Sunday, October 20, 2013

The Literacy Center

What is The Literacy Center?


The Literacy Center is one of the 
focal points of our classroom.


It consists of flannelboards,
puppets, books and supporting props
that help promote our units of study.


The Literacy Center changes weekly and sometimes daily
depending on how much stuff we have to share.
The children love this center and interact (okay, I mean PLAY)
with everything on a daily basis.
It's fun and engaging for our Kindies
and really helps reinforce our concepts for the week.


Typically, several books are featured at the Literacy Center.
These book are selected based on our personal assessments
and what we consider to be "classics".
We read these books to the class during circle time and
the children often work on a storyboard about the book we shared.
(A storyboard consists of questions that might include
character, setting, beginning, middle and ending, plot.)
The children dictate or write their responses and
provide illustrations to support their answers.
These storyboards are a 
great tool for assessing story comprehension.





We also use our puppets to act out
stories, songs and fingerplays.
The Kindies love it!
We think our Literacy Center is fabulous!
Next time you are in our classroom
be sure and check it out!


***For all my teachers friends***

I often get asked how I make all the puppets and shapes,
what the sticks are for,
and where I "purchase" everything.

I buy a lot of "kits" at Hobby Lobby
and Michael's.  The kits consist of
foam and felt shapes that need to be assembled.
I order things from Oriental Trading and I go to Dollar Tree often!
I also use our local Teacher's Center and cut shapes out
of fun foam using the die cut machine.
I also have a huge selection of personal dies.
All the felt and foam shapes have Velcro on the back of them.
The reason for this is to provide versatility.
The shapes can be used on a flannelboard or attached to a stick.
The stick puppets are then used as manipulatives.

I have worked for several years gathering all these materials.
It's really fun and let me tell you....
once you get started
 every trip to the craft store becomes
a hunting expedition.

Hope this answers your questions.
Thanks for all the thoughtful comments!
Big Hug!
Nancy








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