Literacy Centers: Daily Five, Guided Reading, and Building Blocks

I am excited over literacy centers!  We do a lot of literacy activities with my small groups--no guided reading yet, as these are four year-olds.  Nevertheless, I am planning for next year when I'll be teaching kindergarten.  I recently ordered these resources to help me get ready:



Reading, Writing, and Phonics for Kindergarten

 

Interactive Charts

Predictable Charts

I'm already implementing shared reading and writing, which have been very successful.  I'm very interested in trying the Daily Five while conducting guided reading groups.  Here are two great websites for kindergarten literacy centers and guided reading in kindergarten:

http://www.thevirtualvine.com/workstations.html 
http://www.lindaslearninglinks.com/gdrdgkdg.html

I think the Building Blocks model ties everything together:

Building Blocks Literacy Model

• Desire to Learn to Read & Write
  Create an environment where all students see themselves becoming independent readers and writers through a variety of developmentally appropriate activities.
• Language Concepts
  Foster the ability to read and write words through the use of morning messages, journal entries, sentence building activities, and environmental print.
• Print ConceptsTeach print concepts by modeling how to write and participating in shared reading and shared writing experiences.
• Phonemic Awareness
  Develop phonemic awareness, including the concept of rhyme, through activities with poetry, rhyming books, tongue twisters, and playing with language.
• Interesting Words
  Extend the list of real-life words that students find personally relevant, such as favorite restaurant names, favorite cartoon characters, and family members.
• Letters & Sounds
  Encourage letter and sound recognition through activities with alphabet books, beginning and ending sounds, and shared writing of predictable charts.