Beginning Literacy Stations

Beginning literacy stations can seem like an overwhelming task.  I’ll never forget when someone gave me my first professional development book about them. I was a new teacher, eager to try new things and do whatever I needed to make it work. After all, how in the world would I pull guided reading groups if I didn’t have my other little learners engaged in activities?

Over the years I tried many things. I changed the stations out every week or so with new games. I tried keeping the same stations for a month at a time. I tried Daily 5. They all had their ups and downs.  In the end, I created a system that worked best for me and best in our classroom.  Let’s talk about getting started with literacy stations and what they looked liked for me.

I began by thinking about what I wanted and didn’t want.

• I didn’t want to change them every week.
• I didn’t want to spend time teaching a game each week JUST for stations.
• I didn’t want to create gobs of more work for myself.
• I wanted activities that would keep them busy for about 20 minutes.
• I wanted there to be a variety of activities so that they wouldn’t always feel like they were at the same places.
• I wanted them to have some choice, but not all. (I’m just a teacher and like to have a bit of control. You get it, right?)
• I wanted there to be a rotation.

I settled on these 8 stations.

• Independent Reading Time
• Pocket Chart
• Big Book
• Word Work
• iPad/iTouch
• Computer
• Writing
• Listening

When do I begin?

I began the first week of school. Yes, the first week. With kindergarten, it was around day 3. With my first graders it was day 1 or 2.

How do I introduce them?

We would always start with independent reading.  We practice together. I model what they should look like and sound like while they observe.  Then we all practice together.  We work to build up our time at each station, but I am never crazy about it being absolutely quiet in my classroom.  Each week I open a new station and beginning week 5 I open two stations a week.

How do I organize them?

My little learners would read a rotation chart to find out where they would go each time.  I have done this two ways. I have used a pocket chart and written their names on cards to show them where they should go and I have used my interactive whiteboard and created a rotation chart. With the pocket chart I just rotated the name cards down every day.  With the interactive white board file, I just moved their names every day. With both of these, I loved how simple it was to change the partners if or when I needed to.

For the stations that needed tubs to house items, I found that dish tubs or these tubs I found on Amazon (affiliate links are used) are the perfect size! The tub gets a label that matches the rotation chart.

Link to my favorite tubs!

Some of the stations just needed an area labeled so I would label the area with a picture that coordinated with the rotation chart.

I like to put all of our pillows or reading rugs in one area or laundry basket.

What do they look like?

Each station looked different and I would introduce a little differently based on the expectations that worked best for our classroom.  I wrote a guide to tell exactly how I set up each station, the supplies I used, the expectations I set, and much more! I think back to my first year of teaching and implementing this element of balanced literacy and this would’ve been SO helpful!

Want to hear me chat a little bit about launching an independent reading station? Check out this Facebook LIVE video!

How do you begin literacy stations? Do you have a favorite system that you have used for years and is flawless by now? Please share! We can all learn from each other!

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