What literacy center method do you use in kindergarten? This is my 3rd year to use the Daily 5 method, and I wouldn't have it any other way to do literacy centers.
The Daily 5 consists of five literacy centers that are considered the anchor centers. Each center is designed to function the same, but the activities change. The centers are: Read to Self, Read with a Buddy, Word Work, Writing, and Listening. The Sisters that created this method outline a day-by-day, week-by-week method of teaching the centers to the class to get started. These past two weeks we have worked on the basics of a Read-to-Self center.
When I first start teaching the students about how to do Read to Self, we talk about how we can read a book in three ways. You can imagine the responses from the kindergartners. They all look at me like I am crazy. Many of them will start to mutter that they cannot read. I then tell them that we can read a book in three ways: read the pictures, retell a story, or read the words. I stress that we don't need to worry about reading the words right now. A blessing of the reading series we use at my school is that they come with these really great decodable readers:
Did you notice something? Yup. There are no words! I will pull these books out and we will practice reading the pictures of the books. It helps the students then make that transition over to the books in the Read to Self area.
Just like every year, this class has its own personality, so we actually spent two weeks breaking down the Read to Self center and what it entails, including on how to pick a "just right" book. They are doing a fantastic job and I can't wait to see how next week goes when we learn how to Read with a Buddy next week! As the weeks progress, and I begin to really see who my readers are, I will fill the Read to Self center with books on their levels. Right now though, I encourage them to bring their readers to the center or look though the books I have place there. I have chosen books that go with our themes of going to school and all about me right now. I also make sure that any book I read aloud goes in the center so they can retell it. And of course, the class books we have made!
