Literacy Centers for Kindergarten/Preschool

In the members' area you will find pictures for every letter of the alphabet under the heading "Alphabet Pictures". The pictures are in both color and black and white. Pictures from magazines or old dictionaries could also be used.

A sorting sheet was made from large construction paper. The children sorted the pictures according to if they belonged in the house section (are in the same home because they make the same sound) or in the garbage section because they do not have a matching sound. A picture of the house and garbage can is found in the link below:

Pictures Used for the Sorting Mat

2. Matching Rhyming Cards

Children match picture cards that rhyme. Rhyming cards can be found on the page in the following link:

Rhyming Cards

Note: More rhyming cards found in the members' area.

3. Matching Initial Sounds to Pictures

In the following link you will find the page a booklet called 'What Begins With'. This can be used for this purpose.

Book called What Begins With

4. Matching Words to Pictures

Pictures with their names should be posted around the room. Have a small ziploc bag with the names in it. Children walk around the room to find the match. Another small ziploc bag could be placed beside the picture and the matching word could be placed in it. After, the teacher can count how many correct matches were found.

Note: There are many labeled pictures in the member's area that could be used for this purpose.

6. Making Names Game

A photo along with each child's name can be placed in individual ziploc bags. Included in the bag is individual letters for the children to arrange in order to make the name. Once they have finished making one name they must return the materials back into the bag and try making another name.

7. Making Sentences

Sentences could be generated from a predictable chart or using the many pictures found in the members' area. The procedure is outlined below:

a) Sentence words are scrambled

b) Children cut the sentence words and arrange them in the correct order using a model. These may also be pre-cut and the children just arrange the sentence in order according to the model.

c) A picture is drawn or cut from an existing one to illustrate the sentence.

d) This could be made into a class book

Note: The photo shown here was taken from a predictable chart. Each child will have a different ending depending on what they want to be. The picture was taken from a craft suggestion related to the theme Community Helpers.

Literacy Kindergarten and Preschool - Center 4 - Practice Reading

When children begin reading they are what you might call pretend reading. At this point they are reading from what they can remember from the text, they are not yet identifying common sight words or blending sounds together. It is important that they track the words (point to them as they read). This is an important first step. In the members' area you will find over 60 reproducible emergent readers. These are great for beginning readers because they are predictable and repetitive, making this easy for children to pretend read. Eventually the children will begin to recognize sight words and with adult instruction learn how sounds are blended together to form words.

1. Interactive Reading Books (members' area)

In the members' area there is over 60 interactive and theme related emergent readers. The children could complete the following steps in this center

a) Put the pages of the book in the correct order

b) Complete the interactive component of the book

c) Color the pictures in the book

d) Read the book to a friend

e) Read it into a tape recorder and listen to it back

Note: the photo above displays a page taken from one of the emergent readers in the Community Helpers theme unit. The children cut and pasted the correct vehicle that matched the community helper. The text in the book follows the same pattern, this makes it easy for the children to pretend read it.

Literacy Games - Samples From the Zoo Theme

Many of the themes include literacy games. If you search the individual themes you will find a related literacy game within that theme. Below are samples of literacy learning games from the Zoo Theme.

Learning Games

Game for the Younger Children - The children would roll the die and move the chosen game player accordingly. They would color in or use a bingo marker to mark off the animal they landed on using the game board chart. The first person to complete the game board chart would be the winner. This game is great for counting and identifying zoo animals.

Letter and Sound Recognition Variation - Use the game board as above but use the letter chart instead. For example, if the child lands on the gorilla picture they must color in the letter "g" and so on. Whoever has all their letters marked off first is the winner.

Variation for Older Children for Sight Word Recognition - The teacher prints the focus sight words in the blank squares on the game board. She/he also prints these words on the corresponding blank chart. Each child shakes the die, if they land on a sight word they must say the word and mark it off on their chart. The first person to complete the chart is the winner. It is possible for the children to play the game over several times before completing the chart.

.Word Family Activity 1 - Print a word family on the kangaroo provided. Insert the letters in the pocket of the kangaroo. Children take one of the letters and place it beside the word family. What word is now created?

The kangaroo template could be enlarged and placed on a bulletin board and used for other word family groups. The black and white version associated with the letter "k" activity could be used or the color one.

3. Word Family Activity 2 - Print the focus word family on the line. Cut slits along the black bold lines. The teacher places the strip so that the ends go under each slit. The children will pull the strip that has letters printed on it to form a new word.

My Blog

Visit my blog for more suggestions on sight word recogntion.

My Blog

More Ideas found in the member's area and in each theme unit!