Promoting Independence Within Your Work Center Routine!

I love my work center rotation system. It is by far the best system for my students in my classroom. My visual working cards make it super easy for my students to understand what is expected of them. To read more about my work center system click here.

I have set up a bookshelf at my green table to store all of my binders.

When the student rotates to the green center they are handed a monthly binder to work from. In the beginning of the year students are taught to start with the first page and continue until they finish the entire binder. This is a GREAT way for my students to understand what is expected of them. Having a close ended task such as binder completion helps students to reduce anxiety and stress because they know what is expected of them. Depending on the student and their IEP goals- they are assigned different binders. For March- all 11 binders are themed around Shamrocks!

The March Binder System has 11 different binders included. The subjects are: matching, sorting, colors, shapes, sizes, patterns, puzzles, letters, numbers, counting 1-10 and counting 10-20.

Each binder has 10-14 interactive pages. I apply velcro to the back of each page so that the “interactive pieces” can be stored to the left of the page.

So why do these binders build independence within the work rotation system? It’s simple. It is a task like system that I have developed to build a consistent and predictable routine. Students understand what is expected of them and are able to handle the task demand put on them. Each month is set up the same way, but with different themes. This promotes consistency for my students so that I am not having to teach a new routine to them. Even my most dependent students are able to complete a binder on their own with limited prompting. I love that these binders cover all of the basic skills needed to build the foundation of core academics. The best part is that once these binders are created–no planning or prep is required. I do not have to spend my afternoons after school planning for the “green center.” All of the work is prepped for the month! (YES, I know it’s a lot of prep at first, but I can’t wait until next year when I pull out all of my binders each month and there is NO prep required!)

I wanted to share a quick tip to store your binders in jumbo size ziplock baggies when they are not in use. This way you don’t lose the pieces or pages. It also cuts down on the cost of binders! I just rotate the same 11 binders each month!