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!

Pinterest Projects

So I attempted my first Pinterest project last night and it was a success! I used the glass stones from Michael's Craft Store, my glue gun, letter stickers, and white circle dots to make upper and lower case letters. I haven't decided if I'm going to hot glue magnets to the back yet but they turned out really cute!! I have yet to learn how to use a glue gun without burning myself. I found these cute metal circle cookie tins at Michaels in their discount section for 99 cents. What do you think?

SHARK WEEK - Freebies all week!! Day 4

OH my so sharks must have taken over my computer and and my day 4 and day 5 posts got lost! There are teeth marks on the back of my laptop!! Eeeeekkk!! Who am I kidding, shark's don't attack computers!

The most important things I have learned from shark week on discovery:
1. Sharks are really amazing and beautiful creatures that scientists really don't know enough about!
2. By teaching our students about sharks and other aquatic animals we can inspire many into becoming future marine biologists!

3. Skip swimming after heavy rains, which may move some freshwater fish, including sharks, into areas they would not otherwise frequent. Try to swim on sunny, clear days. Foggy mornings and dusk may cause a shark to confuse you with prey.
4. Sharks are creatures of habit. Do not swim in areas where a shark attack has recently occurred, since the same shark, or others, may still frequent the spot.
5. Avoid looking like a seal. Lying on a surfboard and wearing a wetsuit and fins can give you a seal's silhouette from a shark's perspective below.

So here is today's freebie, below is a shark facts paper my kids use to write about something they learned and can illustrate a picture of a shark.

SHARK WEEK - Freebies all week!! Day 3

It's SHARK WEEK!!! Please join in with my shark week celebration by leaving a comment or sharing a shark activity on your blog!

Today's freebie is my Shark Art center! My kids love using tear art (tearing up paper no scissors allowed!) to make their shark art picture. I use blue 12x18 paper to give my kids enough space to work. I give them a tracer (see the picture below, the tracer is in the center of the table one of my teammates drew it) of a shark to draw an outline in pencil on the blue. Next they tear the gray paper and use wet glue to fill in the shark. The kids love adding shark teeth some used white paper others used crayons. They kids also use tear art to create sea weed and other animals in their ocean scene. Many kids make a remora fish to go with their shark!

 

SHARK WEEK - Freebies all week!! Day 2

IT'S SHARK WEEK!! To continue with my shark week celebration today's freebie is a diagram with labels that I use with my kiddies. To differentiate this activity I have my higher kids practice writing the words into the diagram my lower students cut and paste the words into the blanks.

Below is my shark week hat that I will be sporting for my kids when we study sharks this fall! A great freebie from California Tortilla restaurant in the DC area.

Please leave a comment if you are feeling sharkie this week!!

Lakeshore Store Trip!

So I traveled last weekend to the Lakehore in Towson, MD.  It's probably a good thing it's almost an hour away from me and I should know better then to go to a lakeshore store on my own. Walking in the front door I saw this scene and had to remind myself of my budget. It's a great store if your in the area!

Warning! Do not leave teachers unattended.

Too many decisions! Not enough time!

I'm actually quite proud that I only purchased the items below. I walked in with my list and stuck to it plus a few little additions that woudn't break the bank. I am excited about my playdough stampers to go with Kinderworks playdough stamping center I purchased off her TPT site. 

3 weeks until school starts I can't believe it's almost here and my summer just started today!

SHARK WEEK - Freebies all week!!

Good morning everyone! To celebrate Shark Week, each day I will be posting a shark freebies or craft that I use with my class that will hopefully help support yours!

The Discovery Headquarters building is less than a mile from my school so all of my students know "Chompie" the shark that has been attached to the headquarters building every year. Unfortunately this year Chompie will not be gracing us with his presence so my pictures are from last year but he will make a return in 2012 for the 25th anniversary of shark week.  Shark Week is embraced by the community and well look at Chompie who couldn't love that face!

So here's my first freebie!! Five Little Sharks Poem to practice the word "said" and a second poem that focusing on "-ing". Happy Shark Week!! Please leave a  comment if your in a chompie mood! :-)