Literacy Centers

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Our literacy centers are going strong. Center time is one of the students' favorite times of the day. The children love this time because they get to work independently on all sorts of engaging activities. Our center time practices important skills related to their academic and social development. At each center, the students are in groups of 4. Center time is filled with social interactions so the children are practicing important social skills like sharing, taking turns, cooperating, using manners, polite conversation, and encouraging others. They are also learning to handle and clean up classroom materials. Of course, all this while practicing their literacy skills.

Currently we have ten centers going. Each center is engaging, fun, and enriching. The Reading Garden is our classroom library. At this center students enjoy books. There are a variety of fiction and nonfiction books, books we have read as a class, books we have written as a class, and series books. Students find a comfy spot and read. They can read alone or with a friend. They can also listen to reading using the Reading Rainbow app on their ipads.

At the writing center, students write short four page books. In the books, children practice writing sentences that include our high frequency words. When they finish their writing, student practice handwriting. At science center this week, the scientists are looking closely at shells writing their observations. Then, the students go to research different sea animals in a collection of nonfiction texts.

With magnetic letters at another center, student practice segmenting words (push and say). When they finish the list of words, they go to our new Chromebook computers. On the Chromebooks, children are going to the site starfall.com to practice important early reading skills.

Finally, we have the alphabet center and interactive whiteboard. As a team the group works to order and match different alphabet cards. While the group is working with the alphabet cards, they are also taking turns on the interactive whiteboard at abcya.com.

The students are doing beautifully working at centers. This week while the children are working at center, it is my goal to start pulling small groups for reading. I am so excited to get started!