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Mrs. Cowan's Classroom Centers
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Mrs. Cowan |
Welcome!! Below you will find examples of my classroom reading centers. Reading centers are used as I do guided reading with my students. The students love these centers and frequently ask if they can go to them rather than go outside. The centers are easy to create and inexpensive. Feel free to email me with any questions or suggestions. Thanks for stopping by. |
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Guided Reading involves grouping students according to the current Accelerated Reader reading level. The text used during guided reading is selected by the teacher because it emphasizes specific skills that the students need to work on. In guided reading, the students and the teacher explore the text together through discussion. The teacher selects the text, introduces it and guides the students as they talk, read, and think their way through the text.
The key objectives of a guided reading are:
Steps in the Process of Guided Reading
Guided Reading helps to develop in students:
For additional in-depth hints on questions to ask during guided reading, please visit My Reading Strategies Page.
Suggested Reading:
Independent reading involves the children reading self-selected texts on their own. These self-selected texts are selected from their appropriate Accelerated Reader reading level. Upon completion of a book, the students are required to respond to the reading in their reading journal. Responses can be chosen from several prompts.
Possible Prompts:
What the children enjoy most about this center is that they can use our big pillows and lay on the floor to read. They also like using bean bag chairs as well. The children are also able to use their whisper phones (2 pvc pipe elbows attached by a short piece of pvc so that it looks like a small phone) which allow them to read aloud but they are the only ones to hear themselves. Check out my worksheet page for additional book reports that you can use.
This center involves the children reading a text with a buddy and then discussing the text.
This center involves the children using the computers to visit a wide range of websites that are geared for their use. For more information or links, please visit the following pages:
Mrs. Cowan's Virtual Field Trips
This center involves the children reading a poem with a group and then discussing the text. They may also use this center to write their own poetry as well.
This center requires the students to listen to a story on tape or CD. they are then required to complete a reader's response to the story. Possible responses or prompts include:
The writing center remains one of the most popular ones in my classroom for a variety of reasons. The children are free to express themselves and they have many materials available at their fingertips that are not easily accessible. Materials needed for this center can include the following:
markers
pencils
paper
ABC stamps
rubber stamps
stickers
stencils
colored pencils
envelopes
The making words center is where students are given selected letters. They must then make as many words as possible out of the letters. They must also try to figure out what word all of the letters make. I usually use letter tiles or magnetic letters for this center. You can also have the children cute out their own letters from a blank word tile sheet. Patricia Cunnigham's books are an excellent resource for this. Even though the books say they are for grades K-3, 4th graders still enjoy doing this. You can even turn it into a contest to see who can make the most words. You can also use the student's spelling words as well.
This center is pretty much self-explanatory. The children get to read from the many Big Books we have in the classroom.
This center requires the students to complete independent seat work as it relates to the skills being taught during whole group reading instruction and guided reading groups.
This center requires the students to play a reading game that emphasizes skills being taught during whole group reading instruction and guided reading groups. These games can be store bought or teacher created.
This center requires the students to read the same book and then hold a book talk about the story. During the book talk, the children are responsible for asking each other questions about the story,
This center utilizes a pocket chart. I use this center to practice grammatical skills, vocabulary, and other rote learning activities. You can write sentences on index cards and mix up the cards. You can then have the children unscramble the words to make the sentences. I have previously taken a worksheet dealing with grammatical skills and placed the problems on an index card. The students are to then complete the pocket chart on their own paper. This saves on copy paper and provides practice for the basic skills needing emphasis. You can do this for math as well.
