Are you feeling a bit unsure of what to put at your February math and literacy centers this month? No worries! If you're feeling a bit perplexed and need some inspiration, here are a few ideas to help you out – with some freebies that your students are sure to love!
February Math Center
When it comes to setting up your math center, using some kind of manipulative materials is key! I love to search the aisles of my local dollar stores and find seasonal items that I can use at my February math and literacy centers. Kids love anything that seems like a toy to them and they're always more engaged and on task at centers.
I found these little heart-shaped boxes and scatter rocks and turned them into an activity for practicing fact families. Each box has three little hearts with the fact family numbers. Using this freebie, kids can review how addition relates to subtraction.
The students are also practicing subtraction with this cute activity called Make A Love Match. Kids can play this game by themselves or with a partner. Simply roll the dice and subtract that number from 10. Each time you roll, add a little heart to your mat. The first person to fill their mat, wins the game!
February is a great month to introduce counting coins. In this activity students count the coins and clip a clothespin to the correct amount. Add some play money for extra fun!
When will the groundhog see his shadow? Students will love learning how to tell time as they match the analog clocks to the digital clocks. Do you have a mini Judy clock? Add it to this activity so kids can practice moving the hands to create the time on the clock.
Finally, students love playing games with a partner. Triple The Love is a simple, no prep game where kids can practice addition with three numbers.
February Art Center
Setting up your art center should be a breeze! Kids love this center because they can be creative and use different materials like paint, crayons, scissors and glue. Each month I put a different craft at this center.
It's important to make it something that kids can do on their own, with no help from an adult. This month, we're making this free Valentine caterpillar. All you need for this craft are two heart shapes – the body shape should be slightly bigger than the head. Easy peasy!
During February, I love reading the book and doing activities for The Day It Rained Hearts. It's great for sequencing events in a story and then I put these Valentine patterns at the art center. Students can make the these Valentine cards for their friends – the same as the main character in the book!
February Writing Center
One of the most important classroom learning centers you can have is your Writing Center. During the month of February, I like to introduce letter writing to my students. Somehow I feel it just lends itself to this skill with sending Valentine cards to our friends.
I made our writing center into a post office this month, complete with a mailbox, letter writing templates, post cards, envelope templates and stamps! If you struggle to get your kids writing, adding a few props like the mailbox, post office signs and templates will really get them excited to come to this center.
Another great activity for your writing center is this Valentine write the room activity. Students enjoy looking for different words that you have hidden around the room. When they find one, they can write it on the matching worksheet. It's a great way to get kids up and moving.
February Word Work Center
Another important classroom learning center is your Word Work Center. This month, we're reviewing words with blends and digraphs, syllables, contractions and punctuation.
One of the activities that you can use at your February math and literacy center this month is Feed The Valentine Friends syllables. Attach the Valentine friends to paper cups and students count the syllables in each word and feed it to the correct friend.
Another fun game that the kids love is Fill The Chocolate Box. In this game, students practice words with the ch digraph. They move around the game board reading words with ch and each time they can read the word they add a chocolate to their box. The first person to fill their box, wins the game!
In this game, I wrote different blends and digraphs on these little plastic hearts. I used a sharpie marker to write the word endings on the pink hearts and the beginning digraphs on the red hearts. The students choose a red and pink heart that will make a word and write it on this free worksheet.
Another simple game to add to word work this month are these contraction puzzles. Students match the two parts of the contraction and then write the word on the corresponding worksheet.
Simple task cards are always great for literacy centers. In this activity, students are practicing the vowel teams ai and ay. They read the word and clip a clothespin to the matching picture. Students can use the worksheet as practice at the center or you can use it as an assessment.
Finally, students are building love monsters as they practic different kinds of sentences. In this game, kids read the sentence and decide if it is a statement or a question. If they get it correct, they add a piece to their love monster. The game is over when your monster is complete.
February Spelling Center
The Spelling Center is one of the easiest centers to maintain in my classroom and the kids love coming here! All I do is change the words each week and put them in a little pocket chart at the center. These are some of the activities that we have used at this center. I usually have anywhere from 4-6 activities available at the center at one time.
The students can choose from any of these activities to practice their words. One of the favorites this month is called Beach Bum. The students practice writing their words in the sand and then write it on the worksheet. We used red sand for Valentine's Day!
Some of the other spelling activities this month are Lefty / Righty (writing your words with your left hand and your right!), Rainbow Writing, writing spelling words in ABC Order, and Little, Middle and Big. These activities work great with any word list and are a part of my Spelling Activities For Any Word List resource.
Are you ready to spruce up your February centers and get your kids excited about these new activities? Head over here to grab the February Math and Literacy centers!
Want to know more about how to use math and literacy centers in your classroom? Check out these posts.
