When I began teaching four years ago, I had no idea what type of centers I would need.  I purchased several box-type puzzle centers, blocks, random books, and alphabet magnetic letters as such.  However, as I became aware of my student’s needs, I realized the importance of providing meaningful and functional literacy activities.  The students enjoyed playing, but were they really learning?  Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t want to take the ‘fun’ out of what they were doing, I realized I could add and enhance some learning elements to what we already had in the classroom.  Some of the centers that were updated and improved were:

• Classroom Library

I had several books, but they were random, and some were so advanced that even my high performing students were not able to read independently.  I researched for effective ways to enhance my classroom library to promote independent reading.  I chose an area in the corner of my classroom with enough room for at least six children.  I brought in some camping chairs, pillows/beanbag, and a tent that draped from the ceiling to the floor.  I stocked the library with baskets of books in cubicle-book- shelves that attracted and held the children’s interests.  The baskets were labeled and sorted by subject of units and/or holidays and by reading levels for students to easily choose.  I learned that by changing out the categories and updating the books every few weeks peaked the student’s reading interests even more.   

One of my favorite stories to read to my kindergarten class last year was “The Lady with the Lamp”.  This story opened up the subject of how we can be helpers to others.  During this unit, I had social studies books on community helpers and science on light energy.  I used props of a hanging lamp too.

• Writing Center

My writing center, as my library center, was updated as our units/holidays would change.  The writing center would be supplied with ample materials such as markers, pencils, pens, and paper of different sizes, textures, and colors.  The center would include envelopes, letterhead, ink pads, stamps, scissors, tape, glue/paste and clipboards.  The center included 2 tables and 6 chairs.  On the wall would be a bulletin board which was labeled “Writing Center”.   Several posters and anchor charts with vocabulary words, word wall, list of teacher/student names and pictures, high frequency word list in addition to an alphabet chart. 

During the Florence Nightingale unit, our writing center had medical forms (I pre-made) so students could fill out with patient names and information or lists they were assigned to complete.

• Dramatic Center

One of my favorite centers to plan for was the dramatic center.  This was the area where children took on roles to act out situations they were familiar with.  For example, during the Florence Nightingale unit, the center was equipped with medical supplies, dolls, clipboards, labels, and doctor/nurse costumes.  This center allowed students to engage in authentic play with make-believe and pretend elements of the story they had learned. 

During the Florence Nightingale unit, the center was equipped with medical supplies, dolls, clipboards, labels, doctor and nurse costumes.

• Math/Science Center

Literacy can easily be extended throughout the curriculum as well.  Although it may have counters, numbers, and charts, make the numbers strategically available in both numerals and words.  Include journals for reflection of explanations of real world problems and word problems.

Students used math journals during math center and would either write a journal entry explaining how they solved a problem for the day, or by drawing a picture/explanation of the solution.

(5) Art Center

In the art center, students would have a variety of materials to create and label.  Much like the writing center, students were encouraged to draw and create all the while labeling their work.

During the Florence Nightingale unit, students were to create a story map while drawing scenes from the story and labeling items throughout the story map.

• Sensory Centers

This center had several sensory options such as sand/corn/sugar/rice textures and a light box. 

During Thanksgiving, I provided a sensory bin of deer corn with magnetic letters that students could find hidden inside the corn.  They would then match and build words onto a mat with fall vocabulary words.  

• Technology Center

The technology center consisted of desk tops and Ipads

Within the technology center, students would have the opportunity to search subjects pertaining to the assignment for the day.  Also, they would log into the literacy apps such as Open Court, Imagine Learning-Language and Literacy, ABCya and etc.   The Ipads were also used as a tool to write and send messages to the teacher and classmates.  Presentations were created for assignments as well.

 (8) Listening Center

Several audio books were available for groups of students to listen to in the listening center.  Many books had either CDs that students listened with headphones and a CD player or students used Ipads to scan QR codes to listen to audible stories.

This center was useful quite often.  I was able to record myself reading stories and strategically placing QR codes within the book to be scanned that asked questions during the reading to check for understanding.

 (9)  Word Work Center

The word work center is a center that help students in their reading and writing by focusing on spelling patterns, high-frequency words, affixes, and more.  My word work center is stocked with magnetic letters, stamps/ink, markers/crayons, paper, and such.

One popular center I have found for word work was rainbow writing.  The students would write words in different colors from a list of vocabulary words, spelling words, or a list of words that follow a spelling pattern.

 (10) Fluency Center

The fluency center consists of decodables from our reading units.  This center allows students to focus their attention on understanding the meaning of the text.  Students practice independently or with partners while reading with accuracy and automaticity.

One fluency center idea to improve the understanding the meaning of text, is to cut the sentences from a decodable.  Students then will match the correct sentence to the matching picture.  This center can be differentiated by cutting the sentences apart and the student places the words in correct syntax order.