Spring . . . Into A B C Center Part 2

The makeover of the ABC Center has worked well.  Last time we showed you the furniture arrangement and a few of our dollar store goodies.  This week we want to talk about some of the other activities we have for the kids to “play” with.

Of course we want them to discriminate all the features of the alphabet.  These are two of our sorting mats – letters that are vowels and letters that are consonants.  We have 13 different mats.  They are color coded because we don’t  use very many at the same time.  Get your free copy of the sorting mats by clicking on the picture above.

Another activity the kids really liked is Buzzy Buddies Beginning Blends. The kids match beginning blends with various word endings (families) to make new words. You can get a copy from our TpT store.  Click the picture below.

You can either make it a pocket chart activity:

Or you can use it in small group instruction and then place it in the center as a table activity.  Very versatile!

Small group instruction….

After making as many words as they can with the blends, students write their words in their journals. When finished, they read their words to a peer or to the teacher.

In summary, students manipulate the cards to make new words (both real and nonsense words),  write the words and then practice reading the words. GREAT reading activities/strategies/practice!!