Literacy Centers in Kindergarten Classroom Kimesha White Best Practice June 23, 2010 ELED 545 Dr. J. Thompson

Why should Centers be implemented in a classroom? Children learn best when they are actively engaged. Implementing centers in the classroom: Promotes independence Helps students become more responsible Allows students to learn through self-discovery Provides teachers with time to pull students one-on-one or in small groups to target specific academic skills, modify and enrich curriculum, and better meet the needs of individual students

Why I choose to implement centers? I have taught kindergarten for the past three years. Every year I tweak and adjust my system to meet the needs of my students. This year I will incorporate from the more “cutesy” centers that must be changed out weekly and focus on creating more permanent centers with open ended tasks. I plan to select activities that involve students in practicing reading, writing, and spelling daily. In doing this I realize it will take longer to create the center than it takes for my students to complete it, so I must make sure the activity is really worthwhile.

Some of the ways I will Promote Language and Literacy centers in my classroom… Provide opportunities for children to expand their oral language Read several stories daily. Teach songs and rhymes. Support reading and writing through exploratory play. Point out words when reading to children. Encourage children to experiment with writing everyday. Provide a literacy rich environment. Go beyond labeling! Create inviting and special areas for reading and writing. Be a literacy advocate. Model reading and writing everyday.

How will I incorporate print through my centers daily? SSign Sheet or book: Invite students to sign in everyday. SStudent Directory: Create a class directory using students’ name and photos. YYellow Pages: Create a class book of experts for tying shoes, helping with computer, etc. WWord Wall and Environmental Print Wall

Centers for my kindergarten classroom Block Center: Include books on building. Provide blueprints for building. Encourage children to record their constructions in a class blueprint book. Dramatic Play: Set up prop boxes to coordinate with your themes. Include songs, environmental print, and books to encourage play with purpose. Example: Pizza Parlor: pizza boxes, aprons, notepads for waiters, menus from local pizza restaurant, pizza coupons Sensory Table: Bury tactile letters in sand, cold spaghetti, Easter grass etc. Alphabet soup: Have students scoop out a bowl full of letters and practice identifying or matching. Name soup: Have students scoop out letters to spell classmates’ names. Easel: Place art books nearby or laminated copies of famous artwork. Feature an illustrator of the month and post pictures near the easel for students to use as a model. Puppet Center: Allow students to make puppets that coordinate with literature read aloud. Provide socks or paper bags yarn, googly eyes, sequins, etc. Science Center: Add nonfiction books. Consider adding lab books or sheets for students to use when “recording” observations. Social Studies: Provide travel brochures, atlases, maps, and globes. Set up prop boxes for different countries with souvenirs, postcards, and clothing. Encourage students to create their own travel brochures or create a list of things to bring on their trip. Math Center: Add books! Counting books and shape books. Encourage students to take surveys!

Teacher Resources Books  Literacy Work Stations: Making Centers Work by Debbie Diller  Developing Literacy Using Reading Manipulatives K-2 Creative Teaching Press  Instant Math Centers Creative Teaching Press  Simple Centers for First Grade by Lisa Molengraft Instructional Fair  Literacy Centers: Take It To Your Seat by Jo Ellen Moore and Jo Larsen (Evan Moor)  Working With Words: 14 Instant Literacy Centers by Sue Lewis and Amy Stern (Creative Teaching Press)  Hands-On Math Creative Teaching Press