Literacy Stations Begin!!!!

Today was a very exciting day for the Kindergartners because today was the first day of Literacy Stations!  Literacy Stations is about 30 minutes each day 3 days a week.  That equals out to 2 stations per day your child will be going to.  During this time your child will be going to a specific station to work on specific targeted tasks.  Literacy Stations is an opportunity for your child's needs to be met at their own level.  Children can use this time to challenge their own learning.   A brief description of the stations is below.  Be sure to ask your child what stations they went to today.
1.Writing Station-Children will be practicing a handwriting, personal narratives, letters, post cards, lists,etc.  This can be an extension to what we are working on in Writer's Workshop or also allows children to practice their handwriting skills.
2. Word Work Station-Children will be working on different word work skills such as word families, rhyming, sounds, sight words, etc.
3. Bookmaking Station- At this station children will be making a book to add to their book box.  These books highlight sight words we are practicing.  When children are done making the book they may read out of their book box until time is up.
4. Library Station-At the library station children practice different skills such as working with fiction/mom-fiction books, finding specific words, reading specific themed books.  They will also be using different fun tools to help them read such as fun glasses, pointers, etc.  Today we used candy canes to point to the words we read in our books.

5. Listening Station- At this station children will be listening to a story on CD and then doing a response to it.  For example, this week children are listening to The Gingerbread Cowboy and then drawing 3 characters and labeling them from the story.

6. Read and Write the Room-At this station children will be going around the room with specific tasks that will be asking them to either read or write words they see in the room.  For example, their task may be to go around and make a list of all the 3-letter  and 4-letter words.  Or they may be asked to use pointers to find specific sight words and read them.  Today children used white boards to record words they saw in the room.

Here is our Literacy Station Board. This board tells each child which station they are starting at for the day.  The signs get rotated when we switch to the next station.  Each mini-sign matches with an exact larger sign in the room.  See below.  The larger sign is where the student works at or gets the materials needed to work at that station.

This child is working on a handwriting page letter Uu for the writing station and when she is finished she will work out of her writing folder.

Here children are working on bookmaking and also reading stories for the library station.  One child is using a candy cane to point to the words as he reads.

These girls are playing a word family game.  Each gingerbread that they flip over with the spatula has either and -at word or a -an word on it.  They have to sort the gingerbread's into the correct pan with the matching word family.

These kiddos are working on a book they will be adding to their book box. 

At the Write and Read the room station these friends are writing words on whiteboards they see in the room.

This group is listening to the Gingerbread Cowboy on CD.