Simple Centers for Back To School

It's time to think about preparing for Back to School. I do not return until after the Labor Day weekend but I know many of you have already started or will be back in your classroom shortly. I am fortunate to be part of an amazing group of teacher bloggers and it is our mission to bring you some great Back to School Freebies and tips.

I love to use centers with my students but organization is key or else your centers become a huge mess! Something that I have started doing is putting a dot of color on the back of all my center cards. This way when students are cleaning up they easily sort the pieces out and put them in the right place. I have many sets of centers that are differentiated so several students may be working close together on different versions of the same center. This small dot of color has save me multiple times.

No Prep Literacy Centers to practice Short A words.

When organizing my centers I am a firm believer in Ziploc bags - I swear I have shares in the company! I love to keep everything together and the large gallon sized bags seem to fit everything without having to bend any of the materials. I have started to create and include a label that can be attached to the bag so it makes it even easier for students to return materials to the proper center bag. I keep all the pieces I need right in the bag - paper clips for spinners, dry erase felt squares, dry erase markers etc. When we are done with the center I take out all but the center pieces and store them in the magazine boxes.

No Prep, Hands-On Literacy Centers to practice Short A words.

Using really simple centers at the beginning of the year is a great way to get students working together. As a thank you for stopping by my blog I have a center freebie just for you! This center is a great compliment to my new set of Short Vowel Centers - Short A is in my store but the rest of the short vowels, short vowel printables and word family posters will follow very soon. You can check them out {HERE}

I have saved the best for last. You have a chance to win 1 of 3 $50.00 TPT gift cards for stopping by as well. Just think of all the resources you could purchase! Enter in the Rafflecopter below and then be sure to hop on to the rest of the blogs to pick up more Back to School Tips and Freebies.