KindergartenWorks: detective literacy center

Sometimes allure is in a name. When I read books on how to create literacy centers and run guided reading groups my first year of teaching, I liked a lot of what I read. But I wanted to find a "hook" to get my kinders into their activities and get them learning! Like I shared in my puppet center, the puppet is the hook I use to get my kinders engrossed in reading leveled texts independently.

One of the centers I read about but wanted to give my own twist was a "read the room" or "write the room" literacy center. I felt as if I could easily combine these and give them fun feeling materials to help keep them going all year long.

My kinders can have choice in deciding which activity they'd like to do and they are instantly letter and word detectives. As I said, allure is in a name... hence our detective center. They can read the room using a phonics phone and a pointer. We have lots of pointers to offer choice and some of our favorites are the Dollar Tree water blasters (minus the h2o) because they can reach our charts up high.

This center is organized simply with buckets holding all of our materials. Open top plastic containers are used everywhere in my room to contain the madness! These were a score from the Dollar Tree and always seem to show up in the spring. I snag a new, fresh set to replace any broken ones since they don't hold up so great after a lot of wear and tear. But... the handles, the size (and admittingly - the colors) make the replenishment worth it!

The other favorite activities are using cheap-o cameras (minus the film or batteries) to take photos of focus letters, sounds or words around the room.

And this one they grow into but it quickly becomes the preferred activity. Students can sneak effortlessly around the room using their mini-clipboards and handy dandy detective notebooks to write the room. I love the first moment when they can read the words they write and its not just about finding focus sounds!

Did I mention the sunglasses? What detective wouldn't need such a tool to go unnoticed? My kinders like this small touch of whimsy and we have instant allure!

Meeting Common Core Standards:

K.RF.1.c-1. Isolate words within printed text.
K.RF.1.c-2. Point to individual words using one-to-one correspondence.
K.RF.1.c. Understand that words are separated by spaces in print.
K.RF.1.d-3. Identify orally all uppercase letters in random order.
K.RF.1.d-4. Identify orally all lowercase letters in random order.
K.RL.4.e-2. Break words into sounds to read unknown words.
K.RL.4.e-3. Chunk unknown words into parts to read unknown words.
K.RL.5. Recognize common types of texts (e.g., storybooks, poems).
K.L.1.a-3. Print all uppercase letters.
K.L.1.a-4. Print all lowercase letters.
K.L.1.f-2. Write by moving left to right and from top to bottom.

Detective Read & Write the Room Literacy Center Activities

More Literacy Centers

playdough word work - substituting sounds in CVC words
puzzles - have on hand?
puppets - reading appropriate leveled texts in kindergarten
non-fiction literacy center
the write stuff

This detective center has allure and lasts all year long! How do you give your literacy centers a bit of flair?

If you like what I do here on KindergartenWorks, then be sure to subscribe today. I look forward to sharing ideas with you weekly.
- Leslie