ELA Center Time!

This is one of my favorite times of the day!  The kids get to practice skills, and I can pull small groups at my back table to work on certain skills.  In our classroom, we do hands-on learning, so of course, centers are hands-on activities!

So here's a little about my ELA Centers.  During Readers' Workshop, we do a series of alternating mini-lessons then center rounds.  For my next post, I will describe our Readers' Workshop into more detail.  

At this moment, I have 6 centers opened, which means each center has 4ish kiddos in it at a time.  They are based a little on CAFE skills, Daily 5, and Debbie Diller stations.  I don't follow one particular style; I have a hodge-podge of strategies that work for me and my kiddos.  My ELA centers are:

1. Reading
2. ABC (Phonics skills)
3. Word Work (Sight Word games)
4. Writing
5. Fluency
6. Technology

Note: I will eventually open the 7th (Listening) which will be move my centers to 3 kiddos at a time.  I'm working on getting more resources for my listening center on Donorschoose.  If you are interested in supporting my projects, please visit my Donorschoose page: www.donorschoose.org/msschulze  Thanks in advanced!


I'll explain a little about each center and what is expected from the kiddos.

1. Reading Center

Kiddos can choose to lay, sit on pillows, read to self, or read to someone in this center.  They just need to READ!!

This center is located in my classroom library.  It's one of my kiddos' favorites!  I have two types of libraries in this center.  My thematic library is in green buckets.  These are fun and exciting picture books separated by theme.  I will rotate themes displayed throughout the year to keep with my students' interests.  I also have my leveled library.  After assessing my kiddos, each student knows what level he/she is on.  They can pick books out of the leveled library that they can read independently.  I have a poster in this area to help students remember what level they are on.  We make a big deal when they move up levels!

2. ABC Center

Kiddos work on phonics skills that we are working on throughout the week.  

One of the activities is "Build it", which is our Wednesday Phonics activity (I will post more about this later!).  In this activity, students use letter tiles to build words using the current phonics skills.  After they build it, they record their work in their center spiral notebooks.

Another activity is Phonics puzzles.  These puzzles were created by an amazing colleague of mine, Mrs. Emily Berg.  They are picture to word card puzzles.  After the students match the puzzles, they find the sentence that needs that word.  They can then read and write the sentences.

I will also include other activities in this center as the year progresses such as word sorts, letter twisters, and letter stamps.

3. Word Work

In this center, we work on sight word recognition and using the word wall.  This center is located right next to our word wall, so the kiddos can use it as a resource.

One of the activities is sentence puzzles.  This is a super easy activity to create (by the amazing Emily Berg).  I wrote sentences using this week's sight words on sentence strips.  Then, I cut each word out into a puzzle.  Note: I numbered the sentences before mixing them up, so the kids get all the 1's together to build a sentence.  The kiddos work together to create the sentences, and then record the sentences in their spirals.  

Another activity, that is in this center is Fill in the Blank (which is our Wednesday sight word activity.)  My next post will be about our phonics and sight word mini-lesson weekly activities.  Anywho, this is another simple activity using sentence strips.  I create sentences with the missing sight words.  The kiddos then fill in the blanks using word cards and record their sentences.

I will also add Sight Word Wordle (with magnifying glasses), ABC order activities, and other word wall activities and games throughout the year.

4. Writing

I want my kiddos writing for fun!  This week, we worked on labeling.  Soon, we will be writing stories, notes, letters, lists, and how-tos!  The activities will usually incorporate the skills we are learning during writers' workshop.

5. Fluency

This is my newest center!  In this center, we are working on reading with fluency.  We will work on tone, rate, and expression.  

This week the kiddos played Bang! practicing reading sight words.  Eventually, they will work on phrases and sentences, especially taking into account punctuation. I have gotten a few activities from TPT from like Rock Your Fluency activities from Cara Carroll at First Grade Parade as well as Sight Word Poems from Jodi Southard at Fun In First.

6. Technology

Super excited that my amazing admin got me two extra chrome books, so technology center has a total of 4 computers now!  Woo hoo!  We will be using the school provided computer programs: I-Station and ST-Math.  I would like to incorporate some kind of typing activity with my kiddos later into the year.


I use a powerpoint that is on an timer to manage my center times and cleanup.  The screens include a 13 minute "Work in Centers" slide, a 2 minute "Two Minute Warning" slide, then countdown slides which counts down from 10 to 1, and an ending slide which shows the students a picture of how they should be sitting on the carpet when the countdown is over.  If they beat the timer and have the room cleaned and are sitting quietly, they earn a smiley on the scoreboard (WBT strategy)!

And that's our ELA Centers!  Sorry for the long post! :) Happy Teaching!