Getting Started--What to do if you are just 'starting out' with centers?

I got an email from a new-to-kindergarten teacher, wanting to know a little about getting 'process centers' started.  I talked a little bit about 'process centers' in a previous post.  

In order to not drive yourself crazy as a new teacher--and those of us who have been there KNOW it can happen--being a new teacher is VERY stressful--you need to keep it simple.  I put together a few ideas that I shared with her, and maybe you can take something from this post as well.  This is not meant to be all-encompassing, but rather an easy way to get you started.

I love using Letter Tiles.  If you don't have any, you can make your own easily, but usually there is something in  your classroom.  This is a great way for students to practice letter recognition, and begin to familiarize themselves with print.  A GREAT resource is Making Learning Fun.  You can print out lots of different themes, and students can practice matching letters to letter tiles.   

http://www.makinglearningfun.com/themepages/LetterTileIndex.htm

 

Magnetic Letters—there are SO many things to do with this center.   You can make simple word cards (with a picture cue), and have students match uppercase to lowercase, lowercase to lowercase, uppercase to uppercase.  You can give them cards that they have to match letter to letter in a sequence, with some letters missing.  Example:  a b ___  d  e ____ g

You can find some of the missing letter cards at Mrs. Saylor's Log:
http://saylorslog.blogspot.com/2011/06/what-letter-is-missing.html

Playdough—a good one for tying in math or reading skills.  Kindergarten Works has GREAT freebies to get you started:
http://www.kindergartenworks.com/2011/01/do-you-dough.html

Pattern Blocks –I use these year round.  Have students create patterns on their own, or complete patterns that you have started on sentence strips. Have students complete designs with color clues (the shapes are colored in). Have students complete designs without color clues. 

Here are some FANTASTIC freebies:
http://prekinders.com/pattern-blocks/

http://www.kellyskindergarten.com/math/math_activities.htm

(check out her pattern block sets)

If you are able to spend a little cash, I'd definitely check out Heidi Songs:

http://www.heidisongs.com/Numbers1/Numbers_Shapes_Vol.1.html

Scroll down to see her number pattern block sets---she also has letter sets.  She also has a GREAT blog—you’ll want to check it out!

Math Centers—These you can change all year to correspond with the skills you are learning.  Start out with students matching numbers to sets (giving them ‘number mats’ and have them count out objects to correspond with them). 

Check out Kindergarten Hoppenings for LOTS of number to set matches—she has recently posted a tree and apples set, and bus and kids set.

http://kinder-pond.blogspot.com/

ABC center  This is another center I use year round, changing it as the students' skills increase.  I start by having students match letters (matching upper to lowercase, or upper to upper, lower to lower)

LOTS OF GREAT IDEAS HERE (with photos):  http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/abc_centers.html

Magazine Search---Hubbard's Cupboard has another set of wonderful resources to get you started:
http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/letter_search.html

Fran at Kindergarten Crayons also posted a lot of free sheets to use, but I can’t find them at the moment.  Go check here to see TONS of other fabulous ideas she’s shared (and there is even a linky party at the bottom):
http://kindergartencrayons.blogspot.com/2011_06_01_archive.html

Classmates names—I laminate each student's name and picture, and make them available at this center.  They start by practicing writing their friends names, and then move up to writing ‘notes’ to their friends.   I also let them put together each other’s “name puzzles” together (sentence strips cut into individual letters:  L i e s l—then put in a bag with the name “Liesl” on the front---students take the pieces out and put them together.  They can then also match it to a picture of their friends’ face).

Fine Motor practice (tearing paper, tissue paper, etc.)  This helps our students work on their pincer grasp (that they need to develop to hold a pencil).  Give the students a simple seasonal shape (apple, acorn, pumpkin) and ask them to fill it with torn paper (I give students a small piece of paper to tear their pieces from) or 1” square pieces of tissue paper.

Unifix Cubes---SO many ways to use these---patterns, number combinations, etc.  I love the book, Developing Number Concepts.  It has a huge amount of instantly useable center ideas, as well as small group and individual work plans.  

You also can look again at Hubbard's Cupboard for an abundance of ideas:

http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/number_journals.html

Whiteboards or Magna Doodles---another version of a simple writing center--changing the material changes the experience for the students.

Write the room---changing the tool they are writing with (ex.: giving them a fun pencil) or what they are looking for (words with “e” inside them, sight words hidden throughout the room, etc.) makes this a ‘new’ center each time—and students LOVE using clipboards to walk around the room looking for words.

Puzzles—It may seem silly, but students build spatial awareness and problem solving skills as they put together challenging puzzles.  Visit a Dollar Tree to grab 24 piece puzzles to get you started.  I store puzzle pieces in a Ziploc bag that includes the top of the box (which I have cut out).  I got this idea somewhere on the web, but can’t remember where.  :(

Geoboards—These are out all year.  Start with ‘student exploration’, and move on to creating patterns, shapes, numbers, letters.

This is NOT meant to be an all-inclusive list, but rather a jumping-off point.  Beginning centers or work stations can be very daunting to anyone.  Dip your toes in, and get a little wet, and you WON'T be sorry!