Using Centers To Create Learning Experiences

Literacy centers have always been my students’ favorite part of the day.  I am always sad when I talk to teachers and they say they don’t have time for centers anymore.  I realize that the pressure we are under as kindergarten teachers has increased greatly the past few years, but at the end of the day our students are still only five years old.  They learn best by hands-on activities and play, which is all the more reason centers should be a staple in all kindergarten classrooms.

Centers in my classroom vary depending on needs and ability levels.  When I create groups, I try to consider a balance with a stronger student and a student that may require more assistance.  My centers are on an eight to ten center rotation. I have 2-3 students in each center. I have done centers every way possible but I have found that small groups definitely work best. I also mix up my groups once a month so students have opportunity to work with more peers and build those relationships.

While students are in centers, I am pulling guided reading groups.  I have procedures set in place for students to show me their work. I have a push night light on my teacher table. I purchased several like these from the Dollar Tree.

When it is on, they are not allowed to come to my table. It’s only on when I am working with a small group. After it goes off (in between groups), I allow for a few minutes to check work. I look over work and if they have completed it correctly, I put a smelly smiley on their paper and they put in their cubby to take home that day. I don’t “grade”. I do have them make corrections if answers are incorrect or they have made a “sloppy copy”.

 

Each center has some sort of writing (sometimes full page, sometimes half page). For my scavenger hunt and write the room, they are only half pages. I have picture cards (I Can cards) in each basket/tub. They do the “paper” activity first and then do the other activity next. For example, their tub may have two cards in it. One shows a Write the Room picture and another shows Big Books. After they write the room, they go to big books.

So, essentially they do two centers a day but only one is writing based. This way everyone has something to do the entire time we are in centers and I don’t have to stress when working with small groups.

 

Everything goes home every day. When I create centers, I have the same focus sight words (or whatever we are working on) for every center. If we are working on the words “like, go, see, can, my” then all word work centers will have those words. That way they are getting good exposure every day.

 

Centers should provide multiple opportunities for students to read, write, and participate in meaningful learning experiences.  It is really important to me that my centers offer something unique.  Half of my centers are at tables while the other half are on the floor or mobile.  It’s totally fine with me for kids to chose to work on their tummies on the floor with a clipboard.  I also think that when considering independence, it’s always a good idea to offer some centers that are a constant all year.  I have several year round centers that my students love.  I differentiate them and they progressively get more difficult as the years goes on, but the objective and rules for completing the center remain the same.

I change up the themes of my centers, but you will always find a Roll & Write, Scavenger Hunt, Write the Room, Play Dough, and a Print& Punch center.  Here is an example of what one of my yearlong centers looks like.

I truly believe that by creating these, I have created independence in my students. I increase the difficulty so no one gets a free pass but explaining centers isn’t stressful and the expectations are already understood.  It really is good times.

I start my year with strictly fine motor centers because so many kids need it.  It makes me sad that art has been taken out of so many kinder classrooms. Kids need more fine motor. I am very passionate about fine motor activities.

Here is how I use this center:

When creating and implementing centers, keep these things in mind:Students should be able to complete the centers independently through collaborative study.

Centers should be actively engaging.

Centers should provide more time for the teacher to work with small groups.

Expectations should be clear and modeled before implementing centers.

Student growth is the ultimate goal.