Establishing and Managing Literacy Stations in Kindergarten

Managing a classroom full of kindergarten students while you as a teacher try to work with a small group or individuals is no small task.  The first step is dividing your students into groups.

I have a morning and afternoon wheel.

As you can see, I have divided my students into 3 groups. I will have a giraffe, zebra and tiger group in the morning.  I will have a triangle, rectangle and hexagon group in the afternoon.
Around the wheel I have the classroom assignments for each group.   I have computers, seatwork, STEM, finish seatwork, teacher, and stations.  I laminate everything.  Then I attach Velcro to the assignments.  I want these flexible and easy to change without having to create a whole new wheel.  If you have four groups, here is another idea.

Four group wheel

Next you need to think about how you will set your room up.  I want my teacher table in a quiet area, so I have it in a corner.  On the opposite side of the room, I have my technology.  I don't want my group distracted by looking at computer screens. I have my student desks or tables in the center of the room. I arrange my seating chart so that two members of the same group are not across or next to one another.

Plastic Coconuts from Dollar Tree work great as pencil holders for my Jungle Themed Classroom

Finally, I want to spread out my "play" centers that will be used in the afternoon and my literacy stations.  I have 5 stations each week.  I assign one child from each group to each center.

I use clear plastic photo frames to post goals and student stations assignments.  Here is my beginning of the year alphabet stations.

If there are more than 5 students in a literacy group, I partner two students who will work well together.  Sometimes I partner students even if I have less than 5 students in a group.  For example, I might place a non-English speaker with a bilingual students.

Here you see all five of my literacy stations.  I choose which skills my students need for each 9 weeks and try to change the stations very little from week to week. For example, the rhyming station will have new cards to match and a new activity sheet.  However, these will look very similar from week to week.

Rhyming Station Week 3

Rhyming Activity during Week 4

In the afternoon instead of literacy stations, students will go to STEAM/ STEM  play stations that can be integrated into our weekly theme. For example, I will focus on nursery rhymes during the first 2 weeks.  I will put eggs in the block center and let them do a Humpty Dumpty STEM activity and Little Miss Muffat props in the kitchen.  During week 4 we read How do Dinosaurs go to School.  I will have dinosaurs in my sand and block areas.  I find a lot of cool ideas on Pinterest.  I only need play stations for 6 kids at a time, so I don't have to use all of my areas.  The other group that isn't with me is on technology or doing a seatwork assignment.  I still do an open choice playtime at the end of the day.

I hope this helps in managing your kindergarten classroom.  If you like my center ideas, you can visit my TPT store.  My Nursery Rhyme unit is designed to help get you started.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/STEM-and-Literacy-Centers-for-Nursery-Rhymes-3945970

The Nursery Rhymes unit will help you establish your literacy stations and establish routines with step by step instructions.

Other Units:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Building-With-Dad-STEAM-and-Literacy-Activities-3894418