ABC/Word Work Center
The Word Work Center gives students the opportunity to engage in literacy activities that will increase their knowledge of letters and words. This center allows students to understand the shape and attributes of letters, the difference between letters, how letters make words, and how those words can be used in sentences. This center will be changing throughout the year based on students' ability. This center provides many choices and is very open ended.
Possible Materials
This center has many possibilites and allows for student choice. Below is a list of sugested materials that might help get you started:
*Pointers ( flyswatters, flashlights, pointer wands, pointer fingers, etc.)
*Magnetic letters ( multiple sets for upper and lower case activities)
*Cookie sheets
*Dry erase boards
*Markers
*Wikki sticks
*Playdough
*Letter cutouts
*Letter stamps
*Letter tiles
*Letter tubs
*ABC posters and books
*Tactile letter cards
*Word cards
*Magazines and newspapers
*Letter beads with string
The Word Work Center in Action!
The following pictures will show you three different ideas for activities that can be done at this center. These activities all enable the teacher to use formative assessment to see how the student is performing on a specfic skill and what skill(s) to instruct next.
Row 1: This student is working on sorting capital and lower case letters. This activity allows the students to explore the alphabet and compare the letter formations.
Row 2: This student is working on building words within a given word family. The student then went on to write the words and draw a picture to go with some of the words. This allows the teacher to assess the student's ability to blend and segment words as well as understand the meaning of each word with an illustration.
Row 3: This student used word tiles to build sentences. The student then wrote the sentences and illustrated them. This allows the teacher to assess the student's ability to use vocabulary words and make complete sentences.
Additional Ideas and Resources
There are many other ideas that can be included in this center. Below are a few more ideas as well as a few resources you can turn to!
Ideas:
*Sorting letters
*Identifying letters
*Sorting words
*Making words
*Word hunts
*ABC Order
Resources:
* Literacy Work Stations by Debbie Diller
* www.kidscount123.com