Organization Week- Day #2 : Literacy Centers

I linked up for another day of organization. Check out Pattons Patch for more :)

Organization + Literacy Work Stations = Super Long Post because I love love love lit stations!

It all started when I read this book...

The Structure for my lit stations came from here. Then I took bits and pieces and made them my own. Currently I have 12 lit stations going at a time. I have 15-16 but that allows for me to change out stations to keep the kiddos interested. I do not add materials throughout the week as we do them as Debbie Diller suggests (I tried...it just doesn't work for me). I instead switch out many of the materials every other week. Most of the stuff the kids have been exposed to so it is usually a quick introduction of the new stations. Here is a picture of my work board.   

The kids do 3 rotations a day which lasts for about 45 minutes total. They are in pretty small groups which works great. That is why I have to have so many stations going at once. During this time I am able to see 3 reading groups and my co-teacher is able to see 3 reading groups (more on this later). 

Here is a list of my stations as well as what we do at each station:

ABC Station- This changes throughout the year. At the beginning of the year the kids work on making the alphabet with different materials. They also do activities and play games involving letter sounds. As the year goes on, the kids play games involving blends, rhyming, and segmenting words.

Handwriting Station- Here the kids work mostly on letter formation. I print off pages with their names and laminate them. I also have lots of different letter worksheets that I laminate. Recently I wrote sentences with sight words for the kids to copy.

Game Station-  At this station I put a lot of games and puzzles. Many of the games have been played in whole group or guided reading so the kids are familiar and can play them independently. This is also where I put things like word searches. 

These are the buckets that hold the ABC, Handwriting, and Game Station.

Making Words Station- This is where I put things like play dough, foam dough, etc. for the kids to manipulate and make words. This station also has things like letter beads and stamps for the students to make words.

Write the Room- I change the paper at this station to keep variety. Here are some links to good Write the Room Pages...

Write the Room 1- from Kindergarten Hoppenings

Write the Room 2- from Kindergarten Hoppenings

Write the Room 3- from me

Pocket Chart- This station is where I put tons of great sorts that I have found on blogs or gotten from other teachers.

These drawers are where the materials are held. On top of that is the "Write the Room Station" and next to that are materials for the pocket chart work station.  

Exploration Station- This goes with our theme. If I have science materials for the kids to explore I will put them in buckets. The students can write about what they see on this form...

Exploration Station Recording Sheet

Here is what the exploration station looks like- pretty simple...just some books and materials that are tied to our theme.

White Board Station- This is a super simple station that stays the same from week to week. The kids love white boards. They are only allowed to write ABC's and SIGHT WORDS. I keep a stock of word rings and word lists nearby for the kids to look off of.

Fine Motor Station- At this station there are lots of materials that allow the kids to use their "tiny muscles." The kids actually call this the tiny muscle station. I have puzzles, letter beads, letter pasta, number beads, etc. For most of the materials the students are instructed that they are only allowed to use tweezers (I bought 2 packs of tweezers at the Dollar Tree).

The materials are stored in these small buckets.

Name Station- Here the students do lots of activities that incorporate names. I purchased another Debbie Diller book from Really Good Stuff that has tons of name activities that I try to incorporate into this station.

Magnet Letter Station- This is another simple station. The bucket that you see has tons of alphabet letters. The job...make words with magnet letters on the front of the heater. Right now the kids are working on word families.

Poetry Station- At this station the kids can read from their poetry notebooks (in the buckets on the top of the picture), read poetry books, or put poems into the pocket charts below. The poems are kept in envelopes and written on strips. The kids like to highlight the poems with a report cover that I cut up.

Listening Station- At this station the kids listen to a book and then they usually fill out some type of recording sheet. 

Here are a few great posts from other bloggers that have response sheets-

Fabulous in First

Kindergarten Hoppenings

Mrs. Wills Kindergarten

Read the Room- At this station the kids use pointers and walk around the room to find words/letters they know.

Reading/Big Book Station- Here the kids explore books that are in our classroom library and big books that we have read as a group.

Clean up/Storage- I would show a picture but I am on break. Currently my literacy work station materials are housed in 2, 2 drawer legal sized file cabinets. At the back of each cabinet I have a crate with hanging files that I use to store the papers that go with these stations. Each drawer contains materials for just a few stations. If the materials can be used at different stations (play dough, beads, etc) then they go into their own drawer. As of right now this system works for me although I have been getting a lot of great games and materials from other blogs :)

Here are some of my other blog posts about literacy work stations. I could go on and on all day...

Literacy Work Stations

Another Round of Literacy Work Stations

New Week of Literacy Work Stations

Stephanie