Why are literacy task cards in kindergarten easy to use and engaging? And how they help when learning a new language.  

Task cards for literacy centers

Have you ever wondered why students do not stay engaged during literacy centers, especially in kindergarten?  I will share with you Why literacy task cards are easy to use and powerful when learning a new language.  Literacy task cards review skills taught in class which allows students to feel successful.  Some skills I have created to include in literacy centers are rhyming, alphabet recognition, letter formation, upper and lowercase matching, 1-1 correspondence, counting syllables, and sentence building are just some of what I have created. Another name for task cards that you may find is Clip it cards. 

Task cards for reading have made life so much easier when planning centers for my 

students.  I also had a hard time planning and keeping track of my students.  So I created a Literacy center teacher planner that will help you keep organized when planning your small groups work.  Find that FREEBIE here.  This freebie includes a section that can help you keep track of the books you have read with your groups and their reading levels.  Our school shares a leveled library where teachers have to go and choose their titles and return them.  I always found myself asking students “did I read this with you”.  If this is you, then

check out my freebie planner that will keep you organized and on track with planning literacy groups.

What are literacy task cards?

They are cards that are about 5×5 in size and each stack of cards has skills students are working on or reviewing. There are tactile objects you can include that will keep students engaged and excited when using literacy task cards in centers.  Some objects you can use are clothes pins, erasers, pompoms, dry-erase markers, and more.  Including these objects make the task card activities fun.  

How to use task cards in the classroom

Task cards can be used in many different ways in the classroom.  Here are a few ways I have used them:

• Literacy Centers: Like mentioned before students are reviewing skills during center time.  Task cards for reading are a way to review skills such as 1-1 correspondence, sight words, alphabet formation, initial sounds, vocabulary, letter sounds, rhyming, and more.  The more they practice these skills the better the reader they will become.  Let’s face it, we do not have enough time to review these with them all the time.  
• Assessment: Our school is big on collecting RTI on students we have concerns about.  Literacy task cards can be used to assess students’ knowledge of a skill.  For example, if you are keeping track of a student’s ability to rhyme.  The rhyming task cards can be used to access that skill.  Keep track of 5-10 words and use them weekly to assess the student’s ability to rhyme.  
• As a whole group/small group literacy lesson: if you are looking for a way to introduce or review a skill you can display the task cards on your smart tv or if you have a doc camera put it under the camera.
• I AM DONE Activity: we all have those students that finish first and need some extra practice.  Students can go grab these task cards to review skills and keep engaged instead of sitting quietly or possibly disrupting the class.  

Organizing Literacy task cards

The biggest part of literacy task cards is organizing and keeping them organized.  I started off by printing and laminating the cards.  I then put them in zip loc bags and placed them in a basket.  This basket stored all of the cards for each activity.  It was manageable for the students.  Another way to store these are in crayon boxes or photo boxes.  Michael’s sells a colorful set of small boxes inside a case that keep my task cards organized.  You only have to do this once and it will be yours to use forever.  Stop thinking about literacy center ideas and have these ready for your students to use all year.  

 Why use task cards in your classroom? 

I hope I have given you some insight on how to use and why to use literacy task cards in your literacy centers.  

Check out some of my literacy task cards to use in your classroom with your language learners.  

You may also like some Digital games to use in your classroom.  Check these out.