Teaching Kindergartners to Use the ABC Word Work Station

Hi friends! I hope you have been enjoying this 31 Days of Kindergarten series. 🙂 I have shared almost all of the stations that implement in my kindergarten classroom. Today I am sharing tips for Teaching Kindergartners to Use the ABC Word Work Station.

What is the ABC Word Work Station?

This station focuses on letters and words and requires the most differentiation and choices. The ABC Word Work Station is the one station that can be done anywhere. Most of the materials can be taken back to a student’s seat, or anywhere in the classroom. You could consider this station the ‘most portable’ station!

Supplies For A Word Work Station

There is not a right or wrong way to create a word work station in your classroom. The following list is supplies that I have purchased that have been used over and over!

• Magnetic Letters:
  I linked my favorites on Amazon, but you can also sometimes find magnetic letters at the dollar store or Target.
  
• Clothespins
• Hole Punchers
• Lowercase color-coded magnetic letters 

• Uppercase color-coded magnetic letters

• Metal cookie sheets
  As with the magnetic letters, you can get cookie sheets on amazon but the dollar store typically has them too. A tip though, make sure magnetic letters will stick to them.magnetic letters will attach.
  
• Lacing Letters
  These come in different sizes and upper and lower case. I chose to get these large ones and lower case, since my students need more practice with lower case letters. This size is also more beneficial for manipulation.
  
• Geoboards
• Wikki-Stix with Alphabet Cards
• Colored Sand from Amazon ( You could probably make your own, using salt.)
• I also use the cheap pencil boxes from WalMart to hold my colored sand/salt.

• Clear Spoons
• Dry erase boards & markers (I am purchasing these double-sided ones this year. I want my students to have a blank side, plus a lined side. This allows for differentiation of word writing and sentence writing.
• Chalkboard & chalk
• Alphabet Tiles from Amazon
• Tactile letter cards
• Word Wall & Sight Word Cards

Teach Students About The Word Work Station

• How to sort letters
• How to form letters with various materials
• How to sort words
• How to use various supplies & tools
• How to store and take care of tools & supplies
• How not to use tools and supplies
• How to clean up this station
  

Other Skills Strengthened

• Teamwork:
  Many activities may be best done in partners or small groups. This is a fantastic way to help children learn to collaborate, share, and work as a team.
• Fine Motor:
  There are tons of activities that have small beads, play doh or other supplies that can help strengthen fine motor skills and manipulation.
• Procedures:
  This could be anything from quiet voices or what to do when you’re done.
• How To Use School Supplies:
  Students may need to use glue, scissors, crayons, etc. to finish these activities.

Word Work Activity Ideas

• Practice tracing letter formations
• Create letters of the alphabet, using a variety of materials and tools
• Sort upper/lower case letters
• Make cvc or sight words with magnetic letters
• Lace cvc or sight words
• Make CVC or sight words with colored sand/salt
• GeoBoard letter match

More Word Work Activities

We have a whole other blog post that shares our favorite word work activities. With how-to prep, standards focused on, student instructions and more! You can see all of them here.