Free Work Station and Small Group Ideas K-5

One of my favorite places to go for ideas is the Florida Center for Reading Research.  It is my favorite free resource!  They have activities for both work stations and small group instruction for K-5.  From phonics and phonemic awareness to vocabulary,comprehension and fluency, the FCRR has you covered!

I have found that not all of their activities are meant to be in a literacy work station  For example, this silent "e" activity (bottom right) works well in a work station after the students have been practicing the skill. However, if students are not ready to "practice" the skill independently, these activities work really well as "warm-up" activities during guided reading.

Before putting the "Clip A Letter" activities in a work station, I would use them as a "warm-up" activity for the first 2 minutes of guided reading.  It helps assess where students are at, and it keeps them from practicing skills incorrectly.

The other two games in the top collage are examples of activities of that older students can use. The green triangle game to the right helps students practicing inferencing, while the board game was created for a literacy work station in fourth and fifth grade to practice fact and opinion. 

In order to keep all my resources from the FCRR organized, I like using laminated envelopes.  Based on the activity, I store them in a file cabinet.  This Clip a Letter activity would go into my file cabinet in the "Letters and Sounds" file.

I have used activities from the Florida Center for Reading Research to make "peer tutoring baskets."  I find decodable books that coordinate with the skills students need, and put the activities from the FCRR in large zip lock bags. They have some really good practice activities for older students that struggle with phonics.   This way peer tutors have all the materials they need in one place, and students are able to practice the skills they needs. In addition, these activities would be perfect for volunteers.