This indicates resources located on The Teacher's Corner.
Literacy Center Basics Grades Elementary
Summary: Get some great advice and ideas on how to use literacy centers in your class.
I use Literacy Centers for my students to work independently while I pull guided reading groups. I start with everyone reading books while I monitor and model behavior and then I add centers to that until I have about 10. Once introduced, the kids are very good at working without help. Sometimes I have a center which needs an adult and for that I use parent helpers. Centers include listening, overhead projector, music, poetry, read around the room, writing, Big Books, post office, computer, alphabet and word wall. The kids learn that during literacy centers you are to be reading and writing, other centers are available at a different part of our day. I don't limit a center to a certain amount of students and seldom have any problems with that. Occasionally we may be short on supplies or room and we just find a way to make it work (which may include go do something else until there is a spot for you) Sometimes I may require a certain center but usually I don't. As long as they are reading and writing during this time. Now and then I use a checklist where they have to mark what they have done to hold them accountable but then I find that they are working just to finish things and aren't really doing quality work. I'm going to go back to not using a checklist this year and see if I can get them to where they really get involved with their work. Once I go to the checklist it takes a long time to break them of the habits it forms.
Submitted by: Debbie
Magnetic Letters Grades K-2
I have laminated key words on cards and placed a magnetic stripe on them. The students can pick a word and try to find all of the magnetic letters that make up the word. It is like a matching game. They also use the word cards to write sentences.
Submitted by: Shannon Smarsha2@email-removed
Research & Writing Centers Grade 4
Summary: A research and writing literacy center.
Being a fourth grade teacher, I found that I had to create my own centers, because what I was finding was too childish for my students. One center I have is a research center. In this center, I placed different non fiction books. For example: people, animals, places, etc. Then I have a folder with K-W-L charts. When my students work at this center, they chose a book and take a K-W-L chart. They begin filling out the chart based on the topic of their book. After reading the book and completing the chart, the students write a mini research report based on the information from their K-W-L chart.
Another center I established is titled "Tell A Story." What this center consists of is I placed a box of pictures in a basket. The students take a picture card and write a story based on the picture. They must have a title, beginning, middle and end for their story.
Submitted by: Gabriella schltme@email-removed
Scrambled Words Grades K-3
A great hands-on activity to help your students build sentences. I take sentences and cut them up then I put each group of cutouts in a envelope. When we do sentence groups the children have to take the words and make the correct sentence with them.
Submitted by: Teresa Teresa7891@email-removed
Back to the Reading Lesson Plans index
EMAIL us your favorite literacy center resource.