How to Organize Your Writing Center

It’s the beginning of the year, and it’s time to set up a writing center. Students practice using what they know about sounds to compose letters, write books, or make a list in the writing center.

There’s a lot to prep for to create a writing center. Where do you begin?

What is a writing center?

A writing center is a place in the classroom where students can write to express an idea, an opinion, or write a non-fiction piece. It’s usually open-ended when it comes to what students can write about. The focus is the process and not the product. Students may finish a writing piece in one day or may return to it a few days later.

What materials go in a writing center?

As authors and illustrators, your students will need a variety of materials to express themselves in writing.

Here’s what you will need:

Markers
Crayons
Pencils
Highlighters
List template paper
Blank paper
Blank paper with lines
Letter writing paper
Posters with Ideas
Writing Notebook

My classroom is tiny, so spacing is limited. I have to be intentional about how I use my space. This may not be the case for most of you. Think about where you can put the writing center and set it up in a way that allows you to see them even if you are across the room doing something else, like guided reading.

One activity that students like is journaling.

Journaling for Emerging Writers

Based on their experiences, some students will be independent or emerging writers. Some emerging writers may benefit from writing prompts and sentence starters. These journals are perfect for them. They can pick a topic or go in order. They can use the picture bank to develop an idea to write about, and the sentence starter will help get them started. Last, they can draw a picture and use the editing checklist to revise their sentence.

If you have reluctant writers, this journal may be the way to go to get those pencils moving.

Blank Journal

Some students have many ideas and need the space to get them down on paper. These journals are perfect for those students. Emerging writers and advanced writers can both benefit from this type of journal. They come up with an idea and then write about it. These journals can be used as a writing portfolio since you can see c the progression of their writing. There are enough lines to write multiple sentences.

A few tips

I can honestly say that the writing center can get messy. Teach students to put the crayons, markers, and other materials back where they got them. So, model how to return materials to their rightful place. I know it’s tempting to skip this step because it seems self-explanatory, but it will save you time having to reteach these skills later on.

What should they do if they need more materials? Or if the markers dry out? What should they do if they run out of paper?

Think about other questions students might have about the writing center and model or explain what they should do. This will minimize them asking you for help.

Give them time to practice being in the writing center. Have them go to the writing center for about 10 – 15 minutes in groups that mimic what it would look like during literacy centers. Have them practice picking a writing activity, grabbing the materials, and writing. Let them practice cleaning up and going back to their seats. As you watch them, share with the class what went well and answer any questions they may have while at that center.

Start with a few choices. I recommend starting with about 1 – 2 options. My students love writing notes to each other, so we always have a letter-writing selection and writing in the journal. Too many materials or options can be overwhelming.

Sight Word Wall – Display a list of words that you have taught students so students can refer to it to help them spell.