A Simple Station Solution

Happy Thursday!

I'm dropping in to show you a solution I found for my station activities that is working wonderfully.

Before I share, let me share a little bit of the struggle I have had this year with stations.

My kiddos are very easily distracted. Our desks are in groups, and we mostly work at the desks during stations. So, this presented a problem. When my kids sit at a table group of 4, one partner pair is working on one activity and the other partner pair is working on a different activity. Therefore, it created some distraction. The partner pair working on one side of the group of desks was constantly hearing the partner pair on the other side of the group and would become easily off-task.

One day I had an idea. I love my "offices" from Really Good Stuff and I have several extra. So, I decided to use them to help with station management.

Here's what I camp up with:

I just stapled two sheet protectors on the right and left sides and one of my extra magnetic paper pockets from Lakeshore in the middle section. I only had one of the fancy pockets, so on my other station "offices" I just used 12x12 cardstock and stapled a sheet of construction paper on top to create a pocket. Simple!

I have the title of the station on the left side, the directions for the kids on the right side, and the materials they need in the pocket in the middle. They have everything they need plus the separation from the other group to stay distraction-free!

Now, when my partner pairs are ready to work in their stations, they just unfold the "office" and they have everything they need! When we are ready to clean up, the stations just fold right up!

The sheet protectors allow for me to easily change out the title and directions.

I am loving the simplicity and the flexibility this creates. The kids love that they are in their little "zones" and don't have to constantly tune out the partner pair across from them.

Of course these station offices could easily be moved to the floor. My students just tend to work more effectively when sitting at a desk. You could also easily make this using poster board or a tri-fold board.

Do you have any creative ways that you manage station materials?? I would love to hear!

Have a great Friday!