Moving through Learning Centers Independently

Children need to be able to navigate through the classroom independently. This is one example of a center management system that allows children to independently determine whether or not a center is full. There are many ways to do this - I used velcro and sticks. After Winter Break I removed the pictures of the children so they could focus on the letters in their names. By then they all knew their own names or at least the first few letters, so it was a smooth transition. Each of my centers had one of these, and the sticks were returned to a central location in the classroom after centers.

As you can see, I had a large space for art, so I was able to have five children in art at one time. You can see from the black velcro dot that there is one space left. This was a very successful system and the children were able to learn and understand it within a few days.




Below are some pictures taken at a classroom in Harnett County. This teacher uses a similar design and said that she's had great success with it.

As you can see above the sticks "live" on the green poster board. There is a photo of each child, along with velcro. The sticks are placed there by the children when they are done with center time. In the picture above you can see that this teacher uses little people figures. There is velcro on each "person" for the children to hang their sticks.