Learn how to plan and manage literacy centers through differentiated instruction activities, rotations, & behavior management strategies.
Discover the perfect All About Me preschool activity designed for young kids! Get a free printable worksheet that's simple, engaging, and ideal for emergent readers. Download now!
Classroom teachers have a ton of daily tasks to guarantee that students are engaged and learning. It's a tough job, and a stressful one, too. Teachers wear out easily if their classrooms aren't well managed. Creating a classroom that runs itself while you teach in smaller groups is the best way to keep students engaged.
Integrate art and literacy with no prep or background knowledge with step by step tutorials for art history and art around the world!
The first few weeks of school are all about setting the foundation. We're establishing routines and procedures, encouraging a growth mindset culture, building classroom community, etc. I also like to spend some time laying the foundation for what students will need to be successful writers throughout the year, especially since writing is a focus that threads through all subject areas. In second grade especially, sentence structure is a great place to start. We review the 4 parts that every sentence has to have in order to be a complete sentence:
It's the beginning of the year, and you have a whole new class that is sitting in front of you. You don't know them besides the information you got on the student information card. You know the first few weeks are getting to know them. Both personally and academically. You also know the first few
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Didn't I promise a new product?! Yep! And I am good on my word. Here ya go! These are great for your math and literacy centers. I am so happy with them! Click on any of the pictures to see more and to go to my TpT store. Roll a die and read the numbers across the row next to the number you rolled. Then write the numbers in the boxes on the blank sheet that is also included in the bundle. Here is the Roll It! Read It! Write It! being used in a center. I had the sheets laminated and had the kids use dry erase markers to help cut costs on printing and make them completely reusable. Plus, the kids LOVE to use the markers and erasers. Word from the wise: Give each kiddo 1 die and give them a bowl of sorts to roll them in. You'll lose your dice otherwise. Roll a die and draw what you see. Then rewrite that number as a ten frame, a math sentence, the written form, and with objects. Same as the math version, but with high frequency words. Roll a die and place an "X" or an "O" on the space! There are also boards included without dice images, but with equations within 10, such as 10-5, 10-8, etc. Draw a card and write the high frequency word on included stationary the number of times shown in the dice in the image. There are also cards with just the sight words, so if desired, students can roll a die instead of just using the image on the card. There are 22 pages of cards... so... should keep the kiddos busy and give them lots of practice with these important words! I always feel a little bad that I always post products and printouts for K-2. I do have things for upper grade levels, too! So, for those of you who need some extra practice with factors and multiples, here's a freebie for ya that I'm linking up with Classroom Freebies! I hope it will be of use to you. HERE it is! Multiples and Factors Tic-Tac-Toe ENJOY!
How to create a retell literacy center in kindergarten. Plus a list of 20 famous stories and retell props (with printables) to complete this center.
Grab these FREE printable Rhyming Puzzles for a low-prep and hands-on activity to use in your Kindergarten literacy centers or small groups!
Recently, I have seen some debates on using centers and the Science of Reading. If you have been a teacher for a long time, centers were a HUGE part of Balanced Literacy. Recently, teachers have shifted away from balanced of literacy to research based Science of Reading. You can read my Science of Reading Post ... Read More about Centers and the Science of Reading
From insect crafts and themed activities to fun facts and games, these preschool insect theme printables are a great way to make learning fun!
Second graders need to have hands-on practice with ELA skills in a meaningful way. This post shares some fun 2nd Grade literacy center ideas.
Teachers often have questions about what a literacy block should actually look like. How do you structure your time? When do you pull reading groups? How and when do you teach grammar? The list of questions is lengthy, and with good reason. No one really ever told us what to do! Probably because there is […]
Are you looking for hands on back to school math and literacy centers for preschool and kindergarten? Then you will love our Back to School Unit for Preschool. This unit is great for Preschool anytime throughout the year and kindergarten for the first few months.
Preschoolers can enhance their fine motor development and practice pre-writing skills with these nine apple themed pre-writing strips! Perfect for back to school time. Cut and laminate the strips and place them in your literacy center, where students can use a dry erase marker to trace the fine motor lines. It's important for pre-k students to build fine motor skills before they begin writing. This resource also helps children learn to write left to right. BONUS: Includes a bonus apple themed line-tracing worksheet! MORE PRE-WRITING PRACTICE TO BUILD FINE MOTOR SKILLS: Back-to-School Camping Construction Farm Germs Gingerbread Pumpkins Sharks Thanksgiving Weather Zoo
Use station activities to improve reading comprehension! Get your students
This post features literacy center ideas and printables for 4th-grade classrooms. It includes reading centers for fourth grade.
Money is a fun topic for our little learners! They see adults use it all the time, and they want to be a part of it. A newer standard, financial literacy, is a fun unit that many kids love. Let's Use this at Home This binder is perfect for any type of learning. I created
Scrambled paragraphs are a fun literacy activity your kids will love. This activity contains 5 interesting passages to scramble and re-arrange correctly. Students will use logic and transition words like "for example", "however", and "finally" to determine the correct order. Great activity to reinforce text structures!Each passage contains six sentences. The passages increase in difficulty, making this activity easy to differentiate. This works great as a station activity for helping teach students organization in writing. It can be useful scaffolding for students who are struggling with constructing paragraphs of their own.Answer key is included.No prep, ready to print and use! Teachers are saying: "We loved this resource. I set these up as stations. The kids went around in their groups and tried to put the paragraphs together in the correct order. It was interesting to see how the sequential one was the easiest one for him to complete. This was the perfect activity for our class needs." Format: PDF
Are you looking for ways to incorporate environmental print in your preschool classroom? This post has five different ideas to easily incorporate...
Whether you call them literacy centers or literacy stations, big kids at the upper elementary level love center time and get so much out of it! How do literacy centers benefit kids? They add variety to learning and to the routine. They allow teachers to easily differentiate learning. They are a great way to help cover and reinforce all of the standards. They give students a place to practice important social skills, like collaboration, problem-solving, and communication. So how do you set up literacy centers and run them successfully? Here are a few things to keep in mind: 1. Plan Centers and Center Spaces Plan Centers: Since I've been teaching for quite a few years, I have a pretty good idea of what I'll be teaching and when. Of course, I make small changes as needed with each class, but generally, my pacing is pretty set. This information helps me make a skeleton plan for the major concepts, games, and activities I'll plan for the year. If you aren't sure of your yearly schedule, maybe you could schedule them a month ahead of time as you go. Another idea is to meet with your grade level team to talk about your reading themes for the year and to plan together. Plan Center Spaces in Your Classroom: Classrooms never seem big enough, so this can be a challenge. I like to have 4 - 5 kids at each center (the smaller number the better) but it depends on the class size. If I have 28 kids, that means about six center areas. Since my classroom is pretty small, when kids do the independent reading center, they stay at their desk/seat. That leaves me with 5 center areas to plan. 2. Types of Centers One of the questions teachers often ask is what kind of centers to include. Here are some suggestions that I've used in my classroom. I don't use all of the centers suggested at the same time but do mix up some of the centers every now and then for a bit of variety. Each center lasts 20 minutes long and the total center time is one hour, which means students should visit 3 centers each day. A. Independent Reading - This is one that ALL students do every day! It's important to me that students self-select books based on motivation and not reading level. One of the rules is that kids need to have a book ready before reading time. I don't want them to waste time searching the classroom library during this time. B. Teacher Time - This could be guided reading in a very structured setting or it could be reader's workshop style, where students meet with me to read a bit and to discuss concepts. C. Word Work - At this center, students work on spelling, grammar, context clues, and vocabulary. They may have a worksheet but more often they play a game. Since I couldn't find any games already made, I created a bundle of 30 Grammar Games, one for third grade and one for fourth grade to cover all language standards. They target grade-level skills and really make grammar fun. A huge time saver for sure! D. Magazine Center/Informational Text - This center is filled with children's news magazines (some from last year) like Scholastic News. I also include kid's magazines, like National Geographic Kids. I have graphic organizers I use for a bit of accountability. Students read an article, fill out the template, and then are free to continue reading whatever they'd like at this center. E. Technology Center - Every school is a bit different but whether you are blessed with tons of technology or are scraping by with a few older computers, there are still lots of great websites students can access with your direction at this center. Here are some you might want to check out: Freckle Education (formerly Front Row) Edcite Newsela MobyMax.com ABCYA.com Edmodo National Geographic Young Explorers Big Universe Spelling City I've also created standards-aligned reading units for 3rd - 5th grades. They give lots of focused, paperless practice. CLICK THE PHOTO BELOW TO LEARN MORE. F. Genius Hour - If you've never done Genius Hour with your students, you'll want to definitely look into it. I used to call these independent projects. Students are able to research and read about topics of interest and then prepare some type of presentation to share what they've learned with the class. Genius Hour projects are ongoing projects which students complete on their own time table, although you can set guidelines for how many they need to complete a semester for example. I tend to let it be more open-ended, as long as I see them engaged and focused. I know that some projects may take a number of weeks, while others may take two center rotation times. G. Reading Skills - At this center, I tie in worksheets that match our current reading strategy. Reading is my very favorite subject so I have lots of reading units already prepared which are no-prep, print and go. Click here if you need some fresh reading units for this center. H. Writing - Students may create poetry, write a letter to the principal, or create a personal narrative in their writer's workshop notebook. This is NOT our main writing time, however. It's more of a chance to let students experience low-pressure writing which is not specifically connected to a writing lesson. I. Reading Games - I love this center because it is rigorous while masquerading as fun! Kids at this center play games which are connected to the topic we are highlighting, like main idea, cause and effect, theme, or character traits. I actually created a whole series of reading games, just because I really needed them for my classroom and thought others might too. There is a game for each standard and they provide so much focused practice. I really love these! There's a set of 20 Reading Centers for 3rd Grade and 20 Reading Centers for 4th/5th. Each bundle of reading games has 10 Fiction Games and 10 Nonfiction Games. I also have digital reading units too. J. Read to a Friend - In this center, I have a variety of materials like poetry books and mini-plays to read together, to practice fluency. I also like to place high-interest picture books in this center! Even for 5th graders, you might be surprised at the complexity level of many picture books! Kids love them and they really are beneficial for them. Sometimes I have students bring their own independent books to share with each other. Other times, I have a book sampling basket at the center filled with book underdogs! These are some lesser-known books that I want kids to try. Their job is to read the book summary on the cover and to take turns reading either a paragraph or a page at a time. 3. Prepare Centers Once you've tentatively planned out your centers, the next step is to make or purchase the centers you'll need. I really do like to get the majority done in the summertime or at the beginning of the year because it's great to just pull out the center I need and it's ready to go. You can store the centers a number of ways. I really like the gallon size plastic baggies because I can put game boards, task cards, and anything else I might need (game markers or spinners...) in that bag. I just label the bag with a sharpie but you could make cute labels on the computer too if you want. You'll also want to have plenty of baskets and trays to organize center materials as you use them each week. The Dollar Store always has a great selection of these! 4. Decide How to Structure the Centers You can either have students do a rotation schedule that you create, or allow them to self-select within your parameters. Either works well, so you just need to decide which one works best for you. If students self-select, kids need to know expectations. For example, how many students can be at a single center at a time? How many centers do students need to complete each day or each week? I actually prefer a rotation schedule. I make some simple cards with center titles on them and create the schedule in a pocket chart with the days on the left side (vertically) and the center titles across the top (horizontally). 5. Set Expectations for Center Time Just like anything in the classroom, rules and procedures have to be explicitly taught and reviewed or chaos is bound to occur. First, I think through all of the possibilities of what could happen, and then I prepare for that by making up my list of rules on an anchor chart for all to see. We do some modeling of good and bad examples of behavior and discuss them together. If centers are going to work, this piece is crucial!!! There is no way for you to have quality teacher time if you are interrupted every few minutes to put out fires, answer questions, and give more directions. Take the time to set up centers well and you'll find it to be worth it. 6. Teach Each Center to the Whole Class Before Kids Use It Getting kids ready for centers is truly a process. To make it successful, you'll want to introduce the center to the whole class before expecting them to participate on their own. This is a great time for thumbs up and down questions to check for understanding, as well as modeling when appropriate. Once you've tried centers and have them operating smoothly, I think you'll really enjoy them. Want more information about why literacy centers are beneficial for kids in grades 3rd - 5th? Click here to read Why You Should be Using Reading Centers in Upper Elementary. If you like this post, I would love for you to pin it or to share it with a teacher friend. For more ideas and strategies focused on upper elementary, be sure to sign up for The Teacher Next Door's free email newsletter! Bonus, you'll also gain access to my FREE Resource Library which contains exclusive upper elementary freebies that you won't find anywhere else! Thanks so much for stopping by and taking the time to read it! I'd love to connect with you! The Teacher Next Door's Website Facebook Pinterest Instagram TpT Store
FREE printables to go along with the book series Elephant and Piggie by Mo Willems. Preschool and kindergarten kids will have a blast learning with these 2 lovable friends! Practice early math and literacy skills, alphabet, counting, patterns, scissor skills and more!
My Story Sandwich is a fun literacy activity perfect for your next book report! Students complete the sandwich pieces by adding the components to their story including the title, author, characters, setting, problem, plot, author's message (for that extra crunch!), and resolution. Students can inc...
Kids will LOVE these FREE Paleontologist Printables to practice math and literacy with a fossil, dinosaur, and paleontolist theme.
Get started with a preschool question of the day in your classroom! These fun questions will make your morning routine meaningful and fun!
This post could alternatively be titled "what works for me" because lets face it, there are a million ways to do centers, and what wo...
For K-1 students, centers are one of the most developmentally appropriate things that you can do for them. Let me give you the break down on each of my 5 centers, and how I manage them!
Simon and I recently finished reading Charlotte’s Web together (meaning I read a bit of it to him every night before bed). We both really enjoyed it. My older
Head back to school with The Kissing Hand book by Audrey Penn. Pair it with activities and crafts to go along with the theme of the book or even buy Chester
Write Your Name in Cuneiform In today’s Literacy, we will be looking at Cuneiform, an ancient form of writing from Mesapotamia (now Iraq). You can use this site to write your “Monogram&…
These name worksheets are perfect for your all about me theme because they give kids a chance to share all about their name.
Print this free kindergarten assessment pack to use as end of the year testing for your kindergarten students. This is a great way to see where your students are at, and find any areas for development.
Use this free All About Me printable book to practice early literacy skills during preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten all about me theme.
