5 Seasonal Literacy Centers You Will...LOVE

Have you been to the Dollar Tree or through the Target $1.00 bins to check on the Valentine's Day goodies? I just can not get enough of them, and last week, I caught one of the first days after all the Valentine's day loot was put out. Imagine how the wheels were turning. Today, I will be sharing my creations with you as well as possible variations you might try.

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Writing Center Activities

Hey there!

I have been working on this center for over a year.  We used it last year, and I have to say - it worked out better than I could have imagined.  My kiddos fought loved going to the writing center to work in these binders, and they also loved reading what other kids wrote.   For years we did a Newsflash where my parents cut out newspaper pictures and students could pick the picture and write their own story.  They absolutely loved doing this, and our writing improved dramatically.  Åt the end of the day, students who had finished their Newsflash were able to read their "article" to their classmates.   Can I say, "PRICELESS!"  So, I started thinking that I really could do this with a variety of topics - and so I began to create these.  At first we did them as little books, but that was ONE.HOT.MESS!  One of my co-workers used binders to show student writing during parent/teacher conferences, and that gave me the idea to do the binders.  Thanks C. Cassidy!!  We do two different parent/teacher conferences, so by the second one, the parents truly see the growth in their child's writing.  We place all the binders outside for parents to look at while they are waiting for me.

We started off with one binder, and we did a word wall as an entire group.  (We have two sheets in the binder that are designed like a mini word wall.)   We discussed what words we might need as we were writing our story.  Once done, we put the word wall sheets in the binder, along with a bunch of writing sheets.  And the fun began!

Now, don't get me wrong!  I didn't just put the binders in the writing center and watched them create masterpieces!  I wish!!!  We did writing activities whole group daily.  I would pick a binder topic and write about it every day.  Sometimes I would take several days to write about one topic, to show them that it wasn't a race to finish.  Good writers take many hours writing to create their "masterpiece".  I also used student writings that were great and attainable and posted them on our bulletin board as examples of what I was looking for.  But I think the real kicker was allowing them to read to the class in the afternoon.  If their story didn't make sense, or was too silly, they actually knew it as they were reading - it only took a few times for them to realize that they really needed to take their time when writing so that their story made sense and the audience actually enjoyed their story.   MANY.MANY.MANY times they started reading to the class, then asked if they could fix it and read again the next day.  So, we also decided that before you could read it to the class, you needed to read it to at least two different friends during center time.  This helped us tremendously as well.

Here are some samples of student work!

QUICK WRITES

This center was so popular, that I decided to create some "Quick Writes" as well.  For these, students just grab a card and write about what the card says in their writing journal.  I didn't expect it to be such a hit - but the kids loved this center as well.



I hope this helps someone out there with their writing centers.   HUGS!

Here's my writing center that I just added to my TPT store! :)

It will be HALF OFF until December 28th. 

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Easy Center Ideas

I am thrilled to write my very FIRST post on Classroom Tested Resources! I know this is the beginning of a beautiful blogger-ship....is that a  real word?  If not, let's just pretend!

This past summer I helped a few friends set up there classrooms.  One of my former colleges and friends is SO creative.  She had several EASY and simple ideas for centers.  

She planned to use hers as morning work.  Students could choose an activity after they unpacked for the morning.  I thought this was such a great way to help students ease into the classroom routine. I did this MANY years ago in my 4th grade classroom and loved it (and so did the kids!).

She had purchased several small tote bags and flash cards from the Dollar Store.  Each little bag had two sets of flashcards inside.  Students could grab a bag, and then take it to a spot in the classroom to work.

I thought this was a great idea because we all know those boxes for flashcards last about 2 seconds. Even AFTER the boxes fall apart, the flashcards will still be somewhat organized and usable since they are contained in the bag!

Here is another one of her clever ideas- and it is cheap! She just used an old Pringles can and small bathroom cups.

She took the  cups and put dots on them.  You can do a million things with these!  Subization and recognition of numbers, combinations of ten, adding three or more numbers, and so on. Students can "stack" the cups after they complete the activity to see how many numbers they worked on!

This is a similar activity.  She just put sight words  on the bottom.  Students read the words and then stack them.

Have you ever heard of the game BOOM?  It is a great review game and can be played in pairs or independently.

My friend used tongue depressors, but you can also just laminate strips of paper.  Her BOOM game reviews addition facts.  She wrote the addition facts on the end of the sticks.  On two or three sticks write BOOM!  

To play the game, students put the sticks in the cup (or container) with the facts side down so they cannot see what is on each stick.  Students randomly draw out a stick and answer the fact. If the student get the fact correct, they can keep the stick.  If it is incorrect, the stick goes back in the container.  If the student draw a BOOM stick ALL their sticks go back in the container.  Students continue to play until play time is over.  When playing in pairs (or more) the students take turns.  The student with the most sticks at the end of play time wins!

Got an egg carton?  Then you have another center ready to go!

Number the bottom of each hole on the egg carton.  I numbered mine 1-12.  Put in two counters or pieces clear vase filler.

Students close and shake the egg carton. Students open the carton.  Then the student can add the two numbers the counters landed in!

You can vary the game by using addition, subtraction, or multiplication. You can also differentiate by using large two digit or three digit numbers.

Hope these ideas help to keep it simple and add to your center stash!

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Super Simple Center {Fiction/Non-Fiction}

Hello and Happy December! It's Allison from Stuckey in Second! Today I want to share a super simple center that I've used in my 2nd grade classroom! I hope that it can help get you through your busy teaching days!

One of the first standards of the year that I teach in 2nd grade is distinguishing between fiction and non-fiction (fantasy and reality). We work for a few weeks on different activities including:

• Sorting a variety of books between fiction and non-fiction
• Exploring various books to determine what features each genre has
• Creating a Venn Diagram including the characteristics of each genre
• Completing a quick assessment where each student is given a book at random and asked to determine whether it is fiction or non-fiction, then list the reasons for their choice (from the class Venn Diagram)

After students are assessed, I find it important to continue to explore and assess this concept. So, I add an activity to explore the differences between fiction and non-fiction text to a workstation titled "Fiction/Non-Fiction Sort":

In this workstation, I change out the selection of books weekly. (I try to choose a fairly equal amount of fiction and non-fiction books for the station.) I put the selection of 10-12 books in the workstation basket and two "header" cards labeled FICTION and NON-FICTION.

Students are to:

• Sort all of the books under each header by looking through each book and using it's characteristics at a glance to determine if the book is fiction or non-fiction. Students shouldn't have to actually read the book in its entirety to determine this.
• Choose one book from each genre (one from fiction, one from non-fiction) that they'd like to investigate further.
• Complete the form below that includes listing the title of the book, genre, and characteristics that make that book fiction or non-fiction.  (Students are encouraged to use the class-created Venn Diagram that hangs up all year long.)

Additional Resource:
Graphic Organizer pictured above
Fiction/NonFiction Bookmarks
FCRR Comprehension Fiction and Nonfiction Review and other activities


Create your own chart like the one above quick and easy! You can laminate the sorting pieces and have students do this for a center.  Click on the picture below for a freebie! Please, please leave feedback if you download it! I appreciate all of your support!!

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Daily 5 in my Upper Elementary Classroom

Hey guys! It’s Kristen from Chalk & Apples. When I first learned about the Daily 5, I loved the idea. It’s such a simple way to manage centers so that the teacher can focus on meeting with small groups. In my classroom, though, I ran into a couple of issues... a lack of adequate time and difficulty finding engaging, age-appropriate activities made implementing Daily 5 difficult in my 5th grade class. Today, I want to share some solutions that have helped Daily 5 work for my big kids.

Time Management with 30/30

I recently found an app that I absolutely adore! It's called  30/30, and while this particular app is only available in iTunes, there's an Android alternative.

This app allows you to set time limits for activities, starting and stopping them whenever you want, rather than based on the time of day. I have mine set up for three 20 minute rotations with 2 minutes of transition time in between and 2 minutes of clean-up at the end. If you get off track or need to go long with a group, you can even pause it, skip ahead, or add/subtract 5 minutes with a tap. It has a unique sound, and my students are trained to swap centers when they hear it! (PS: It's pretty good for blog-post-writing and TPT-creating time too! I set it to remind me to get up and move every half hour!)

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