Different Students Different Styles

Differentiation is hard.  It is especially difficult when you have only one or two students who are significantly lower than the other students in your class.  One of my students, M, has severe cerebral palsy and has no verbal communication. She uses a binder filled with pictures to communicate.  She will point to pictures to say what she wants or needs.  She can have conversations with her classmates. She can answer questions.
 
One of the exceptional needs teachers at my school gave me the idea to use one of M's "picture pages" as a way to offer a word and picture bank for my third grade student, J, who is at a pre-primer reading and writing level. 
 
J has limited verbal, writing, and reading skills. He always dictates his writing to a scribe. We have been working with J to help him realize that scribble scrabble is not writing.  Most of the time when he is writing he will write his name followed by a row of yeyeyeyeyeye. When he does this we ask him if this is how writers write and he will reply, "no it's scribble scrabble."
 
So to help J become more independent (let's face it--I cannot do 1:1 dictation to a scribe every day), I showed him the picture page/word bank. I modeled how to use it and create a sentence.  I had him practice using this for a verbal conversation. He struggled turning the pictures he pointed to into a written sentence.   I decided to give him chips to place on the pictures to help him remember what he wanted to say.  This worked and he was so happy to write a sentence independently!

Word Bending

This center is common in elementary schools. I have a bag filled with pipe cleaners in a variety of thicknesses, color, and textures.  Students use the pipe cleaners to create the letters of the words on their weekly vocabulary or word study list. They can leave the letters apart and spell the words or they can connect them together as a whole word. For a challenge, students can sort the words into categories such as nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Remind students to untwist the letters before putting them back in the bag. For some reason, I have found that this center is calming for students who have behavior issues or who are ADHD.  On the other hand, if you have a student who is a perfectionist they sometimes do not like this center.

Sparkle Spelling

I try to provide my students with centers that appeal to a variety of learning styles. I try to incorporate a variety of senses also.  This center is meant to entice the reluctant student to use some fun confetti and practice their spelling. I keep the confetti in a plastic pencil box. I have a mixture of different shapes and colors, but you could also change out the confetti to be seasonal. This center is sort of the counterpart to Soft and Fuzzy Spelling!

Students use the sparkle pieces to spell out their weekly vocabulary or word study list. They could also write the words with a pencil and place sparkles only on the letter intersections. They can connect the sparkles with a marker to spell the words.

Post Office

Letter writing is becoming a lost art.  This center gives students the opportunity to write cards or letters to friends and family members.  They can make their own cards or use ones that I provide for them.  They learn how to address an envelope. They get to be artistic and design stamps for the envelope. This center gives students exposure to artistic, linguistic, and interpersonal skills.  I placed all of the materials in a Priority Mail Box to make it authentic!

I put junk mail in this center for students to read which is another authentic purpose.  Sometimes I switch it up a little bit and attach question stems to the junk mail fliers.  Students can also do sorting activities with the junk mail based on author's purpose.

I also included some books that use letter writing to tell their story. One unexpected outcome of this center is that if you include thank you cards, the students begin writing them for each other which ends up being very positive for your classroom community!

Grafitti Window

Students use the special markers (I like Crayola's Window Markers) to write their weekly vocabulary or word study list on the window.  For a challenge they can write a sentence using one of the words, but leave a blank line where the word should be. Another student can then fill in the blank.

Glitter Words

Students write their weekly vocabulary or word study list on paper using liquid glue.  Then they sprinkle the glitter over the glue. Remind student to make sure to leave enough space between the letters. For a challenge, leave out the vowels and have a friend guess the word and fill in the vowels with a marker. After the glue is dry, students close their eyes and run their fingers over the glitter words to see if they can "feel" the words. This a great center for kinesthetic learners.

If your students are familiar with CLOVER, they can use a marker to split and code the words while they are waiting for the glue to dry.

Literacy Centered

My centers are all literacy-based, but several have Social Studies, Science, and Math connections. I teach third graders who range in reading ability from pre-primer to fifth grade so, there are a variety of levels to differentiate for my students' needs.  The centers also accommodate a variety of learning styles.  This allows all children to enjoy the centers and be successful.  The centers are easily adapted to your grade level's curriculum and your students' abilities.

An important component to using centers in your classroom is student accountability. Administration and parents will often ask you how you make sure the students are working and not just playing around in the centers. I hold my students accountable for their work in centers by requiring them to fill out a record sheet.  I show the students that I value their work in centers by displaying their work products in the classroom.  I also take pictures of them working in centers and post them on the class website.

Literacy Center Record Sheet

Date	Name	What Did You Do?