We all know the importance of getting students up and moving around. Six and seven year olds do not want to sit all day. The more active I can keep them, the better our day goes. Since, I am a little obsessed with reading fluency, my mind is constantly thinking of new ways to make it fun for my students. I combined two of my favorite things…reading and exercise…and created Reading on the Move.
We used this for the first time last week, and the students LOVED it! It allowed them to practice their reading and get up and moving. After doing a story together, the students tried their own. I gave each of them dice and a story from my Reading on the Move Simple Stories packet. The students rolled, read the story, and then completed the movement that matched their dice roll.
Now, I will say, if you are adamant about a perfectly quiet classroom, this will not be your favorite activity. It’s noisy. The kids are reading and exercising. It’s what you would expect 🙂
One of the first things they told me was that our P.E. teacher would LOVE this!
In each packet, there are two options to choose from. The first set allows the students to move WHILE reading. (March in place while reading, raise up and down on your toes while reading, etc.) The second option allows the students to move AFTER reading. (Do 5 pushups, Do 10 jumping jacks, etc.) The second option is definitely your better option for those students that may still need to track their print with their finger.
The students draw about the passage when they are finished. This adds a comprehension component to the reading as well.
So far, I have two separate Reading on the Move products available.
I have many more in the works including some for nonsense word fluency, specific phonics skills, and even seasonal packets. You can always find all of my Reading on the Move products at
www.readingonthemove.com
I’d LOVE to see this in action in your classroom. If you use any of my Reading on the Move packets in your classroom and you post it on Instagram, use the hashtag #readingonthemove.
Our second tub is a writing activity. I printed these picture cards with pictures that I had purchased from Shutterstock a couple years ago for my 
My next tub is filled with 
The next tub was kind of a last minute idea. I had some extra rolls of yarn in a cabinet that I knew I wouldn’t use anytime soon. I put these into a tub and am letting the students use it as they wish.
Some have cut out shapes. Some have glued pieces of yarn onto paper to make pictures. One group decided to make a spaghetti dinner. Even though it was a cute idea, it was messy. This tub definitely does not look neat and organized now, like it did in the picture above.
My last tub consists of 
It’s another great rotation of Morning Tubs. I will come back to share our next round with you in a couple of weeks. Are you using Morning Tubs? I’d love to hear your ideas as well 🙂
First off, I assess what the students know. Thankfully, I have a parent volunteer that has been pulling students out to assess their sight words. This is such a huge help, and it saves me so much time.
I thought I would blog about what my work stations look like right now at the beginning of the year. I have to be honest and say that these have evolved and changed so many times over the years. I kind of morph a lot of different ideas together (Debbie Diller, Daily 5, etc.) and use what’s best for my students and me. I think that’s the ultimate goal of teaching. We have to use what we know and make it work for us.
I use a pocket chart to display my station board. I use cardstock with pictures of each of the students along with their names to place on our station board. At first, I do not group my students academically. When I become a station, I group them by their academic needs, so I can easily differentiate the work stations and the activities I will be doing with my small group.
Another easy work station idea is Rainbow Roll and Write. I found this idea a couple years ago from 
Sometimes, I even make the students handwriting books a station. Since it’s hard to squeeze handwriting practice into our day, this is the perfect time.
For my groups that are capable of reading, we will start using my 
I want the students to be able to use plenty of hands-on activities in these tubs. For this first round, I have placed the following items and activities in my tubs.
6. Dice – Students roll two dice and write a number sentence on the dry erase board.
I am excited to continue adding new things to the tubs this year. I can change these up and use a variety of STEM activities as well as reading skills. I think these will be a great addition to our classroom.
After reading 
