Time For Kids

I wanted to design a center that focused on real-life nonfiction text.  I wanted to use something that was in the consumer text genre. I had the menus and the map reading, the diary and the post office...how about magazines or newspapers?

I found some free copies of Time for Kids.  I had thought about getting a subscription for my class, but it was too expensive.  I thought about getting a Donors Choose grant or asking parents for donations, but that idea came and went. I never threw away my free samples though so I decided to laminate them to make them more durable.

I decided to use some of the task cards I found on my favorite website which I call Third Grade Wiki. The section with these activities is called Response Cards 1-4. For this center, I only printed out the ones that related to nonfiction text.

I put the magazines and task cards in a bag and hung them on the wall.  The students really enjoy this center.  Some of them will read the same issue several times and complete a different task each time.  Others will find a task they like and complete it with each of the copies of the magazine.  I was able to go to other teachers at higher and lower grade levels and get their free copies so I have a variety of reading levels for different students to use.