Literacy Stations

We have been in school for a month and my Kinders are really getting the hang of school! Last week they did such a great job during our Literacy Stations. I was so excited at their stamina and ability to stay on task for the (almost) entire time. It takes lots of practice to get fifteen five year olds to be able to work independently, but it pays off big time when you want to run small groups. I haven't started small groups yet because I want to be sure everyone knows how to use all of our stations ~ we are still in the practicing stage. I'm hoping that in another week (or two) we will be ready. I will also ask for parent volunteer once stations are fully up and running. But, for now I'm pretty happy with how things are going. I snapped some pictures of my little cuties working in our five current stations.

Listening ~ I have two iPods that I got through Donors Choose, two old-school discman type CD players, a "boom box," and two iPhone 4s that I found in my husband's office. For both the iPods & phones I put all the apps I didn't want the kids to mess around with into folders on "page 2." The only app that they see on "page 1" is the music app. It took a little while to get my books on CD onto my iTunes, but it was worth it because all of my stories are on all the devices. But, as you can see the kids don't mind old technology.

Games ~ this is a favorite station. I have lots of fun game-like activities as well as actual literacy games & puzzles. These little guys are playing with the Roll-a-Cube alphabet activity from my August/September Literacy Stations set.

More games ~ These boys are playing Oh no! ~ another alphabet activity from my literacy stations set. 

Tablets ~ this week was the first time we got out the tablets & the kids were pretty excited. Like listening, this is another station where everyone needs initial training: how to plug in headphones, adjusting volume, finding, opening, and closing apps. Most kids are pretty savvy with Mom's smart phone so they catch on pretty fast. I only allow kids to use the tablets (and computers) during literacy & math stations ~ no screens during playtime! They get more than enough screen time at home. I want them to use their imagination while playing.

Word Work ~ I know that it almost looks as if the little dark haired girl is crying, but she and her partners were working with rhyming cards. They made up a little guessing game. :-)

Writing ~ In addition to word cards, white boards, and writing paper our writing station currently has some small motor & alphabet activities. 

Other stations that we will add to our line up are Write the Room, Stamping, and Computers. I'll add Stamping or Write the Room this week. The kids need a few more sessions in the computer lab before I turn on the student computers. One thing I'm not going to include in our Literacy Stations rotations is "Read to Self." Over the years I've noticed that most Kinders (who really can't read much for a good part of the year anyway) aren't happy when they get Read to Self. They tend to get antsy and off task. They will have books in their book boxes and will be encouraged to "read" books when they are looking for something to do, but silent reading will not be part of our Literacy Stations. Click HERE for an interesting article on silent reading. 

Click HERE to purchase my Literacy Stations.