December Literacy Centers for Kindergarten

Centers, Winter

I’m so excited to share about the December Literacy Centers pack that I just added to my Kindergarten Literacy Centers Bundle! Like with all of the monthly packs, the December pack includes 20 literacy centers that will keep your kinders learning independently all month.

These activities are all non-thematic so you can use them in whatever way you need. I did design the center packs to be used as-is, meaning you can just print and prepare all of the centers and do one activity from each of the five skill areas each week. However, you can also use them in small groups or you can use them earlier or later in the year.

As you’ll see, some of the activities are repeated from previous months. In my own classroom, I’ve always found that repeating center activities with different words, letters, and skills helped build my students’ independence and improved the effectiveness of my centers as a whole. When students spend less time figuring out how to do a center activity and can instead jump right in, there’s more time for learning and making meaning.

Here’s a peek at all of the December activities! I’m including Amazon affiliate links to some of the materials I used.

Sight Word Centers: These are editable in Adobe so you can type your own words! There is a Hidden Picture activity where students will find the sight words and then trace or write them on a recording page. The Playdough Stamping activity is super simple and hands-on. You will provide students with the word cards and they’ll stamp or write the words on flattened playdough. This is a great activity to model in small groups first! The third activity is writing words on a bag filled with hair gel and glitter. The fourth activity is a Roll and Trace activity. Be sure to include a six-sided die!

I use these jumbo magnifying glasses!

I love these playdough letter stampers because they’re large enough for the kids’ hands to hold onto and they have the letter right on the front for them to see.

Sort It Out Centers: This month’s four sorting centers are First Sounds D/Z/G/U, -ug/-un/-ub Word Families, Short a/i/u Medial Vowels, and Real or Nonsense Words. You can use a pocket chart or have students sort on the floor. If you use a pocket chart, I suggest placing the header cards in the pocket chart for your students ahead of time. Here’s the tabletop pocket chart that I use and love.

Letters and Sounds Centers: The four activities are First Sound Cover-Up, Missing Final Sound Cards, Spin and Smash or Spin and Cover, and Writing Letters in Sand.

Literacy Spotlight: The Literacy Spotlight centers focus on phonemic awareness, word families, reading simple words, and other skills. The activities are -ig/-in/-it Puzzles, Read and Check (Words with short a/i/u), Make-a-Rhyme Cards, and Syllable Cards.

I’m a Writer Centers: These activities are designed so that most students should be able to do them independently and I’ve included options for differentiation when possible. They may be more simple than the writing you’re doing in whole group or small group activities, but they’re designed for independence. The activities are “I like my ___.” Writing, “I Like” Mini Book, Zoo Animal Writing, and a Cut and Paste Sentence page.