I am a huge supporter of centers (or stations..no wrong way to label them!) in the classroom. The purpose of centers is to provide activities to the majority of your students while you teach in small groups. In my opinion, introducing centers as early as possible will reap huge benefits! Start off slow and easy! Literacy centers for letter recognition is a great place to start with these easy to prep resources!
Introducing centers to your room full of kindergarteners can be a little intimidating! Don’t let it. Make centers a part of your classroom routine right away. Create games and activities for your classroom rules and routines! This is a great way to show your students how they can work together with one to two other students.
Centers Using Alphabet Resources
The beginning of Kindergarten is all about letter recognition and letter sounds. My Now I Know My ABC’s bundle is full of activities that you can put in your literacy centers right away! These easy to prep activities are a great supplement to your whole group lessons on letter recognition!
Letter Sorting
Letter sorting is a fun, easy way for your students to recognize upper and lower case letters. Create a space in your room for a pocket chart for your students to look through and sort letters based on upper and lower case.
Playdough Mats
All you have to say is ‘playdough’ and you’ll have a room full of kids wanting to go to that center! This playdough center focuses more on letter formation rather than letter recognition. Playdough is a great tool to use when teaching little learners how to form letters. It provides a different approach to letter formation that students love! Just print and laminate these mats for a quick, but effective letter center!
Letter Tracing
Move from playdough to handwriting practice with these letter tracing printables! I use these two different ways. At the beginning of the year, I print and laminate each page and place them in a binder. My students can use a dry erase marker to practice letter formation and handwriting. Once they have plenty of time to practice, I reprint them and have them complete for an assessment!
Letter Crafts
Take a break from the traditional letter activities and put these letter crafts into your alphabet centers! Everyone will know your students are learning their letters with these letter hats and letter necklaces! Both of these activities focus on letter recognition as well as beginning sounds! Provide all the supplies in one area of your room to create a craft centered alphabet center!
Beginning Sound Puzzles
Puzzles are a great center activity for partner work! Students spread out 3-4 letters with their pictures and match them based on letter and initial sound!
Click any link below to learn more about each individual resource and check out my entire Now I Know My ABC’s Bundle!
