Amy Stone's Literacy Center Ideas

I searched Google to find any information I could on literacy center ideas. The results mostly came from teachers that had implemented the ideas in their classrooms and included several pictures and descriptions of how those centers could be developed and used on an everyday basis. I also found a site that simply listed numerous different ideas for literacy centers and included what grades the ideas could be used in and what skill would be addressed in that idea.

The first website I searched was called Teaching Heart’s Learning Centers Page. This website was set up as a blog type atmosphere with descriptions and pictures of the learning centers that were used throughout her classroom. She has six different centers in her classroom which were the listening center, word wall center, reading center, making words center, making sentences center, and poem center. The students have colored dots next to their names on their desks and those dots correspond to the center they are to work on for that day. Once they begin working on the center, there is a worksheet or activity that they have to complete at the different centers. I think this is a good idea because it provides a sort of “exit sheet” that can be used to make sure that the students are paying attention within the center and learning as much as possible. The teacher also provides pictures in the blog, which helps to show how the centers can be placed throughout a small classroom and what to use for dividing the centers up.

The second website I found was called ABC Literacy Centers. This website was also created by a teacher that used the different centers throughout her classroom. It seems that the ideas that are suggested on this website could be used more at the lower elementary levels. Some of the ideas shown on this website include clay letters, alphabet song workmats, syllable clapping game, listening center, and writing center. The teacher provides an explanation of each idea to be used in the literacy center and also includes a picture to show how the ideas can be implemented.

The third and final website that I visited was provided by CanTeach called Literacy Centers Ideas. This site lists numerous different center ideas that can be used in grades kindergarten through second. Most of the ideas involve listening skills, writing or drawing skills, and/or reading skills. On this site, each idea is provided with a small description to show what skills are included and how it would look in the classroom. Every website was very helpful in showing me how the centers could be used and how they could be included in the classroom. They also included many pictures that helped me to understand how it would look in a classroom setting.