Learning Station Ideas for Kindergarten
Writing Station (NOTE: You’ll want to have children share their writing often with the class)
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Class pictures
Easels with large paper and markers for writing – leave up student’s work for others to view
Class books (e.g., students write “all about me” pages for “Our Class Community” book)
Environmental print logos (Children write about what they like to do there, or what they like to
eat there)
 Clipboards and writing tools for free writing
 Book-making materials (with examples of books others have made): colored paper, scissors,
glue, crayons; markers
Music Station
 Songs on tape with words for children to follow along (consider both English and Spanish)
 Blank sheets of paper for children to copy words, write rhyming words, write sight words they
find in the songs, etc.
 Teacher- or class-developed songs, songbooks (these could be written on charts and children
could read with a pointer)
Inquiry Station
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Lots of magazines and information books with good pictures and labels
Old books that are cut apart and laminated
Non-fiction posters
Large paper and tools for students to draw, label, write
Paper bags and cards for paper bag books
Examples of paper bag books and other informative texts
Post-its with a chart or board for students to post their questions (could be related to current
study)
 Sentence strips for you to scribe what students write
 Items related to a particular study that encourage writing and inquiry (e.g., science journal
entries)
Reading Station
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Comfortable chairs; bathtub; bean bag chairs; etc.
Books written by the children
Books organized by topics
Books in Spanish and English
Poetry, rhymes
Sports cards, toy boxes, etc.
Big books (these could include big books written by the class)
Opinion cards or recommendation board (“Books We Liked”; “Books We Didn’t Like”) with
sentence frames: I liked _____________ because __________.
 Sign-up sheet to read to the class
Drama Station (NOTE: Encourage students to practice and perform for the class)
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Puppets
Puppet theater, props
Scripts for students to read and perform
Materials for creating easy puppets and writing dialogue
Geography Station
 Map of the State of Kentucky
 Map of the United States
 Post cards and pictures about places in different states (get people you know to send you post
cards; students can also write to the department of tourism in each state)
 “Flat Stanley” doll or stuffed animal
 A willing truck driver or motorcyclist who could take pictures and record his location with Flat
Stanley!
 Materials for putting labels on the map (e.g., small post-its)
Social (Community-Based) Stations
Restaurant: Children read/write menus and signs, take orders, write and add food bills. Gather props
for the restaurant like plates and plastic food items. Have a table and chairs in the center. Teach
children the appropriate language used, e.g. “May I take your order? Would you like some more water?
Would you like to look at our dessert menu?” (You’ll need to model this language.) You can also change
the restaurant theme so that students are ordering food from different types of restaurants, such as
Japanese, Mexican, etc.
Fast Food Restaurant: Children read/write menus and signs, take orders, add the orders. Gather props
for the fast food restaurant like hamburgers, French fries, empty coke cans. Teach children the
appropriate language to use, such as “May I take your order? So you’d like 5 hamburgers, 2 orders of
fries, two cokes. Is that correct?” (You’ll need to model this language.)
Snack Bar: Children make signs needed for opening and closing the snack center (“Yes, we are open” or
“Sorry, we are closed. Please come back later.”). Children can use empty snack bags for their store.
They write down orders and add them.
Post Office: Children write and mail letters to one another, to teachers, to the principal, to their
families. Show children the appropriate format for a letter. Keep a poster with a sample letter format in
the station. Have a mailbox where they can mail their letters.
Store: (Similar to Snack Bar, above)
Garden: Gather seed packets and read them. Find planting dates on the calendar. Have students plan
their garden by drawing and labeling rows. Plant some seeds in cups and have students observe them
and record growth in their journals. Plant the garden with other seeds and with students’ young plants,
following instructions for depth of planting (show on ruler). Read about plants and what they need to
live. Children can also read seed catalogs and make their own catalogs.
Museum: Students create museums based upon what they are learning in social studies or science.
They label a picture or artifact and write a statement about it. The museum can be placed in a central
location such as the library, and parents and other students can be invited to enjoy the museum.
Example: Museum about ocean life or desert life.
Other
What motivates your students? Is there a topic they’re particularly interested in? What projects could
you do with them that would be motivating?
HOW TO USE ENVIRONMENTAL PRINT
Use environmental print to:
 bridge the gap from home to school. (Environmental print can be particularly useful for English
learners and their families.)
 teach letters and words in meaningful context. (After identifying the logo, show children what
the words look like in manuscript form).
 teach phonemic awareness and phonics.
 boost the confidence and self-esteem of all children, especially struggling readers.
 give students ownership over their learning. (Use a box or large trashcan for children to place
the environmental print they bring to school. You can also use these items to jump-start the
morning news. For example, if a child brought in a napkin from Pizza Hut, you can ask her to tell
about her experience there.)
 integrate curriculum. (e.g., make maps, determine distance, sing jingles of local establishments,
learn history of the area)
Ideas for using environmental print
1. Morning News: Use the environmental print children have brought in to construct sentences. “Billy’s
family ate at McDonald’s last night.” Children can circle words they know, find words that begin with
particular letter sounds, etc.
2. Dictionaries: Make blank dictionaries for each child. Children find environmental print labels and
logos that have the same beginning sound as the corresponding alphabet letter and cut and paste the
labels to the page. VARIATION: Make a class alphabet book. This could be a big book that children
would read frequently. Include the manuscript form of the logo so that students can see it in print.
VARIATION: Use shoe boxes or plastic boxes and have children bring in objects, pictures, environmental
print labels and logos that begin with that sound.
3. Writing: Children select logos and glue them on a sheet of paper. Then they write about their
selections. For instance, they might like to write about what they like to do there.
4. Connect to Units of Study: Select labels to go on the sides of various forms of transportation in a
transportation unit; compare and contrast hot and cold weather through food, clothing, drinks, and
machines; fill a picnic basket with things children might like to eat at a picnic and research why insects
are attracted to some foods more than others; find foods that come from the ocean for an ocean unit;
find foods that come from different places on a farm for a farm unit (e.g. McDonald’s hamburger comes
from a cow and the French fries come from a plant).
5. Lists: Keep lists that use environmental print on a bulletin board. Lists can include
o Places We Like to Eat
o Things We Like to eat
o Places We Like to Go
o Words We Can Read
o Signs We Can Read
o Our Favorite Snacks
o Places in Our Community
These lists can be integrated with graphing in Math.
6. Word Boxes: Keep children’s sight words in a special “word bank.” The words can include
environmental print. They can be used for various activities, such as finding words that begin or end
with particular sounds; forming sentences using basic sight words; finding multi-syllable words; etc.
7. Restaurant Menus: Children can use environmental print (such as pictures from magazines) to make
their own restaurant menus or fast food boards. Children can create menus for different types of foods,
e.g. Mexican, Chinese.
8. Environmental Print Walk: Children can walk around the school with clipboards and write down
words that they see. You can take pictures of these words and display them in the classroom.
Encourage students to think of other signs they can make for the classroom, such as “Stop” or “Children
At Work." Children can make books with these signs ("Oscar went walking. What did I see? I saw an
exit sign looking at me.”
9. Food Pyramid: Students can collect labels from foods they eat. Have them glue the labels onto a
poster of the food pyramid. Children could also categorize “good food” and “junk food.”