I have 7 students that I provide reading instruction. I found it easiest to split my class into 2 groups. While one group is with me for the lesson, the other is with my assistant for a center rotation. My idea was to keep this time a true reading block by only having my students work on letters and sight words.
Although the rotation with me worked well, I quickly realized that without specific guidance, my assistant was struggling to keep the students engaged and on task with reading materials. I didn’t set the station up for success. I saw her biggest struggle was keeping the students at the table while grabbing what she needed, so I set up reading center bins at the front of the room. Now, she can grab her bins and sit at the whole group table with her students. It allows them to be more successful. See below to see what I include in the reading center bins.
I store my reading bin materials in tw0 book bins at the front of the classroom. I also store a set of lakeshore learning letters in the front for easy access. Clothespins and dry erase markers are also stored in the bins to ensure my assistant has everything she needs to make the centers run easily.
One of the main things you will find in the reading centers is pieces of my letters center pack on TPT. My students are using my large matching letter cards, the letter storing cards, tracing/sensory bin cards, letter clip cards and letter cupcakes. There are other activities included in the pack as well, but these are the activities we are using on a regular basis.
I have a big set of lakeshore learning letters that I use with a couple of activities in my room. I love using the word work centers and the CVC sliders from Just A Primary Girl. We don’t use them the exact same way she uses them, but we made them work for our kids! I also use some of the word strips from Especially Education task boxes and a set of sight words that I found in my room. For all of these activities, students are matching the small plastic letters to the words and pictures.
I also have a set of the dry erase skill books from Simply Special Ed in the center. This is perfect for my students who are still at alphabet work. My district also using Unique Learning Systems. I will print off the sight words for the month and put those in the center as well for more exposure.
This is the best way to quickly get centers running-buy puzzles from Amazon! Puzzles are ready to use out of the box. There is no printing, laminating or cutting. My class loves these letter puzzles, but I found some great word puzzles here and here!
I have another freebie for you all! I made these CVC find and color cards to use in your reading center as a way to say thank you! The students will find the card, figure out the word, find it on their sheet and color it! Enjoy!!