then highlight the long e words. Some students needed my help reading, then highlighted on their own. For the students who needed more practice with decoding and blending long e words, I had a simple template ready for spelling that you can see in the pictures below.
I put these activities together myself, but there are so many similar activities available on Teachers Pay Teachers that you can buy and download.
I put these activities together myself, but there are so many similar activities available on Teachers Pay Teachers that you can buy and download.