Literacy Centers

I cannot believe that the last time I sat down to write a post was over a month ago. What can I say... the busyness of the beginning of the school year got to me once again. Looking at the calendar I cannot believe that September is about to be over and we will be sliding into October in just a few short days. This year has been a great year so far. Their enthusiasm and eagerness to learn is contagious.

Since last time I blogged we have introduced, modeled, discussed, and practiced, practiced, practiced literacy centers. I wanted to share some of my literacy center ideas for this year. Each day my students reference their literacy center chart to see which centers they will be visiting that day. I made this chart with different color construction paper for the different days of the week. All student names and center choices are in Velcro so that they can be easily changed.

 

 

Each morning students visit 3 centers. Each rotation lasts for about 20 minutes. Every day each student will engage in some sort of seat work that matches our spelling pattern or reading skill for the week.

Every students will also attend a guided reading session with me where we will be reading a text based on each students individual reading level.

Throughout the rest of the week students will rotate through the various centers: listening center, pocket chart, word work, writing center, and computers. When they travel to each center they will carry around their green literacy center folder. On Friday each student will meet with me individually to fill out their literacy center rubric for the week based on their behavior and work completion. Each conference takes about 2 minutes and after about two weeks my students are pretty honest if they were on task or if they tried their hardest. After each conference they set a quick goal of something they will work on next week in centers. Here is a sample literacy center conference form: 

Here are some examples of activities my students do in each literacy center throughout the week. In the listening center student will listen and follow along with the selected book. After the book is over they will fill out a response sheet. The response sheets vary as the year progresses. Here is the sheet that we are currently using:

 This is what my listening center looks like. All supplies are kept in the crate. Headphones are on command hooks on the wall:

 

 

Another center that my students visit each week is the pocket chart center. At the pocket chart students have a few choices of what they want to do, however they must complete the "MUST DO" first. In the "MUST DO" activity students use the laminated spelling words to work with their partner in placing them in ABC order. After they have placed them in ABC order in the pocket chart they complete the ABC order answer sheet. Once they have completed the MUST DO activity they have several choices of what they would like to do next. Some of the activities involve matching vowel pattern words to pictures, sight word memory games, or games using student names. Here is the ABC order sheet that each student MUST DO after placing their spelling words in ABC order:

 

Here is my pocket chart center. All supplies are kept on the rolling cart: 

Another center that students visit during the week in the word work center. When students get to this center they MUST DO the creating words activity first. For this activity students will be creating words that have the same spelling pattern as our spelling words. After they complete the MUST DO activity they then can practice or build their spelling words with their partner using white boards and markers, magnet letters and cookie trays, letter cubes, or stamps. Here is an example of the MUST DO creating words activity:

Here is what my words work center looks like with the word wall behind it. All supplies are kept in the cubbies:

 

Another center that students rotate to throughout the week is the writing center. When students arrive at the writing center they MUST DO the writing prompt for that week. Each student is required to respond to the writing prompt with at least 3 sentences. While they are writing they are focusing on proper spacing, capitalization, punctuation, and WOW sentences. After they finish their writing prompt they can choose to write a letter to a friend, make a list, write a song, write a story, or write a letter to me. While they are in the writing center they can reference the writing board. Here is what I use for writing prompts which I use from Danielle M:

Here is my writing center with a reference board for students:

 



 

As the weeks have progressed on my students have become very comfortable with the tasks they must complete in their literacy centers. They are doing a fabulous job at using teamwork for each center. Their behavior during center is awesome because they are being held accountable for their center work on Friday's when they have their literacy center conference with me.

 

Happy first day of fall!!!!