Literacy Centres for the Early Years Classroom 1 to 3

1. Literacy Centres for the Early Years Classroom1 to 3 Adapted from the book by Caroline Blakemore and Barbara Ramirez

2. A. Letter Play Centre 1. Letter Formation Activities • Purpose : students will form letters using a variety of materials • Materials : Magna Doodle, laminated strips with letter formation and directional arrows, sand tray, letter shaped cutters with play dough, pipe cleaners, letter templates, white boards with markers • Preparation : organise materials in labelled containers, provide flat working areas

3. Letter Play Centre 2. Letter Matching Activities • Purpose: students will match lower and upper case letters • Materials : magnetic letters all sizes and colours, rubber stamp letters, link letters, felt letters, ABC puzzles, a small alphabet poster or strip, upper and lower case letters on cards • Preparation : organise materials in labelled containers

4. Letter Play Centre 3. Letter Recognition Activities Using Names • Purpose : students will form names using a variety of materials • Materials : same as for Letter Matching activity but also include each child’s name card for children to copy • Preparation : organise materials in labelled containers

5. Letter Play Centre 4. Letter Sequencing Activity • Purpose : students will manipulate letters and put them into alphabetical order • Materials : as for previous activity • Preparation : organise materials into labelled containers with appropriate work surface eg paper, felt board etc

6. Letter Play Centre 5. Letter Sorting Activity • Purpose : students will sort multi-coloured letters according to letter, colour, shape and upper and lower case • Materials : as for previous activity • Preparation : organise materials in labelled containers and provide appropriate work surfaces eg paper, felt boards, overhead projectors

7. Letter Play Centre 6. ABC Book Activity • Purpose : students will read from a variety of carefully selected ABC books and /or letter books with a partner or independently • Materials : a variety of ABC or letter books • Preparation : put books in containers that are easily accessible to your students

8. Letter Play Centre 7. Letter Collage • Purpose : students will search for and locate specific letters • Materials : magazines, catalogues etc with large print, scissors, glue, paper • Preparation : on each page write an upper and lower case letter

9. B. Word Play Centre 1. Word Wall Action • Purpose : students will replicate the words on the walls using a variety of materials • Materials : word walls eg focus words at children’s eye level , writing materials • Preparation :organise materials in labelled containers and provide a work surface eg paper, card etc

10. Word Play Centre 2. Classifying Words • Purpose : students will classify word cards according to some specific attributes • Materials : words cards, pocket chart and basket for word cards • Preparation : commercially produced word cards or teacher made and written on index cards and kept in a box

11. Word Play Centre 3. Alphabetical Words • Purpose : students will select words from familiar reading books and arrange them into alphabetical order • Materials : familiar reading books from shared and guided reading , rectangular pieces of paper , A4 paper cut vertically and a small alphabet strip • Preparation : 6 to 8 pieces of rectangular paper per child and one half piece of paper per child

12. Word Play Centre 4. High Frequency words • Purpose : students will practise forming high frequency words and locating them in a familiar book • Materials : levelled readers which children can read independently, any type of loose letters, high frequency words on cards, plastic ziplock bags for holding letters of high frequency words • Preparation : word cards and bags of letters in labelled containers

13. Word Play Centre 5. Onset and Rime • Purpose : students will practise assembling onsets and rimes from familiar books • Materials : levelled reading books that children can read independently, sentence strips, rectangles of two different colours 4x10cm, word family list • Preparation : select words, write sentences from familiar books and write onset and rimes on coloured papers rectangles

14. Word Play Centre 6. Picture Word Match • Purpose : students will match a word card with an object or a picture card • Materials : word cards to match pictures or actual objects • Preparation : commercially produced or teacher made word cards and pictures including words from any area of school life

15. Word Play Centre 7. Search and Tally • Purpose : students will search for high frequency words in printed materials • Materials : shared, guided reading books, individual writing, big books, poems etc and laminated cards with a high frequency word on it, white board markers • Preparation : laminated high frequency word cards (about 5cm X20 cm ), work space for children to spread out with books

16. Word Play Centre 8. Overhead Words • Purpose : students will practise forming high frequency words and other words on the overhead projector • Materials : word cards, lower case letters, OHP • Preparation : word cards, letters and OHP

17. C. Sentence Play Centre • 1. Sentence Collecting • Purpose : students will select a favourite sentence from a current guided reading book and copy it onto a sentence strip and then match it to their illustration of the sentence • Materials : sentence strips, 10x10 cm paper for pictures, G/R books, envelopes • Preparation : sentence strips (5cm ), 10x10 cm paper for drawing and pencils

18. Sentence Play Centre 2. Sentence Punctuation • Purpose : students will reassemble phrases and words from sentences they have seen in familiar texts and insert correct punctuation • Materials : sentence strips, markers, pocket chart, familiar books • Preparation : make sentence strips from familiar books and cut into words and phrases and punctuation

19. Sentence Play Centre 3. Sentence Book Match • Purpose : students will match a selected sentence with a book that has been read aloud to them during modelled reading • Materials : sentence strips, books, a picture or some representation of the books (photocopy the cover ) • Preparation : sentence strips, books and cover photocopies

20. Sentence Play Centre 4. Sentence Puzzle • Purpose : students will reassemble phrases and words from sentences they have seen in familiar texts to practise self-monitoring • Materials : sentence strips, pocket charts, familiar books • Preparation : make sentence strips from known books and cut up into phrases or words

21. Sentence Play Centre 5. Overhead Sentences • Purpose : students will reassemble phrases and sentences from familiar books using the OHP • Materials : OHP transparency of familiar text, OHP sentence strips cut into phrases or words on OHP transparencies, envelopes for storage • Preparation : familiar text on OHP transparency and cut ups of it as well

22. D. Oral Language Centre • Tell, Listen and Do • Purpose : students will give and receive specific instructions • Materials : familiar books, counters or other markers, two manila folders • Preparation : two copies of each book, two manila folders and about 8 markers for each child

23. Oral Language Centre 2. Living Storybook Characters • Purpose : students will talk about storybook characters using visual prompts • Materials : story books, simple line drawings of characters from familiar books, drawing materials • Preparation : simple line drawings of characters from story books, drawing materials and storage for finished characters

24. Oral Language Centre 3. Storytelling Tapes • Purpose : students will listen to, retell and read favourite stories and poems • Materials : selection of books, a cassette tape recorder with a microphone, blank tapes of 15 minutes, headphones • Preparation : favourite books for taping, commercially produced tapes of books with accompanying books to start off with , books taped by parents, staff or other familiar people

25. Oral Language Centre 4. Story Sequencing • Purpose : students will arrange in correct sequence a series of pictures from a familiar piece of literature and retell a story • Materials : familiar books , sequential visual representations of the story, envelopes to store visuals • Preparation : copies of familiar books and four to six laminated representations for each book

26. Oral Language Centre 5. Guess the Title • Purpose: students will orally retell the beginning , middle and end of a familiar piece of literature and try to guess what book it is • Materials : selection of books, book cover representations (photocopy the cover), envelope or box to store • Preparation : select books and make laminated representations of each book or have students make them

27. E. Writing Centre • Writing the Walls • Purpose : students will copy a variety of words and texts from the classroom walls to learn to look at and reproduce print carefully • Materials : class rules, poem charts, high frequency word charts ,Thrass charts, children’s writing , days of the week, months of the year, cardinal and ordinal numbers etc • Preparation : as you create writing with your class , place this at eye level around the room

28. Writing Centre 2. Independent Writing • Purpose : students will write independently and collaboratively for a variety of purposes • Materials : a wide variety of writing materials and folders for students to store their work • Preparation : a list of the kinds of writing that children can do eg birthday cards, letters, notes, poems, lists, recipes, descriptions and examples of each genre

29. F. Reading Centre • Reading the Walls • Purpose : students will read a variety of materials on the walls of the room with a pointer to develop early reading behaviours • Materials : see Writing the Walls • Preparation : see Writing the Walls

30. Reading Centre 2. Reading with a Friend • Purpose : students will read a variety of books with a partner to practise fluency, gather and share info and foster a love of reading • Materials : a large variety of books of different genres and levels of ability, big books, class books and children’s own books • Preparation : organise books into baskets according to subject, theme or level

31. Reading Centre 3. Independent Reading • Purpose : students will read a variety of books independently to practise strategies, gain fluency and foster a love of reading • Materials : see Reading with a Friend • Preparation : see Reading with a Friend