Improve Reading Skills with Literacy Centers
Elementary educators have the great joy of watching their youngest students crack the code on reading to begin their journey toward becoming lifelong proficient readers. Not only does sharpening reading skills build up a student’s confidence, it also helps them cultivate language skills, fluency, and writing ability. Additionally, reading exposes students to the magic of literature—expanding their imaginations, teaching them about the world around them, and inspiring them through story telling.
The Benefits of Literacy Centers
One great way to boost literacy in your classroom is to use a station-rotation model. Literacy centers allow students to build their reading skills incrementally through meaningful, ongoing practice and application. Still on the fence? Here are a few of our favorite benefits of incorporating literacy centers in the classroom:
Looking for a new strategy to help students that are learning to read? Try setting up classroom literacy centers!
This method is easy, adaptable, and reusable, allowing you to incorporate all aspects of reading and the English language arts into your curriculum.
Follow these seven steps to get your centers up and running in your classroom!
1. They Target Different Literacy Skills
“Literacy skills” is really more of a blanket term for several different skill sets, including reading, writing, listening, fluency, and vocabulary. Setting up literacy centers allows you to creatively weave these skill sets together so that students can apply their learning to access new texts and complete different reading activities.
For example, setting up a center so that your students participate in paired reading allows you to touch on listening and fluency skills simultaneously. Or, you might have your students read independently, then write a brief summary of the key plot elements, characters, and setting of the story. You may also consider creating different leveled activities available at each center for students of varying abilities to access. Use different colors to discern between each one and coach students to seek out the appropriate color when rotating to that center. It’s easy to switch things up day to day, and versatility in your literacy center activities will keep students engaged and focused on working toward the skills they need to develop.
2. They Can Be Personalized For Each Classroom
There is no set formula for literacy centers—you can set yours up to accommodate your unique classroom and student needs, making them relatively easy to manage and organize. Literacy centers can be portable, where you set them up in a different location each day; temporary, where you only set one up if your class seems to be struggling with a particular lesson; or permanent, where they exist in designated areas within your classroom. Once you’ve defined what kind of literacy centers you want to have, you can then tailor them to your students’ specific needs, and provide materials accordingly. As a part of a station-rotation model, you may even set up your literacy centers so that they can accommodate several different types of group activities in one day. The choice is yours. Just be sure to set specific expectations for your literacy centers to ensure your students are taking part in their upkeep and organization.
They Encourage Student Collaboration
Literacy centers allow you to break your students up into small learning groups, which offers a great opportunity for students to develop stronger bonds with one another, and build effective social skills. Students learn to hold themselves accountable for their own work and actions, while also coming to understand situations where it is appropriate for them to ask their peers for help, or offer assistance if they see a classmate struggling.
Activities such as reading aloud in small groups and holding group discussions after finishing a book teach students about exchanging ideas while also promoting reading comprehension. Taking turns within a literacy center group can also help boost students’ confidence by giving them a smaller, more intimate setting where they can express themselves, ask questions, and share their thoughts about a lesson or story with their peers. Better yet, these interactions can build relationship foundations that continue to develop outside of the literacy center, and help your classroom function better during other group-based projects, assignments, and lessons.
4. Technology Can Be Integrated
In this day and age, literacy skills have come to include media and technology skills as well. Literacy centers are a great way to integrate technology into your lessons, whether it be through online literacy programs, having students type out responses to readings with a word processor, or using computer programs to build slide shows or presentations as a group. This is especially useful for classrooms seeking to integrate more technology into their everyday lessons. You’ll be amazed at how many literacy-based programs and activities exist online that will help your students develop stronger reading skills.
Literacy Centers Allow Student Choice
One of the best things about literacy centers is that they allow for students to exert some control over their educational experience. Not only does this help to keep things feeling fresh, but also helps students build confidence by giving them some responsibility in the classroom. A great example of how to offer this kind of student agency is by allowing students to choose which centers they wish to work on in a given day or where in the classroom they wish to complete their work. These little freedoms help students feel they are more involved in their own learning process and can stimulate engagement as a result.
How to Set Up Literacy Centers
This method for setting up classroom literacy centers is easy, adaptable, and reusable, allowing you to incorporate all aspects of reading and the English language arts into your curriculum.
The following steps can help to get your centers up and running in your classroom.
1. Give Each Center a Focus
An innovative literacy program comprises of all five aspects of reading and the English language arts:
- Independent reading
- Partner reading
- Listening
- Writing
- Word study
Assign each station a specific aspect to emphasize before determining what activities and tools to use at each one.
2. Keep Reading Centers Simple
There’s no need to make more work for yourself by creating over-the-top stations. Instead, focus on the basics.
Make sure that each station has the right amount of space, whether that means a cozy chair for independent reading or ample desk space for a writing station.
Keep the scope of each of the stations’ activities manageable so that there is no need for lots of supplies cluttering the space. To create unique experiences, dedicate supplies exclusively to each station.
3. Engage With Technology
Online programs can offer a huge variety of e-books, audiobooks, and other interactive literacy activities like puzzles, games, and more. Make use of these programs to provide fresh, engaging activities tailored to your students’ individual reading levels.
4. Encourage Collaboration
Literacy stations can provide a great opportunity for your students to practice reading and working together.
Partner reading activities can help students learn to recognize when and how to help their peers, all while reinforcing and building confidence in their own skills.
Students can also practice valuable listening skills by taking turns reading and then retelling a story to one another.
5. Set Realistic Expectations
It will take time for young learners to grasp the rules of each literacy station—don’t expect the strategy to work perfectly the first time!
Have your classroom brainstorm what the expectations are for each station to increase chances for success. Create a list or visual of those expectations that can be posted in the classroom.
Then, observe what happens in each station. Make note of what is working well, reinforce positive behaviors, and don’t hesitate to change up stations that seem to be problematic.
6. Foster Independent Reading
Literacy centers offer a great opportunity to give your students the independence they desire and to teach them the essential skills to be self-directed learners.
Let them choose which books they want to read and which topics they want to write about. Working with materials that students picked out themselves will help them build excitement for reading and gain confidence in their skills.
7. Document and Share Student Work
Let your students be confident in their progress. Offer them various opportunities to document and share the work that they do at the literacy centers. Examples include:
- Keeping student notebooks and journals at writing stations
- Log reading and write book reviews with customizable and printable bookmarks
- Incorporating a “word wall” or magnetic letters into word-study stations
- Providing art supplies like colored paper and markers so students can illustrate their stories
- Encouraging students to share their work with the class
- Creating student portfolios that can be displayed during parent-teacher conferences or open houses
Looking for a structured approach to enhance literacy instruction? Explore the five pillars of reading.
This post was originally published October 2014 and has been updated.