Reading Language Arts center rotations/management made easy

How do you manage your Daily 5 or Reading centers?  I finally have a fool proof way to manage my kiddos AND keep myself on track to meet with each guided reading group every day!!!   I have tried all kinds of management techniques for centers.  I used to have "Must Do/Can Do" contracts with open centers and that worked ok when I had older students and then I switched to using magnets and moving them around to the different centers.  I was always forgetting to switch the kids on time and it really became a problem for me so I came up with a new system! 

Now, I use a powerpoint presentation to rotate the kiddos around to each center and guided reading.  I love it!!!  Everyday I start the powerpoint and it automatically rotates the kiddos to their next center after a set amount of time.  When there is 1 minute left the screen changes ever so slightly just to give me a heads up, and then after that the screen changes again to a clean up slide with sound to let kids know to clean up and change centers.  It keeps going for 75 minutes but one of the cool things about the powerpoint is that it is totally customizable and I can change it to a 60 minute rotation or even a 45 minute rotation if I am really short on time.  I have created several different themed versions and my kids love it when I switch them around month to month. 

The pictures above show the Owl themed, cute animal themed and monster themed rotations.  The pictures below that show what the first page of the presentation looks like.   All you have to do is create the groups and then enter your students names for each slide and you are all set.  When I am ready to go, I use the F5 button on the keyboard to start the slideshow and then I head back to my guided reading table and students know exactly where to go and what they should be doing.  

How do you rotate your students through centers?  Drop me a line and let me know.  Also, don't forget to head on over and check out my TPT store for more details and pick up a version for your classroom this year! If you want more information or help getting this set up for your classroom, just email me and I am happy to walk you through it!!

Thanks for stopping by!