It's great too because depending on the skill the kids are learning that week, you pull 1 or 2 folders for 2 children to work on. There are also independent practice pages to go with this activity and an answer key. Be sure to explain to your class how to use the answer key. Many of them think it's supposed to be used first as they sort picture cards.
Here are two examples of my writing center activities. I change my activities all throughout the year because the kids become very bored. I organized everything that they need and also put this picture on a sentence strip with the name of the center on it. Not only do they learn what the word "White Board" says, but they will also see how to properly put everything away. Everything that they need is in this caddy. We have movable centers because our day is broken up into literacy centers and math centers. A positive to having movable centers is that the children are accountable for putting everything away and not just straightening up the table they worked at. Some activities at this center include:
- Practice writing the ABCs
- Writing your name
- As you progress through the year your students can write sight words or even write sentences
You can switch between these two centers as I wouldn't recommend using them at the same time since they're pretty repetitive. Both of these however are good to switch off between at the beginning of the school year. It's good for fine motor skills. In the "Magic Board" center, I included letter flash cards. One of the things that my students discovered is putting the card on the magic board and tracing over it with their magic pen. They were so happy to see the letter show up on the other side! It was pretty adorable that they discovered this all on their own.
This is my magnet letter station. Beginning of the year children can do a letter ID match. I've seen teachers put contact paper on the bottom of their cookie sheet and write on them in white board marker allowing the students to then match the magnet letter to the letter on the cookie sheet. Magnet letters can be found at Target or any dollar store. Some suggested activities for this center are:
- Letter matching
- Building words
- Writing sight words
- Adding beginning or ending sounds to words
Write the room is one of our most popular centers. The kids love being able to get up and walk around while "hunting" for words. I have 14 different task cards that explain what type of words they're looking for (picture to follow soon). I write the task on an index card and store it in a small box. The students will write the number on their paper (although it's pretty obvious what the task was when you see the words they listed) but it holds students accountable for their work. Some task examples are:
- Look for 6 color words
- Find words with the same beginning sound as your name
- Find words with the same ending sound as your name
- Look for 8 words with capital letters
- List the number words
- Look for the color words
- List all the "Mm" words
- Find the days of the week
- Find the months
As the year goes on you can adjust the cards based on the needs of your class. Tasks such as finding words with the same ending sound as your name was obviously not an option in September. An activity for September would be as simple as "Write as many words as you can down". You will see who is able to differentiate between words and letters. It's very funny to see the words that they will write down too. Until you see "W.B. Mason" written down on their paper you don't realize all the text you have around the room and what they notice!
This center was inspired by http://moffattgirls.blogspot.com/. This is a changing activity at our word work center. I got the idea from Pinterest and created the pictures and popcorn on Word. I printed everything and then laminated them in my Scotch Laminator. I wrote the answers on the back so that it's also self correcting. I store them in popcorn boxes that I bought at Target for $1.
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