One of the best things about math and literacy centers is they are easy to change along with whatever it is you are teaching. Because your students are always growing their knowledge, my centers are going to change to help your students continue to grow. April is now here; therefore, it’s time to change out those math and literacy centers!
What are Math and Literacy Centers?
Math and literacy centers are fantastic for enrichment and review! They are easy to differentiate which means your students who need more help can get what they need and those who are ready to be pushed further can continue their growth as well. The math and literacy centers I have for you today can be used in kindergarten through fifth grade. Let me tell you, they are all a hit in every grade!
Plus, our new math and literacy centers in Volume 2 feature holiday-free, seasonal-free themed designs so they are great to use no matter what time of year you’re breaking them out. Oh yeah, did I mention all of my math and literacy centers (Volume 1 and Volume 2) are available in print and digital? Let’s check out what you’ll be getting with these awesome bundles for grades K-5.
What Makes These New Math and Literacy Centers Great?
Our centers are fantastic because they are super easy for you and your students to use. By using the easy centers framework in all of our centers, students will never be stopped because they know how to do all of the tasks. We use between 15 and 20 different types of activities with our centers. Therefore, while our skills that we are learning are constantly changing, the activities are familiar which frees you up to be a center for students as well. Plus, with our math and literacy bundles, you get 10 math centers and 10 literacy centers for every single month. These are all low prep and easy to use especially if you use our organizational methods. You can find our labels free here to help you get started.
A, B, C Kindergarten New Math and Literacy Centers for April
What are we working on in kindergarten with our new math and literacy centers in April? With our literacy centers, we are going to start with asking and answering questions to help us with our comprehension skills. But we don’t just talk about reading! There’s writing too! Whether that’s learning how to write with -ing words, how to write your opinion, or comparing and contrasting, we are diving deep into reading and writing! There are literacy center activities for so many standards with a variety of activities that your students will never get bored. The awesome jungle theme is wild which makes it all that more appealing for students.
In kindergarten math centers we are going to start off with a little bit of counting. Then we are going to be working shapes and a little bit of help with math. There is also some comparison that students will work on to round out their math and literacy centers.
Sound it Out First Grade Centers
Sticking with our jungle theme, our first grade literacy centers include a little bit of everything that has to do with reading and writing. To start, some phonics work is vital especially when learning those short and long vowel sounds as well as vowel teams. Then we start with narrative as well as sequence writing! Much like kindergarten, we want work on discussion techniques so students are well-versed in collaboration as well.
For new math centers, we will work with graphs and number bonds. We will continue to work with shapes and start learning how to read a clock. Like kindergarten, we’ll still focus on some of our basic math skills like addition and subtraction.
Wild Second Grade Math and Literacy Centers for April
Jumping into the jungle of second grade, we’ll start working with defining words with context clues as well as some narrative writing. In addition, we’ll do some phonics work with phonics as well as trigraphs and high frequency words!
In math, you’ll work on place value and adding more numbers than ever before! Three digit numbers can be tricky but they are such an important math skill. These math centers will help your students get accustomed to this and master the skill so they are ready for the next step in math. They will also start getting prepared for multiplication which happens in third grade. In addition, they will be doing some graphing to help them out.
Growing Up with Third Grade
When we get into the upper-elementary, it’s time to switch up our theme! For April, the Volume 2 theme is big kids! How fitting for our students who don’t want to be looked at as just little kids anymore!
The literacy centers for third grade start off with some reference work by doing some informative writing! This is a great way to work on reading informational texts as well as organizing information. In addition, they will start reading different forms of literature in the form of poetry. This is always a big step for students because poetry can be so abstract. They will also be working on grammar and phonetic skills with high frequency words, visual vocabulary, and more!
In math, students start working on arrays, multiplication, fractions, measurements! Because third grade is such a big transition in terms of content, we have extra practices in our centers for some of these important math skills like multiplication.
2×2 Equals Fourth Grade Math and Literacy Centers for April
In literacy centers for April, fourth graders are going to start looking at how a text is structured. This is an important skill that goes hand in hand with the referencing work that is done in third grade. Making connections between the grade levels is great for differentiation. There is nothing wrong with breaking out a third grade center for fourth grade to differentiate if that is what students need. In addition, there is more research work as well as suffixes and prefixes, and of course some grammar.
In math centers, fourth graders will be working on word problems and becoming masters of geometry. This where all the time we have spent understanding text comes in handy big time! It’s so easy to focus on the wrong things with word problems, but since your students have practiced pulling out needed information, this might be easier for them! We will also continue to work on those all too important multiplication and fraction skills. However we will also add geometry skills with new measurement tools and shapes.
Read All About It! Fifth Grade Fun
To be or not be…that is the question. Fifth graders will be able to tell you the answer with poetry analysis in their fifth grade math and literacy centers. Not only will they analyze the poem, they will also be able to tell you about the structure of a variety of texts including informational texts. Students will be tasked with finding information from sources with their research projects. This will all go with several of the other centers. Plus, they will learn about figures of speech as well as root words.
In math students will add a point to their skills. With the help of the fifth grade math centers, students will work with decimals as well as continued work with fractions. They will also keep working on geometry skills with measuring volume and shape identification.
Math and literacy centers are great tools to help your students review their materials while enriching their understanding. By using centers monthly and switching them out, your students will never get bored. Plus, because centers are always great for review, you can bring out the “old” for a bit of a refresher to help differentiate. If you want more simple tips and tricks for making your centers run smoothly, don’t forget to join our VIP Club!
Until Next Time…
Keep Being Educational Rock Stars
