Literacy Centers

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Literacy Centers
By Debbie

Hi again,
During the Word Work portion of the Literacy Block, students are assigned a spelling buddy and work with them on the following activities:
First you do a mini-lesson on some aspect of spelling your students
need, such as making various words plural...
Day 1-Choose, Write, Build. Students select several words from the minilesson and others from their writing to learn. The words are written on a card or in a spelling notebook and checked by you. Magnetic letters are used by the buddies to form the words, working from left to right, checking them from their card/notebook. (You will need

about 4 sets of letters and cookie sheets to hold them, A-Z.)
Day 2-Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check. Look at the details of the word, say it out loud, cover it up, visualize the word, write it, and then check the spelling from left to right. (You'll need a file folder per child/pair, and cut 4 flaps to lift for each part of the process. A form with lines running horizontally lengthwise, in four columns lines up inside the folder for writing.)
Day 3-Buddy check. Spelling buddies (matched by stage of spelling development) give each other a pretest and check it. Students learn how to self correct and notice parts that are hard to remember.
Day 4-Making Connections. Connect words in lots of different ways...for example: stationery
*Sounds like state, vacation
*Starts like Stacey, stallion
*Has an ending sound like very, berry
*Has an er like paper, mother...
Day 5-Students are assessed by one another to document growth.
During Readers' Workshop...Book talks, mini lesson on strategies, individual reading, conferring, and written response while small group literature conversations are ongoing. Group sharing and evaluation at the end of the period. You might also add poetry readings and responses.
During Writers' Workshop...Writer's Talk, Minilesson, Writing (in notebook or project), Group sharing and evaluation...
At the GL you're at, the 'centers' I've used with younger children aren't really appropriate, nor a valuable way to build a foundation for lifelong reading and writing. Email if you'd like specifics in any area, justification for this process or have any other questions.
Take care! ;-D