3 Simple Writing Center Ideas For Guided Reading

The hardest center I have ever tried to figure out new ideas for is writing. When I was a first year teacher, I just gave the kids paper and told them to free-write. Of course, they would get off-task because they would get bored. So I just really despised the writing center.

Now I like the writing center because I have tested out some ideas to make it more engaging for students and more beneficial to their learning. The students in my class this year seem to really enjoy it as well. They stay on-task and are pretty engaged during that center during guided reading. I have also really enjoyed seeing the work they have produced during that time.

I am looking for more ideas for the writing center this summer. I plan to do some research, blog stalking, and Pinning. Right now, I only have 3 activities to choose from, but it seems to work well with my students.

Writing Stories/Books/Lists

I use these word wall rings created by Caitlin at the Kindergarten Smiles. This is a free product of hers in her TPT store. All I had to do was print them, laminate them, and put them on a ring. Each month has a set of cards with "themed" words. So in the fall, there are a lot of apple words along with Halloween words. It covers every season and almost every major holiday. Each word is written next to an explicit picture. 

The students then use the words to either write a story, create a book, or write a list. They might list all of the foods they like and look for pictures of foods they like. I noticed a lot of snow stories back in January using words from those rings. It is also a great tool in that my students are usually able to find a topic to write about quickly. 

Follow this link to access this product in the Kindergarten Smiles store.

Themed Classroom Books

This was a really easy-to-make idea that has been a really big hit in my classroom. I folded writing paper in half (enough pages for each student to have their own) and decorated the covers with easy to read titles/pictures. Each student has their name written on a page inside of the book. Everyone finds their page and contributes writing related to that topic. The kids love it! I ended up making another book because they used them so much. 

I start out each book with a teacher sample on the very first page to give them ideas....try not to judge my drawing too much :)

Then each student has their own page. When each page is filled, I read the book to the class.

Mixed Up Sentences

Another easy activity that has been a favorite are the "mixed up sentences." Multiple students can work on it at one time as well, which is great for when more than 1 kid wants to use them.

Basically, I write 5 different sentences on colored sentence strips and cut up the sentences. I store them in Ziploc baggies in an activity container. 

Each student picks a baggy and dumps out the words. Their goal is to do each different colored sentence once. 

(Excuse the fading)

They read the words and start by looking for the capital letter word and the word with the period as a beginning and ending of the sentence. Then they unscramble the rest of the words until they have a sentence that makes sense. 

After they have unscramble the words, they use the recording sheet found here to record the sentence. They color in the bubble to match the sentence, then they write the sentence on the lines next to the bubble. It's an easy way for me to check their grammar, spacing, capital/lowercase usage. I can also usually tell who knows sentence structure/popcorn words. 

When they are done, I have them illustrate one of the sentences on the back as a comprehension check. These are really easy to make and save. It's such a quick activity to replace for upcoming weeks during planning as well. 

Thanks for reading, and I hope you found some great ideas :) I would appreciate any other ideas in the comments section!