Literacy Center Management

I get a lot of emails asking about how I manage my literacy centers so I figured this would be a perfect blog topic! Each year I've tried something new to help manage them, there's no real science to it but it's depends what works best for you and your kids. I hope some of my ideas can help others become more successful when working with literacy centers! Please email me if you'd like to know more about a center and how it works.

Literacy Center Management
I recommend using a pocket chart and hang it in a visible spot in your room where everyone can see it. In my second grade portable I hung my pocket chart on the blinds. In kindergarten I have the pocket chart on one of my bulletin boards.

2nd Grade Center Pocket Chart

In kindergarten I use all picture cues to tell my kids where to go. Each center has a picture icon so they know where to go in the room. I take photos of my kids on the first day of school and use them for literacy centers, math zones, and lots of other activities in the room!

Must Do & Can Do Centers

Must Do Can Do Flow Chart

During the '06-'08 school year I tested out using "Must do" and "Can do" centers. Students have 4 must do centers that all students are expected to finish and will recieve a grade on each week. The 5th day each week is considered a "catch up day." Each students "must do" must be completed before a can do can be chosen to work on. My students wear name tags around their neck when working at a "Can do" so I can quickly spot where each child is working and how many students are at each center. It went really well and all of my students got their Must Do's done! :-)

What centers do you use? Do you use them all at once? How many at a time?
I started in 2nd grade with 4 Must Do centers and then as the year progressed I moved into 6 Must Do centers.  Working with Must Do and Can Do centers really helped my slower students focus on one activity. Currently in K I use 5 centers and begin a my center rotations on Tuesdays. In 2nd grade when I moved to 6 centers, I used the black chart below and each center has a Must Do on the directions at the center and a Can Do listed below on the directions paper at the center (See the right photo ).


The right side of the black chart shows our Words Their Way Word Study activities for the week.


Must Do/Can Do Directions
My "Must Do/Can Do" centers were inspired by a Kindergarten teacher at my school.
At each center area students have directions with picture cues to complete their must do activity. All of the Can Do centers in the room I introduce to my class during the first couple weeks of school. Can Do activities are things I rarely change and the kids are happy to work at them all year. All of my center directions in Kindergarten use picture cues to help students understand and I always put a model of the activity to get kids going. In the beginning of the year kids usually copy my model but it's very exciting when they start taking risks and trying centers independently! Below is pictures from my centers as they were set up in K this past year.

Can Do's are Stamping Center, TAG Center, or Pocket Chart Center

Can Do's are Writing Center, Computer, or Class Library.

Can Do's are Magnetic Letters, Handwriting Center, or Making Words.

I can't seem to find photos of my last two kindergarten Must Do Centers and signs. So, at Paint Bucket Center the Can Do's are Listening Center, Big Book Reading, or Word Games. At Notebook Center the Can Do's are ABC Puzzles, Read the Room, Write the Room, and Buddy Reading. I also rotate playdough center in during the fall and the Leap Frogs I have around the room. I hope this makes sense and helps someone out there in the blogging world!