Literacy Centers- Kelly Reeder

After looking at different literacy center sites, the resource that I found to be most beneficial is called “Literacy Centers: Literacy Center Ideas and Management Tips.” There are many different tools and ideas within this site for a teacher to use while building his/her literacy centers. Some of these tools include management of literacy centers, independent reading center, word work center, writing center, listening center, language arts center, vocabulary center, computer center, and poetry center.
Within the literacy center management there are many tips and tools on how to move the centers along smoothly. There are various examples from teachers on different charts they used while working with centers. For the children to better understand the center that they are assigned to next, the teacher created a chart with the labeled center and each child’s name. While the students are working in their centers, the teacher then moves their name to the next center that they are assigned to. This eliminates a lot of the confusion and allows the teacher to help the students at centers, instead of figuring out who goes where!
The section I found to be most beneficial was writing centers. At this center the students are able to reflect on books that they have previously read, use picture prompts, writing packets, poetry prompts, paragraph order, genre writing, journals, and story starters. I like this section because it had the students use their reading and writing skills at the same time. These activities provided were fun and enjoyable for the students.
Here is the link to this site: http://www.busyteacherscafe.com/literacy_stations/main.htm
Another site that I found was called “A B C Literacy Centers.” This site provides various activities to use while constructing a literacy center. Along with these activities, pictures and descriptions are provided to give a better view of how the center should look and be run.
The center within this site that I found to be most beneficial was name bingo. In this section the children are given a sheet with a chart on it. In the chart there are different names of their classmates. It did not say how they children will go about playing this game, but I’m sure that having the children take turns on drawing names out of a hat would work! There is a picture of the game cards, as well as a description on how to make it. This allows the children to play a game, while learning how to recognize and spell their classmates names.
The link to this site is: http://www.ourschoolfamily.com/Literacy%20Centers.htm