Productive Station Time!

I am in need of some productive station time. This has been my most challenging year with stations. No matter what I put in stations, they end up doing what they want to with the materials and "playing". I have gone over expectations, role played and still they work for 5 minutes and "I'm done!" What do I do! I spend more time making games and activities to keep them busy, when all I want to see is them enjoying learning.

So after putting much thought into this, I have decided to revamp my reading stations. I will post pictures tomorrow of the new ideas but here is a sneak peak.

I have a T.V. that I never use since we got ELMOs last year. Ya, I am still waiting for the time to come when we get smartboards. So my thinking is to utilize the T.V. and plug in my Leap Frog Word Launcher game where students need to find the correct sound to make words. (Technology and learning, sounds like a good match!) As for accountablility, I will need to make up some little worksheet to go along.

Then for writing station, I am going to paint my writing table in chalkboard paint and let the students write their created sentences on it, their name and date, then take a pictue of it. (Technology again!) Plus what student doesn't like to see their work on a camera. What an easy way to assess too.

One other idea is to put the LeapFrog Tag readers into my reading station. There are comprehension questions /games throughout and those that need a little extra help can hear the word read to them. SUPER!
As for assessment, a quick graphic organizer will be thrown in.

Is there anyting you are doing that your kiddos really enjoy?