Writing Center Supplies

Tonight I worked on my writing center! I was lucky enough this weekend to find a yard sale just up the street from me. Best part? The girl running the yard sale was a TEACHER leaving the primary classroom and selling a lot of her classroom stuff! I scored a few plastic storage organizers (my FAV bargain buy) and a TON of cheap children's books! If you want to look for any good yard sales in your area... I went to craigslist and typed in "teacher" as a search and it came up there. You can also type in "yard sale" or even "classroom" and find a lot of great stuff.

Anyway... back to my work in progress-- my writing center supplies.

I've already started to design my bulletin board for my writing center... I posted that in my post "DIY". These are bins to organize the types of things my students will have options of writing if they can't think of anything on their own! I made the labels on Word, printed them out and used packaging tape to attach them to the drawers. 

The materials I have in these drawers so far were bought from Michaels. Michaels has a sort-of "kiosk" where they sell little things like this for 1-2$ each. Everything I bought was 1$ each. These are note pads I bought that can be used for list-making.

These are cute farm animal cards I bought (also for 1$). 

 For "write the room", I made these worksheets so students can find words around the room starting with each letter. I made a different worksheet for each month so I can switch it out. The one shown is for "back to school". I did this with the kindergarten class I taught and they had so much fun with it. Something about getting a clipboard and walking around the classroom jotting words down was just so thrilling for them?

Michaels also has recipe cards for 1$ in the same section. 

These are just a few of the journal sticks I made. I still need to find a good jar for them to sit in. I typed up journal prompts, printed them out and used packaging tape to adhere them to the popsicle sticks.

I think it is so important for children at this age to have as much exposure to writing as possible. Offering these choices to them allows them to find a type of writing they enjoy, which will encourage them to practice, practice, practice! I always tell parents at conferences, "Give your child as many opportunities as possible at home with writing. Whether it's making your grocery list or writing a letter to a friend or relative. The more practice they get, the better their writing will be and the more they will enjoy it. Building confidence is key."