One of my students came up with the solution to my problem of what to do with my stations. She said I should get out the red light\green light chart and be diligent about it. If a child gets a yellow light, they lose 15 minutes, red light they lose all their station time and of course double red, they are sent to the office. I like the idea. If they don't turn in an assignment completed and with effort, they get their card flipped. I will dig it out tomorrow. Sometimes, kids are the answer to my problems.
I love having the stations. I am looking forward to using them next year. I will have to modify my plan but I still think that every student needs these kinds of activities to learn from. I have many computer activities and games that are very educational and I haven't used them this year. We have had too much pressure on test scores this year. Too much "do it my way or else" garbage. It really interferred with my teaching style. I have always had high scores but not this year. I did it there way and I am sure that I was not as affective as in the past. It certainly wasn't for lack of trying. However, 43 students put me at a screeching halt doing small groups. There were no small groups. After Christmas, they hired another teacher and I gave her 8 students and she and the other teacher split the rest. So, I still have 35. I can arrange it so every child has 30 minutes each day on the activities.