Tips for Starting Easy Literacy Centers for Kindergarten

Teaching kindergarten students is so fun but oh so busy! There’s so much they need to know, and they are so eager to learn it all! However, it can be a challenge to fit it all in. That’s why I love using easy literacy centers for kindergarten. When you use centers, your students can practice and strengthen their literacy skills independently or in groups. Want to know more? Keep reading! 

What is a Literacy Center?

Centers in general are a place for students to get extra practice on skills they have already learned in class using a format they are already familiar with.  When you use specifically easy literacy centers for kindergarten, you are focusing on literacy standards. This can include phonics, writing, reading, CVC words, syllables, and more! 

In literacy centers, students are given so much time to complete activities either as individuals or in small groups. Students rotate centers so they get practice with a variety of skills. Whenever you are using any type of center in your classroom, you’ll want to make sure you have clear expectations that are concise and easy to follow. 

When Should You Use Literacy Centers? 

Centers are great for review. Once you have skills you have practiced with students for at least two weeks, then you can start using centers. When you use centers, you should always make one center a small group table where you can help students who are struggling. If you have a good framework for easy literacy centers for kindergarten, you’ll be able to meet with a small group of students for as long as you let students stay at one center. When you use centers in the day doesn’t really matter. However, you’ll find, just like everything with education, consistency is key. 

What Do Easy Literacy Centers for Kindergarten Look Like?

When you do easy literacy centers for kindergarten, you can include anything that you have already covered in your class. Because literacy centers are designed to be a review, you want to make sure students have a good baseline on whatever is being covered in the standards. Plus, you want to make sure it is in a format students would recognize. Because you want to be able to work with small groups, it’s important that students can be independent when it comes time to do the center activities. When students are independent in centers, you can work one-on-one or in small groups with students who need it. 

Because you want to work in small groups, you’ll want to group students strategically. There are a few ways to group students that can be effective. One way is to make a “bell” of sorts. This grouping would include students who are excelling, those hitting the standard, and those below standard. You can also group students in like groups. Both have their merits and their drawbacks; you just need to do what is best for the personality of your classroom. 

How to Organize Literacy Centers with Ease? 

Organizing your literacy centers doesn’t have to be difficult! Once you have your centers created, all you need to do is put them into activities that go together. For example, you might want to have various diphthongs together or phonics ideas together. Another way to organize your centers is by having a variety of literacy standards covered. You may have one center for writing, one for phonics, and one for reading fluency.  Then, you can use ZipLoc baggies, Iris boxes, and more to keep them organized and out of the way. Labeling your containers you use to organize your literacy center pieces by month or unit can be incredibly helpful! 

Where to Find Easy Literacy Centers for Kindergarten? 

When it comes to centers, especially this time of year, you might not know where to start. That’s ok! We have you covered. With this great April Literacy Centers bundle, your students will be working on parts of speech, phonics, sentence sorting, CVC words, syllables, and more! These activities are easy to pint and go. However, if you want to take a little time this year to save you time next year, laminating will help make these activities last! 

Easy literacy centers for kindergarten are a fantastic tool to use in kindergarten to review throughout the school year. They are even better to use in April because you can start reviewing older skills to prepare students for testing. When you start using centers, make sure you make a station for small group instruction, explicitly teach any new formats, and get ready to watch your students soar!