Getting students in a routine as soon as possible helps to make the school year run smoothly. Here are some ideas that you can use to get students started in a Literacy Center routine at the beginning of the year (or anytime!). These centers can be used to help students learn or review letters in a variety of learning styles to explore and work with the alphabet. My favorite thing about these activities is that once they are introduced, students can complete them independently!
At the beginning of the year, I love for my students to be able to have time to explore letters. Most have already had experience with uppercase letters, so I like to introduce them to the lowercase letters. The lowercase letter set is perfect for exploring! For this center, I place the letters along with all of my students' names written on cards in a tub. Students spell their own names or copy the names of other students using the magnetic letters. These chunky, foam letters are perfect for their little hands and give them a great introduction to lowercase letters. Later in the year, we will build high frequency words, last names, and sort letters by characteristics.
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Students also need practice writing letters. I like to incorporate a game into as many of our literacy centers as I can, so it doesn't quite feel like learning to my students. In this center, I placed the Alphabet Dice, some paper and pencils into a literacy center tub. Students roll the die of their choosing and write the letter that they roll on paper. Students try hard to form the letters correctly by copying off the die. I want them to have experiences forming the letters and "writing" without any pressure from me. We will later use the Alphabet Dice to create real and nonsense words, rhyming words, and to play alphabet games!
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In this literacy center, I wanted to add some novelty and let my students explore letters while having fun! I placed some Nifty Knob Lowercase Letter Stampers, a washable ink pad and some paper in this literacy center tub. I also added in a set of student name cards. Students can stamp their own name, another student's name or any other words they may know. We will use these stamps later to stamp sight words, last names and other words we know!
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I always want my students to have as many opportunities to practice writing and forming letters as possible, so when I saw the Giant Dry Erase Traceable Letters, I knew they would be perfect for our beginning of the year literacy centers. The numbers and arrows on each letter card show students how to correctly form the letter and if they make a mistake, they can just erase and try again. The lowercase letter is on the back of each uppercase letter so students can begin to associate the two letters with each other. Adding in different colored dry erase markers later in the year brings a whole new level of fun to this literacy center!
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At the beginning of the year, my students always need practice matching letters to pictures that begin with the same letter. I love this Melissa & Doug Alphabet Peg Puzzle for that reason. I put this in a literacy center tub and my students got right to work putting the letters back in their places and matching letters to pictures that began with those sounds. I've used this puzzle to help students identify letters as well. I ask students to locate a specific letter and place it in the puzzle. This helps me know which letters my students know or need more help with.
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This literacy center was a BIG hit! I placed these super cute Smart Snacks Alpha Pops in the literacy tub and my students started matching the uppercase letter to its lowercase half. I love that the pops are color coded, providing a little help for my students who do not know any letters. When they match the two halves together, whether they know the letters or not, they can begin to associate them with each other. Anytime food (even play food) is involved, my students are caught up in the novelty of it and get right to work-- they don't know they are learning!
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More food themed learning hooked my students into matching up these yummy uppercase letter cookies to their spots on the baking tray! The Learning Resources ABC Cookie puzzle was just the right tool for this literacy center! Students picked up a letter cookie with the included spatula and moved it to the correct place on the baking tray. Little did they know, they were also working on alphabetical order!
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What's more fun than writing and stamping letters? Constructing them! The Learning Resources Giant Magnetic Letter Construction Set allows students to explore how letters are formed by breaking them into smaller parts. I placed the letter parts into a literacy center tub along with a cookie tray and let my students explore! I also included a laminated copy of the letter formation guide that was included if students wanted to use that. Students loved creating their names with upper and lowercase letters! I can't wait to use this set with a large group of students to help them guess the letters we will be learning about!
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