A few weeks ago I blogged about how I managed my literacy centers. This system is literally the best thing I ever did as a first grade teacher. It made things so much easier for me in the long run. You can read more about it HERE.
I finally took photographs of my September centers to show you all. I have these monthly centers for every month except July. I train my students in September, reinforce in October and it is smooth sailing for the rest of the year. The literacy centers change theme and phonics skills and they get more difficult, but the routines are the same and the menu structure allows for smooth monthly changes.
Here is a quick explanation about how my literacy centers work:
These folder holders hold all of the centers. The only exception is the Rebuild a Poem because it is in a pocket chart (but the student recording sheets are still in the folder).
When I first created these centers, I needed something that would work for a tiny room. I had very little shelf space, so I wanted my centers to fit together nicely. This solved that! It only takes up a small space on a shelf. Students know to go here to get all of their centers. You could also spread them out around the room so there isn’t a traffic jam. 😉
The folder holders have labels that match the center menu’s heading. There are four literacy centers under each heading every month. The headings do not change.
Inside each folder are all the contents of that center. The picture on the cover matches the picture on the menu. See below, under Sentence Building is the “Sentence Match” center. The picture on the menu matches the picture on that folder. Also, the heading (Sentence Building) is also on the folder in the top corner, so the student can quickly return it to the correct folder holder.
One of the things I love about these literacy centers is the storage situation! When I taught first grade, I had very little room for anything, especially storage. Each month’s centers fit in a magazine holder. When I need a new month’s centers, I grab that magazine holder and empty out all of the folders and then move them to colored magazine folders shown above for students to use. When I’m done, they go back into their monthly holder.
September Literacy Centers
Another update to my literacy centers is that I made a black-and-white menu. Every student gets a menu at the beginning of the month. They keep it in their center folder all month long. They keep track of the literacy centers they finish by coloring in the squares with that center. Below are pictures of all of the centers.
You can find my September literacy centers HERE.
This is a link to all of my 1st grade literacy centers:
I also have literacy centers: 2nd grade:
Click here for Kindergarten literacy centers:
