Literacy Centers Chart

While attending a literacy workshop through my district, I found out about literacy stations. While I had (what I thought were great) centers in my room already, what I learned blew my mind. I immediately picked up a copy of the book we used entitled "Literacy Work Stations, Making Centers Work" by Debbie Diller. You can grab a copy of the book here. This lady is a genius! And I immediately wanted to copy her style of a year long centers chart. I can hear your gasps already. That is right, I do not change my centers chart everyday, or every week, or frankly, ever. Here is what the chart looks like:

I know, I know, it looks crazy. And you are asking yourself how in the world kindergartners could possibly read such a thing, trust me...they can. And by the way, don't limit your kids ability :)

So, my students read the chart everyday. Here is how it breaks down. At the top are the groups. The top name is the captain, they are responsible for the materials. Each group is a different color. They read the chart going down. We visit 2 centers each day.

Monday 1 is the first center we visit, followed by Monday 2. Each day follows just like that. There are 9 centers total. They are: sight words(fluency),

independent reading(comprehension), listening station, ABC center(phonics), read the room(vocabulary), poetry, writing, big books, and computers(phonemic awareness). *Notice the Fab 5 of reading*

I will note, that when using a centers chart like this, while easy for me and the students, it can create some problems in the classroom. If your classroom management skills are not top-notch (not to toot my own horn, but...honk honk ;) ) this chart will most definitely not work in your classroom.

Your students need to be incredibly independent thinkers for this centers chart to work. Students need to be able to figure out where they are suppose to be and when all by themselves. There is no point in having a center's chart like this if you have to stop and tell the students where to go.

And don't worry, the students did not come into a centers chart like this the first day of school. We start off with one center under every students name. All of the students go to the same center for as long as it takes for them to understand it. Some centers may be a day or two, some may be a week or two. But I promise it is all worth it in the end. As different centers are introduced, they are added to the chart. By Thanksgiving, my centers chart is full and the students can use it independently. Truly a gift to myself :)