Literacy Centres
Literacy Centres are such a huge part of what I teach and how I teach at the moment! I was almost unsure of how to approach this broad topic but knew I had to include something about them in my portfolio. They are a firm and entrenched part of my reading program and English program. This is just to give some information about how my centres run (although you can also find some fantastic videos on youtube and curriculum.org as well as find out more on The Daily Five) I do not propose to be an expert on literacy centres, and am in fact learning new things all the time from colleagues and other resources.
My centers are essentially divided up as follows:
Reading, Writing, Guided Reading and Raz-Kids are constants. The other centers might be switched in and out week to week. Children are divided into groups based on reading level (this is done so that they will attend guided reading together). Each center has its own box or location in the classroom, and children are familiar with center procedure which has been drilled since the beginning of the year. Center rules are also up in the classroom, written beside the center rotations for the day (which are always written inside a whiteboard that folds out). There are also specific rules for putting centres away and what to do in the case of misbehaviour in centres.
Centre groups with the names of students and their current animal reading level box, are always posted for student reference. If one or two students has their groups shifted, that will always be announced the week the change starts, as well as posted on a new group list. Every semester after all the students have had their reading levels changed, the groups change around depending on their new reading level.
Centres exist not only to expose children to a variety of different literacy activities/to practice different schools, but also so I can work with groups of children reading at their level - working on specific decoding and comprehension skills. There is also always a guided writing component as part of guided reading.
So the Centres themselves in brief:
Reading - Students go "book shopping" every week, out of their leveled book box (labelled with an animal). They have one minute to choose 3 books (more if they are below a level E) for their reading bag. When it is reading time, they take out their bag, and this reduces "book choosing time" at centers, which unchecked can sometimes take up a huge portion of time at that center. They also have a task that they can choose to complete, such as making a book mark showing the problem and the solution, a venn diagram comparing characters, a story board with the beginning/middle/end, a summary, filling in a cause and effect chart, ect. Because quality of reading is better than a hastily completed product that students complete because they feel they need to, the focus here is on reading first.
Raz-Kids - Raz-Kids is a program online where students can read, listen to and answer comprehension questions about books. Thankfully my school has a subscription as well as 3-4 computers at the back of each classroom.
Writing - Sometimes the task reflects what is being done/has been done in class. Sometimes students are more free to write what they wish.
Examples of what students have written in the past: acrostic poems about animals or people, letters, post cards (this was fun as students wrote and decorated their post card, a sticker was put on as the "stamp" and then they or myself delivered it), writing about a picture, writing based on a prompt, create a story based on a dice story prompt, boggle
For most centers the rule is "if you get done, you may get your book bag and read" for this center it's "only writing at the writing center" so if they get one done they can edit, they can read it to a partner or they can write another
Guided Reading - I work with students at their reading level, on skills they need to master (both comprehension and decoding), we also will do a bit of vocabulary study and guided writing
Handwriting - This is a fairly infrequent centre throughout most of the year, as by the beginning of grade two most (though certainly not all) of my students know how to print neatly. However there are times when they answer questions about themselves at the beginning of the year, in full sentences and are expected to use their neatest handwriting. These days students are playing boggle with cursive letters and filling out sheets about themselves in cursive (as this is a skill first taught at the end of grade two at my school)
Drama - Sometimes students practice reader's theatre, leveled Reader's theatre scripts can be found on Reading A-Z - during National Week students were practicing Qatar History scripts where children were asking their grandparents about various aspects of the history of Qatar
I also have a book of rhyming poetry scripts
Spelling - Students have cards containing the weekly spelling words (or sometimes containing words they commonly misspell in their writing) One person reads the cards, and the others spell the words with the tools in the box. Sometimes there are bean bag letters, sometimes magnetic letters with magnetic boards, sometimes white boards with markers.
Grammar - there is often an anchor chart in with this center, most often these are sorting, matching or usage activities, usually there is some form of writing involved so students demonstrate they actually learned something at this centre
Pocket Chart - The pocket chart contains the names of everyone in the classroom, as well as places, times and things that people can do.
Here students can make their own sentences and must write 3 or more of their sentences down on a handout. This is a useful activity to learn about sentence structure.
Big Book Detective - basically a grammar center with big books. Students need to work with their group and look for certain grammar structures in the big books (but it's more fun than regular books because these books are BIG) This activity is usually done at the chart paper board, with special optional "word windows".
Sight words - Students will receive a box of high frequency words or sight words (I have hundreds of sight words cards I've made myself - including words that are more specific to these children like "Arabic") and they must practice reading those with their group mates. Often times they make a game of seeing who can say the word first. Sometimes they've also been tokens and cups so they can more visually see how many words they have read correctly.
Now that children have learned about rhyming words, sometimes they work on "word families"
You might also want to switch this out with a long and short vowels activity.
Special/Fun Centers - Occasionally students will get to do Brain Quest or Brain Quest Reading - which they find a real treat or their might be an extra special centre like Lorax Setting (posted previously)
Good resources for finding centres ideas:
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com
http://www.pintrest.com
At the end of every week, their work is collected and completion marks are put in the grade book. N/A if they were absent, X if the work is not present or if it was apparent they barely did anything, 1/2 for a little effort and a check mark for obvious indications of effort. This makes students accountable, and means that if they are not doing their work, you can talk to them about that and make clear what the consequences of that will be.
My centers are essentially divided up as follows:
- Reading
- Raz-Kids
- Writing
- Guided Reading
- Handwriting
- Drama
- Spelling
- Pocket Chart
- Big Book Detective
- Sight Words
- Grammar
- Special/Fun
Reading, Writing, Guided Reading and Raz-Kids are constants. The other centers might be switched in and out week to week. Children are divided into groups based on reading level (this is done so that they will attend guided reading together). Each center has its own box or location in the classroom, and children are familiar with center procedure which has been drilled since the beginning of the year. Center rules are also up in the classroom, written beside the center rotations for the day (which are always written inside a whiteboard that folds out). There are also specific rules for putting centres away and what to do in the case of misbehaviour in centres.
Centre groups with the names of students and their current animal reading level box, are always posted for student reference. If one or two students has their groups shifted, that will always be announced the week the change starts, as well as posted on a new group list. Every semester after all the students have had their reading levels changed, the groups change around depending on their new reading level.
Centres exist not only to expose children to a variety of different literacy activities/to practice different schools, but also so I can work with groups of children reading at their level - working on specific decoding and comprehension skills. There is also always a guided writing component as part of guided reading.
So the Centres themselves in brief:
Reading - Students go "book shopping" every week, out of their leveled book box (labelled with an animal). They have one minute to choose 3 books (more if they are below a level E) for their reading bag. When it is reading time, they take out their bag, and this reduces "book choosing time" at centers, which unchecked can sometimes take up a huge portion of time at that center. They also have a task that they can choose to complete, such as making a book mark showing the problem and the solution, a venn diagram comparing characters, a story board with the beginning/middle/end, a summary, filling in a cause and effect chart, ect. Because quality of reading is better than a hastily completed product that students complete because they feel they need to, the focus here is on reading first.
Raz-Kids - Raz-Kids is a program online where students can read, listen to and answer comprehension questions about books. Thankfully my school has a subscription as well as 3-4 computers at the back of each classroom.
Writing - Sometimes the task reflects what is being done/has been done in class. Sometimes students are more free to write what they wish.
Examples of what students have written in the past: acrostic poems about animals or people, letters, post cards (this was fun as students wrote and decorated their post card, a sticker was put on as the "stamp" and then they or myself delivered it), writing about a picture, writing based on a prompt, create a story based on a dice story prompt, boggle
For most centers the rule is "if you get done, you may get your book bag and read" for this center it's "only writing at the writing center" so if they get one done they can edit, they can read it to a partner or they can write another
Guided Reading - I work with students at their reading level, on skills they need to master (both comprehension and decoding), we also will do a bit of vocabulary study and guided writing
Handwriting - This is a fairly infrequent centre throughout most of the year, as by the beginning of grade two most (though certainly not all) of my students know how to print neatly. However there are times when they answer questions about themselves at the beginning of the year, in full sentences and are expected to use their neatest handwriting. These days students are playing boggle with cursive letters and filling out sheets about themselves in cursive (as this is a skill first taught at the end of grade two at my school)
Drama - Sometimes students practice reader's theatre, leveled Reader's theatre scripts can be found on Reading A-Z - during National Week students were practicing Qatar History scripts where children were asking their grandparents about various aspects of the history of Qatar
I also have a book of rhyming poetry scripts
Spelling - Students have cards containing the weekly spelling words (or sometimes containing words they commonly misspell in their writing) One person reads the cards, and the others spell the words with the tools in the box. Sometimes there are bean bag letters, sometimes magnetic letters with magnetic boards, sometimes white boards with markers.
Grammar - there is often an anchor chart in with this center, most often these are sorting, matching or usage activities, usually there is some form of writing involved so students demonstrate they actually learned something at this centre
Pocket Chart - The pocket chart contains the names of everyone in the classroom, as well as places, times and things that people can do.
Here students can make their own sentences and must write 3 or more of their sentences down on a handout. This is a useful activity to learn about sentence structure.
Big Book Detective - basically a grammar center with big books. Students need to work with their group and look for certain grammar structures in the big books (but it's more fun than regular books because these books are BIG) This activity is usually done at the chart paper board, with special optional "word windows".
Sight words - Students will receive a box of high frequency words or sight words (I have hundreds of sight words cards I've made myself - including words that are more specific to these children like "Arabic") and they must practice reading those with their group mates. Often times they make a game of seeing who can say the word first. Sometimes they've also been tokens and cups so they can more visually see how many words they have read correctly.
Now that children have learned about rhyming words, sometimes they work on "word families"
You might also want to switch this out with a long and short vowels activity.
Special/Fun Centers - Occasionally students will get to do Brain Quest or Brain Quest Reading - which they find a real treat or their might be an extra special centre like Lorax Setting (posted previously)
Good resources for finding centres ideas:
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com
http://www.pintrest.com
At the end of every week, their work is collected and completion marks are put in the grade book. N/A if they were absent, X if the work is not present or if it was apparent they barely did anything, 1/2 for a little effort and a check mark for obvious indications of effort. This makes students accountable, and means that if they are not doing their work, you can talk to them about that and make clear what the consequences of that will be.
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