Literacy Centres for the Early Years Classroom 1 to 3 Adapted from the book by Caroline Blakemore and Barbara Ramirez

A. Letter Play Centre 1. Letter Formation Activities Purpose : students will form letters using a variety of materials Materials : Magna Doodle, laminated strips with letter formation and directional arrows, sand tray, letter shaped cutters with play dough, pipe cleaners, letter templates, white boards with markers Preparation : organise materials in labelled containers, provide flat working areas

Letter Play Centre 2. Letter Matching Activities Purpose : students will match lower and upper case letters Materials : magnetic letters all sizes and colours, rubber stamp letters, link letters, felt letters, ABC puzzles, a small alphabet poster or strip, upper and lower case letters on cards Preparation : organise materials in labelled containers

Letter Play Centre 3. Letter Recognition Activities Using Names Purpose : students will form names using a variety of materials Materials : same as for Letter Matching activity but also include each child’s name card for children to copy Preparation : organise materials in labelled containers

Letter Play Centre 4. Letter Sequencing Activity Purpose : students will manipulate letters and put them into alphabetical order Materials : as for previous activity Preparation : organise materials into labelled containers with appropriate work surface eg paper, felt board etc

Letter Play Centre 5. Letter Sorting Activity Purpose : students will sort multi-coloured letters according to letter, colour, shape and upper and lower case Materials : as for previous activity Preparation : organise materials in labelled containers and provide appropriate work surfaces eg paper, felt boards, overhead projectors

Letter Play Centre 6. ABC Book Activity Purpose : students will read from a variety of carefully selected ABC books and /or letter books with a partner or independently Materials : a variety of ABC or letter books Preparation : put books in containers that are easily accessible to your students

Letter Play Centre 7. Letter Collage Purpose : students will search for and locate specific letters Materials : magazines, catalogues etc with large print, scissors, glue, paper Preparation : on each page write an upper and lower case letter

B. Word Play Centre 1. Word Wall Action Purpose : students will replicate the words on the walls using a variety of materials Materials : word walls eg focus words at children’s eye level , writing materials Preparation :organise materials in labelled containers and provide a work surface eg paper, card etc

Word Play Centre 2. Classifying Words Purpose : students will classify word cards according to some specific attributes Materials : words cards, pocket chart and basket for word cards Preparation : commercially produced word cards or teacher made and written on index cards and kept in a box

Word Play Centre 3. Alphabetical Words Purpose : students will select words from familiar reading books and arrange them into alphabetical order Materials : familiar reading books from shared and guided reading , rectangular pieces of paper , A4 paper cut vertically and a small alphabet strip Preparation : 6 to 8 pieces of rectangular paper per child and one half piece of paper per child

Word Play Centre 4. High Frequency words Purpose : students will practise forming high frequency words and locating them in a familiar book Materials : levelled readers which children can read independently, any type of loose letters, high frequency words on cards, plastic ziplock bags for holding letters of high frequency words Preparation : word cards and bags of letters in labelled containers

Word Play Centre 5. Onset and Rime Purpose : students will practise assembling onsets and rimes from familiar books Materials : levelled reading books that children can read independently, sentence strips, rectangles of two different colours 4x10cm, word family list Preparation : select words, write sentences from familiar books and write onset and rimes on coloured papers rectangles

Word Play Centre 6. Picture Word Match Purpose : students will match a word card with an object or a picture card Materials : word cards to match pictures or actual objects Preparation : commercially produced or teacher made word cards and pictures including words from any area of school life

Word Play Centre 7. Search and Tally Purpose : students will search for high frequency words in printed materials Materials : shared, guided reading books, individual writing, big books, poems etc and laminated cards with a high frequency word on it, white board markers Preparation : laminated high frequency word cards (about 5cm X20 cm ), work space for children to spread out with books

Word Play Centre 8. Overhead Words Purpose : students will practise forming high frequency words and other words on the overhead projector Materials : word cards, lower case letters, OHP Preparation : word cards, letters and OHP

C. Sentence Play Centre 1. Sentence Collecting Purpose : students will select a favourite sentence from a current guided reading book and copy it onto a sentence strip and then match it to their illustration of the sentence Materials : sentence strips, 10x10 cm paper for pictures, G/R books, envelopes Preparation : sentence strips (5cm ), 10x10 cm paper for drawing and pencils

Sentence Play Centre 2. Sentence Punctuation Purpose : students will reassemble phrases and words from sentences they have seen in familiar texts and insert correct punctuation Materials : sentence strips, markers, pocket chart, familiar books Preparation : make sentence strips from familiar books and cut into words and phrases and punctuation

Sentence Play Centre 3. Sentence Book Match Purpose : students will match a selected sentence with a book that has been read aloud to them during modelled reading Materials : sentence strips, books, a picture or some representation of the books (photocopy the cover ) Preparation : sentence strips, books and cover photocopies

Sentence Play Centre 4. Sentence Puzzle Purpose : students will reassemble phrases and words from sentences they have seen in familiar texts to practise self-monitoring Materials : sentence strips, pocket charts, familiar books Preparation : make sentence strips from known books and cut up into phrases or words

Sentence Play Centre 5. Overhead Sentences Purpose : students will reassemble phrases and sentences from familiar books using the OHP Materials : OHP transparency of familiar text, OHP sentence strips cut into phrases or words on OHP transparencies, envelopes for storage Preparation : familiar text on OHP transparency and cut ups of it as well

D. Oral Language Centre Tell, Listen and Do Purpose : students will give and receive specific instructions Materials : familiar books, counters or other markers, two manila folders Preparation : two copies of each book, two manila folders and about 8 markers for each child

Oral Language Centre 2. Living Storybook Characters Purpose : students will talk about storybook characters using visual prompts Materials : story books, simple line drawings of characters from familiar books, drawing materials Preparation : simple line drawings of characters from story books, drawing materials and storage for finished characters

Oral Language Centre 3. Storytelling Tapes Purpose : students will listen to, retell and read favourite stories and poems Materials : selection of books, a cassette tape recorder with a microphone, blank tapes of 15 minutes, headphones Preparation : favourite books for taping, commercially produced tapes of books with accompanying books to start off with , books taped by parents, staff or other familiar people

Oral Language Centre 4. Story Sequencing Purpose : students will arrange in correct sequence a series of pictures from a familiar piece of literature and retell a story Materials : familiar books , sequential visual representations of the story, envelopes to store visuals Preparation : copies of familiar books and four to six laminated representations for each book

Oral Language Centre 5. Guess the Title Purpose: students will orally retell the beginning , middle and end of a familiar piece of literature and try to guess what book it is Materials : selection of books, book cover representations (photocopy the cover), envelope or box to store Preparation : select books and make laminated representations of each book or have students make them

E. Writing Centre Writing the Walls Purpose : students will copy a variety of words and texts from the classroom walls to learn to look at and reproduce print carefully Materials : class rules, poem charts, high frequency word charts ,Thrass charts, children’s writing , days of the week, months of the year, cardinal and ordinal numbers etc Preparation : as you create writing with your class , place this at eye level around the room

Writing Centre 2. Independent Writing Purpose : students will write independently and collaboratively for a variety of purposes Materials : a wide variety of writing materials and folders for students to store their work Preparation : a list of the kinds of writing that children can do eg birthday cards, letters, notes, poems, lists, recipes, descriptions and examples of each genre

F. Reading Centre Reading the Walls Purpose : students will read a variety of materials on the walls of the room with a pointer to develop early reading behaviours Materials : see Writing the Walls Preparation : see Writing the Walls

Reading Centre 2. Reading with a Friend Purpose : students will read a variety of books with a partner to practise fluency, gather and share info and foster a love of reading Materials : a large variety of books of different genres and levels of ability, big books, class books and children’s own books Preparation : organise books into baskets according to subject, theme or level

Reading Centre 3. Independent Reading Purpose : students will read a variety of books independently to practise strategies, gain fluency and foster a love of reading Materials : see Reading with a Friend Preparation : see Reading with a Friend