I hear ya!
Michael,
I'm in the same boat. Some ideas I was given is to purchase 5-6 mini white boards and have a lit. station for kids to be practising their spelling words with blends. Another is to have a spot for Independant Reading, big books, etc. One writting station when, for instance, they have to write 5 clues for people to guess their favorite ______ (animal, food, Halloween Costume, toy, etc.) The other station should be for you to de Guided Reading. I was told this yesterday and haven't set it up in my own classroom yet. I'm new to teaching and grade two...Good LUCK!