FREE Printable Reading Center
When it comes to setting up centers, it can be really hard to get going ‘cause you may feel like you just don’t have enough activities to make it all work. Here you will find a few print and go activities that can get you started- and all of them are centered (pun intended) on the pillars of reading set out by the National Reading Panel!
See, rockin’ it already!
As you start to see what works and what doesn’t you can add more and expand to make your centers more robust. Okay, let’s get this center party started!
Printable Centers for Phonics/Phonemic Awareness
These two categories, according to the NRP, are separate, but here we will clump them together. Phonic ability is based on knowing letter sounds, being able to blend them, and also chunk them together… ultimately to decode them.
Here are a few activities to print and go!
* Initial Sound
Twenty-four pages all focused on the dr- sound!?! Well, that’s a freebie worth snagging. There are several activities in here to use plus flashcards from Carlscorner.us.com. Gotta Love!
What beats the dr- printables? These sh- printables from Scholastic! I think the speed drills with a timer would make a great center. I’d also set up the sound sort activity as a quick center. Remember, you can add a timer for the speed drills and maybe make it a partner activity!
* Blending
Blending and sorting sounds is a skill that this center can help you build, and it focuses on Long I sounds found via Syracuse City School. And there are more than one activity in this pack, so you’ll have some materials to swap in and out of your phonics center!
This is under blending, but works for phonemic awareness targeted on the /o/ and /d/ sounds from SMSD.Org. It is a bigger pack but specific to the word list attached. Either way, with the worksheets and visuals, it is worth downloading.
Printable Centers for Fluency
Fluency focuses on a students ability to read words and sentences with good pacing, decoding, and voice. Centers for fluency will often start with good sight word recall and depend on improving reading by repeated reading activities. You will totally score with these:
* Sight Words
If you have not found and used the resources on This Reading Mama, then you are missing out. This little gem is just one of many available on the site. This one focuses on sentence cards which can be used as a center to build on overall fluency, just make your expectations clear.
This Fluency Phrase Go Fish activity from Maureen is a great freebie that you can have students do in pairs and practice. Fluency in a fun way. Excellent for social skills and centers!
I’ve had some crossword and wordsearch lovers in my teaching history so always keep freebies like this one from VisualLearningCenter.com around as an independent center. This pack focuses on Sight words, so can be universally used. El dente!
*Free Fluency Assessment
I always loved having assessments in my classroom, especially when they are free, like this one through Dade Schools! Here is one I’ve found and used in the past. You may want to snag a few timers so you can assess- or if you have your own assessments and you don’t need these to test, you can put these passages in a center and have students read through them as a practice station. Even better!
BUT, because I love my readers and want them to have a freebie, check out the Free Printable Count It Out activity from that pack here.
Printable Centers for Vocabulary
Learning words and word meanings is the backbone of vocabulary enrichment… and that all contributes to improved reading skills. I made word work activities for any word list as a center for my classroom that way I could pull from Science and Social Studies vocab as well as English to fill out my centers and make them easily sustainable. You can check that out here.
* Printable Vocabulary Center Kit
FCRR out of Florida makes a jillion freely accessible activities that can be used in centers. The graphic organizers in this pdf can be used as centers with any vocabulary list you are working with as part of your other instruction and curriculum.
These intro sight word activities are worksheet based from the Winston Salem School District, but placing them into plastic sleeves to use with dry erase markers will let you stretch the activities as well as reuse them. Several in a binder at the center will make less prep and more use for you!
Printable Centers for Comprehension
Seems like there is an ever increasing demand on teachers to improve comprehension, practice it in multiple dimensions, and make big gains in a short amount of time.
* Reading Comprehension
This sentence to picture matching activity from Lodrew on TPT means you’ll have a great center where students can practice reading comprehension with a cute little matching activity. I love centers like this, and they are a great way to assess, practice, and easily implement.
Several activities are in this packet from K-5 Resource Page, but the ones that are on pages 63-64 are a great center similar to what I’ve used before using picture puzzles- With all the pages in this packet, you could make many, many more.
* Sequencing
Sequencing Comprehension Activity from Lakeshore is the perfect little activity which includes a story and the activity. Easy printable.
Retelling skills are a great way to assess comprehension and practice reading skills. This printable from the Purrfect Teacher is cute and the mini worksheets allow for students to illustrate as they retell. It’s run to establish some centers where students can be creative too!
* Free Comprehension Assessments
Again, I love using assessments in my classroom and free is music to my ears! You can also use the materials to build a center based on the stuff in this awesome printable. I love this one specifically from Lake Schools!
Printable Centers for Writing
There are a couple of different ways to practice writing activities in the classroom. I love some creative sentence building activities (because they are versatile) as well as more traditional writing activities as well.
* Sentence Building
Silly rainbow sentences, I love it! And a center like this one from First Grade Fun Times is the kind that you can repeat over and over.
Another lovely sentence building activity is this one, where sentences are built like a puzzle with added visual supports. I have lots of students who love puzzles and this set focused on ELA from Teaching Biilfizzcend is a winner. Looking to make it more difficult? Mix all the pieces together- dubious!
* Image Prompts
I always started my ELA block with a writing prompt. It was a great way to quiet the room and get students focused on working (and it gave me a minute to take care of all the little things that popped up first thing). I used to Google images in the morning to get started, but even a simple image pack like this one for Peter Pan can be a perfect center activity where you place one in the center and then set some guidelines, like 5 sentences, check for conventions, and add detail. This seller, Computer Mice, also has more prompt products you can get as well and all for FREE!
For this (and really any writing activity) I would add posters like these from Rockin Resources to set your guidelines for writing. Use them as anchor charts in your classroom or as visuals in the station. Either way, a necessity for students to be successful.