Literacy Centers

Effective literacy centers allow for student choice, have explicit and ongoing routines. Literacy centers promote student collaboration, facilitate student motivation, and provide targeted practice for students (Daniels & Bizar, 1998).

Literacy centers can be organized and managed in endless ways. Teachers can create literacy centers that support guided reading instruction. As the teacher works with one group of students for guided reading, other groups rotate through the literacy centers in the classroom.

Literacy centers can be created by simply setting out literacy activities on a table or they can be located in designated classroom areas. They are also appropriate for integrating technology. Ideally no more than four students should work in a literacy center.

Literacy center ideas for elementary grades

• computer center
• ABC center
• writing center
• listening center
• memory card games
• word family center
• book club center
• building/manipulatives center
• art center
• buddy reading center
• poetry center
• journal center
• math center
• science center
• social studies center

Watch: Literacy Centers: Developing Skills in Reading and Writing

The goal of our literacy centers is to provide students with meaningful independent tasks in order to create time for small group instruction or one-on-one reading conferences. This video are published with permission from the Balanced Literacy Diet (opens in a new window).

Literacy center ideas for secondary grades

Literacy centers for secondary grades are not just revamped elementary-school centers (Prevatte, 2007). Activities have to be relevant and purposeful. Literacy centers can be used in a variety of ways, one of which is to motivate students to read and write, provide them with relevant materials, and also stimulate comprehension development.

You may design literacy centers to help students with various comprehension skills (e.g., comparison and contrast, problem-solution author’s purpose, research, and summarizing).

Using a variety of literature genres (e.g., fiction, autobiographies, newspaper articles, non-fiction, non-print materials, and anecdotal records) literacy centers can allow students to apply, practice, and reflect on the skills and strategies they need to become proficient readers and writers.

• computer center
• writing center
• word-making center
• map center
• problem-solving center
• science center
• newspaper center
• art center
• poetry center
• math center
• social studies center
• publishing center

Here are some guidelines for creating effective literacy centers in your classroom:

• Start with the student; plan what literacy center to create with the student in mind.
  • What knowledge do students have as readers or writers?
  • Will they be able to work independently and/or collaboratively at the center?
  • Think about ways to make the center engaging and motivating for all students.
  • Think of the materials and the students’ reading and writing levels.
  • What will the student’s role be?
  • What will your role be?
• Think about the purpose of your literacy center.
• Identify where to create the literacy center.
• Choose a theme, topic, or focus for the center.
• Decide on how you will organize resources and materials (print or non-print) at the literacy center.
• Make a list of directions explaining how students should use the center.
• Teach students how to use the center; monitor their understanding of its use and provide feedback as needed.
• Monitor student participation in the center (develop a system [e.g., a checklist] for tracking it).
• Create routines for students to use while at the center.
• Develop reading and writing activities for small group or independent work

Participating in meaningful and purposeful literacy activities on a regular basis could produce positive effects on the entire assessment system. Informal monitoring of student success on specific performance tasks will provide data on student literacy achievement. Use your monitoring system of student participation in the literacy center.

In addition, teacher observation of center behaviors can provide important information about student independence and cooperative skills.

For more detailed information regarding literacy centers, see the following resources:

Lesley Mandel Morrow (1997). The Literacy Center. Stenhouse Publishers. This is a comprehensive presentation on research for the use of literacy centers in the classroom. The book provides information about the organization, management, and assessment of literacy centers, and the instructional techniques that promote cooperative and collaborative learning settings. It is available through Stenhouse Publishers (opens in a new window). You can download Morrow’s Literacy Center Checklist here (opens in a new window).

Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell (1996). Guided Reading — Good First Teaching for All Children (Grades K-2). Heinemann. This book provides detailed descriptions of classroom management techniques for literacy centers. Guided Reading is available through Heinemann Publishing (opens in a new window).

Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell (2001). Guiding Readers and Writers Grades 3-6: Teaching Comprehension, Genre, and Content Literacy. This companion volume to Guided Reading (K-2) extends the instruction, assessment, and management of literacy centers to intermediate through middle school grades. It also focuses on teaching comprehension, genre, and content literacy. Guiding Readers and Writers is available through Heinemann Publishing (opens in a new window).

More resources on literacy centers:

• What Are the Rest of the Students Doing? K-2 Meaningful Literacy Centers (opens in a new window)
• Literacy Station Inspiration (opens in a new window)
• Carl’s Corner Literacy Centers (opens in a new window)
• Busy Teachers Cafe Literacy Centers (opens in a new window)
• Teaching Heart Learning Centers (opens in a new window)
• Literacy Centers: Getting Started (opens in a new window) (ReadWriteThink)
• Guided Reading with Jenna: Introducing Work Stations (opens in a new window) (The Teaching Channel)
• What Are the Rest of the Students Doing? Literacy Work Stations in Two First-Grade Classrooms (opens in a new window) (NCTE)