Blast from the Past: Neat Center Ideas

Hey y'all! In honor of Throwback Thursday, I thought I'd share with y'all a post from two years ago that features a lot of neat center ideas. I had just presented at my first conference when I wrote this post :)  My session included first grade center ideas so you'll find a lot of them in this post. Enjoy! :)

New Literacy Centers

Wednesday I presented at the Northeast Alabama Early Childhood Conference. I had so much fun and got to meet the fabulous Kim Adsit.

I presented my Literacy Center Ideas. I created a few new ones that I thought I'd share with y'all today.

It's Peanut Butter and Jelly Time Sight Word Center Activity

I just love this clipart! In this activity, the student or students will pick a PBJ sandwich from the sandwich container and color in one box under the appropriate column. There are 6 copies of all 10 sight words. 

 Click the pic to get PB&J Time Sight Word Center

Cupcake Word Families

I found this gift bag at the Dollar Tree and thought it was perfect for this center. The cupcake accent pieces are from Trend. I typed short vowel words on the back of each cupcake. Two for each word family. Students have to match the two cupcakes that belong in the same word family and record it on the recording sheet. Recording sheet can be found here.

Short U Word Hunt

You can't really tell in this pic, but under the orange cards is a camo pencil holder that I found at the Dollar Tree. It makes the perfect holder for these word cards.  This center can be found here

Click the pic to get Short 'u' Word Hunt

Another Dollar Tree find! I used these little die cut frogs for short 'o' words. I put an Illustrate the Word recording sheet at this center. The recording sheet can be found here.

King or Queen of the Word

The headbands are from the Mari Gras section at the Dollar Tree. This center includes 50 cards like the one shown in the left. It reinforces both rhyming and initial sounds. You can get this center here.

Flip a Chip

When I found this old poker set laying around, I knew I could use it for a new center! I put words on each poker chip. Students will flip each chip to find a certain type of words like short 'a' word, or short 'u' which is used as the example in the picture. Students will write each word that they find on a post it and place it on the paper. 

Y'all know how much I love to use these colorful trays for things in my classroom. These make perfect centers for Sequence and Plot! I usually have strips of paper that have parts from the story and the kids will sort the strips into the correct holder.

Dollar Tree find! This makes the perfect spinner that you could do so much with!

 Real or Nonsense

These pencils were found in the 88 cents section of the Back to School items at Wal Mart. Have y'all seen this section?? It has got some fabulous stuff! Recording sheet for this activity can be found here.

Another 88 cents Wal Mart find! I am using these to match rhyming words.

I've shared with y'all how much of a hit SWAT is in my classroom. I found these new fly swatters at Wal Mart and decided to make a new version of the game using sight words. You can find this center here.