Easy and Cheap Word Word and Writing Centers

This year, my grade partner and I have decided to try The Daily 5. After reading the book, I was very excited, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I was overwhelmed. I felt that it would be so much work to get all of the materials together and to think of fun and creative word work and writing activities. After some research, thinking, and shopping, I came up with a few really cheap and easy activities. Even if you don’t use The Daily 5, these would be great center activities for kindergarten to second grade students.

Word Work

My students absolutely LOVE making words with these pretty stones. I created a Word Work Journal for each of my students with all of the Pre-K, K, 1st, and 2nd Grade Dolch words, and they just flip through their journal and pick the words they’d like to practice. I wrote the words in ABC order, so often they just do a page at a time. (It was also helpful when I taught ABC order.)

I don’t know if they like the stone or these colorful cubes better. These were an amazing find at the Dollar Tree, and if I see them again next year, I will be stocking up. SO many possibilities!

Everybody loves Tic Tac Toe! Students do three choices in a row for each word they are working on. This is great for working on sight words, spelling words, or vocabulary words. Click the picture below to download the Tic Tac Toe board for free from my free resource library for newsletter subscribers.

Work on Writing

Story Starter Journals

Buy a few journals and type or write a story starter on the front cover. Students read and copy the story starter and then use that to write a story. These journals are shared so the entire class can write in them throughout the year. After students finish their story, they can go back and read their classmates stories. Not only does this help them practice reading and writing, but it encourages them to try their best since their classmates will also be reading it.

Some examples of interesting story starters are:

When I grow up ____________

If I went into space _____________

The coolest thing I ever saw was _____________

This summer I will _____________

If I was an animal _____________

I wish I had ______________

If I could go back in time I would __________

Roll Out a Story Center

I created these story centers because I needed something that I wouldn’t have to worry about changing out throughout the year. This dice story center is great because students will “roll out” a different story every time! That means they won’t get bored which we all know is a huge bonus. It also makes students get creative as they might be presented with very strange and unusual writing topics. Students roll a die to decide who their character is, what the setting will be, and what the character is doing. They then use the choices to write a fabulous and creative story. You can purchase all 10 versions of this center at my TpT store for only $3.99. Just click on the picture above.

I hope you can use some of these ideas to create cheap, fun, and meaningful Word Work and Writing Centers/ Daily 5 stations.

Learn more about engaging your students with your writing instruction!

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