LITERARY CENTERS (Grades K-3)
Links for free Literary Centers and Printables!
Guided Reading combined with Literary Centers
http://www.msrossbec.com/literacy_index.html
Here you’ll find all the information you need to get literacy centers started and running smoothly in your classroom. Easy to organize, great for hands on learning and will provide students with meaningful reading experiences
http://www.msrossbec.com/literacy_index.html
Here you’ll find all the information you need to get literacy centers started and running smoothly in your classroom. Easy to organize, great for hands on learning and will provide students with meaningful reading experiences
http://thecornerstoneforteachers.com/free-resources/centers
Cyber Kids is a website full of things to make learning fun! They also provide a voice for young people on the Internet by publishing original creative work by kids ages 7 to 12. (No fees or registration necessary) http://www.cyberkids.com/index.html
......................Below are some top rated centers created by teachers, for teachers!.........................
ALPHABET RECOGNITION CENTER
Objectives: Students will recognize letters of alphabet
Materials: ABC’s (I use large 3″ plastic letters)
Activity: Students participate in alphabet race:
You can modify by using two sets of letters in two separate piles and have the students start with letter A. Once they retrieve a letter, they return to their group and the next student goes. The group that collects all the letters first wins.
* Remember, mix the letters up to ensure recognition. The students love this one and have fun competing.
Hanging Out the Alphabet
GREAT FOR SPELLING!
Matching Uppercase-Lowercase
Write uppercase and lowercase letters on round counters
($1.97 at Wal-Mart). Let the children match uppercase and lowercase letters.
It’s also a great assessment tool.
Matching Objects to Letters
Making Words Using Pictures and Magnetic Letters
Use magnetic letters and pictorial flash cards to make words. Students not only are matching the spelling of a word, but also can feel the shape of the letters when placed on a magnetic surface. I use the side of my metal desk as a word building center.
Letter Puzzles – Matching Capital and Lowercase
Making Sentences Center
At this center, the student grabs a bag of index card. On each index card in a few words. They need to figure out how to manipulate three cards to make a sentence. The sentence may be silly. They must do this twice. On a sheet of paper, they will write the two sentences and draw an illustration to match the sentence. Like all the centers, they must complete the sheet, place it in their folder, clean up the center, and put their center folder away.
Poem Center
Select a poem and place it on large paper. The students must write the poem in their journal and then draw a picture of what they see in their mind when they read the poem. Sometimes I may ask them to circle rhyming words or words that begin with a certain sound.
Cyber Kids is a website full of things to make learning fun! They also provide a voice for young people on the Internet by publishing original creative work by kids ages 7 to 12. (No fees or registration necessary) http://www.cyberkids.com/index.html
......................Below are some top rated centers created by teachers, for teachers!.........................
ALPHABET RECOGNITION CENTER
Objectives: Students will recognize letters of alphabet
Materials: ABC’s (I use large 3″ plastic letters)
Activity: Students participate in alphabet race:
- Place alphabet letters on the floor at one end of the room.
- Line the students up by two’s and call out a letter.
- The students race to the pile and try to be the first to find the letter.
- They then return to their group and go to the end of the line.
(The group with the most letters wins)
You can modify by using two sets of letters in two separate piles and have the students start with letter A. Once they retrieve a letter, they return to their group and the next student goes. The group that collects all the letters first wins.
* Remember, mix the letters up to ensure recognition. The students love this one and have fun competing.
Hanging Out the Alphabet
GREAT FOR SPELLING!
- Put up a string up like a clothesline.
- Write the alphabet on clothespins. (You will write the vowels and several other frequently used letters on more than one clothespin.)
- The students use the clothespins to spell out their spelling words on the clothesline.
Matching Uppercase-Lowercase
Write uppercase and lowercase letters on round counters
($1.97 at Wal-Mart). Let the children match uppercase and lowercase letters.
It’s also a great assessment tool.
Matching Objects to Letters
- Prepare 5×7 index cards with one letter of the alphabet on each card.
- Collect minature objects – one or more for each letter Ex: a plastic pumpkin for P, a little ball for B etc.
- Have students lay the cards out on the floor.
- The student then chooses an object and has to put it on the letter that it begins with.
Making Words Using Pictures and Magnetic Letters
Use magnetic letters and pictorial flash cards to make words. Students not only are matching the spelling of a word, but also can feel the shape of the letters when placed on a magnetic surface. I use the side of my metal desk as a word building center.
Letter Puzzles – Matching Capital and Lowercase
- Take an index card or construction paper divided into eighths.
- Write the capital letter on the left and the lower case on the right.
- Cut in the middle in an odd way (zigzag, curve, etc.)
- Children can then put puzzles together.
- Use an Ellison machine to press out letters using different materials: felt, sandpaper, sponge, etc.
- Then, place these in a center for children to kinisthetically learn about the shape of letters.
- Label 26 ziploc bags each with a letter of the alphabet.
- Place inside the bags item which being with each letter sound.
- These bags can be used in reading groups and with introducing letter sounds.
- For example, when working with the letter “A” the bag could include small plastic apples, alligators, ants, etc.
Making Sentences Center
At this center, the student grabs a bag of index card. On each index card in a few words. They need to figure out how to manipulate three cards to make a sentence. The sentence may be silly. They must do this twice. On a sheet of paper, they will write the two sentences and draw an illustration to match the sentence. Like all the centers, they must complete the sheet, place it in their folder, clean up the center, and put their center folder away.
Poem Center
Select a poem and place it on large paper. The students must write the poem in their journal and then draw a picture of what they see in their mind when they read the poem. Sometimes I may ask them to circle rhyming words or words that begin with a certain sound.
