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our literacy centers block, the students work independently in a variety of
learning centers. They rotate through 10 centers a week, completing 2
centers daily (5 days a week). Students move through centers at their own
pace. When both centers are completed, they are allowed to read from their
book box until center time is over. Activities at each center vary weekly,
but the students quickly learn the directions, and a center leader is chosen
to help students remember their responsibilities at each center. Read below
to learn about some of our center activities.
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Our centers
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Poetry: Students get a small copy of the poem
of the week, glue it into their poetry journals, circle spelling words,
illustrate the poem and read it to a friend.
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ABC: Students complete an activity associated
with letters and their sounds. Usually, there is a theme-related word, such
as "Thanksgiving," "Valentine," or "Gingerbread," which the students use to
make an anagram. The word is posted at the center, the letters to make the
word are placed in plastic baggies, and magnetic trays are at the center.
Students take one bag, a tray, and their word books. They manipulate the
letters to see how many words they can make from the theme word, and write
the list into their word books.
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Spelling: Students practice their spelling
words using the "Look, Say, Cover, Write" method, as well as making the
words with magnetic letters and writing them.
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Journal Writing: Students are given a page in
their "Starfall" journals to complete. These journals were provided to us at
no charge by www.starfall.com, a great
website for beginning readers. Each page has a story starter, as well as a
mini-word wall for the students to use to spell words in their stories. For
example, here is one of the story prompts in the journal: "What do you like
on your pizza? Draw a picture of it and write a story about how you would
make it." The word wall includes words like dough, pepperoni, bake,
slice, etc. and picture clues help students identify the words. The
students love these books and they foster creativity, as well as increased
confidence in their writing.
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Writing: Assignments vary in this center, but
it is always a motivating writing activity. Past writing center activities
include "stamp-a-story," in which students use stamps to tell a story, then
write about it, "mini-cards," in which students create greeting or holiday
cards, and "theme story," in which students answer a writing prompt related
to the current theme. For example, during our "community helpers" unit,
students picked a card with a picture of a worker's hat or tools, and wrote
about how their day as a fireman, police officer, teacher, doctor, etc.
would be.
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Word Study: Again, activities vary at this
center. Students are given an assignment having to do with word structure
and patterns. Past activities include matching contractions to the words
represented, sorting pictures or words into word families, making compound
words, identifying and sorting nouns, verbs and adjectives, and so on.
These activities also reinforce the current word/phonics study.
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Art: Students have used a variety of
materials, including paint, buttons, paper, sequins, foam shapes, etc. to
create different projects. Examples of art activities include glyphs, giant
toothbrushes, valentines, ornaments, snowmen and winter or seasonal scenes.
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Math: This center always has an activity that
reinforces the math concepts currently being studied, such as addition,
subtraction, using tens and ones, graphing, etc. I try to use fun ways to
reinforce these skills, and often have a puzzle or matching game for the
students to use with each other.
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 Listening
Center: Students listen to a book on tape, following along with their
own copy of the book. Then they complete a listening/reading response
activity, such as "Draw the pictures for the beginning, middle, and end of
the story and write about it," or "What would you have done in that
situation?"
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During center time, I have the opportunity to work with small reading groups and reinforce reading strategies. Mrs. Braile helps students in the different centers throughout the room. Parents sometimes join us and are a tremendous help as well. If you would like to volunteer, please email me to set up a convenient time. Centers usually take place between 11:50-12:25pm, Monday-Friday. |
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