10 Engaging March Literacy Centers Your Students Will Love!

I love March in the classroom! Spring is starting to appear and there's plenty of leprechaun magic floating around the primary classroom. Today I'm sharing 10 of my favorite March Literacy Centers that will engage your students in learning all month long. 

Using Leprechaun Magic to Make March Literacy Centers More Fun 

Do you enjoy seasonal and thematic teaching? I know I certainly do! As a literacy intervention teacher, I was always looking for ways to spruce up my lesson plan and engage those kiddos in learning. Using fun themes in your activities is one of the best ways to snag their attention. And. . . what's more fun than leprechauns?!

That's why I love these March literacy centers. They've all got a fun St. Patrick's Day theme and were beloved by all in my room. Not to mention - these activities are versatile! Whether you use them for center stations, partner games, small group lessons, or intervention materials - I know you and your students will love these! 

1. March Fluency Spinners 

This first activity is one of my all-time favorites because it's super simple to prep and use in a variety of ways. The idea is to have students spin the spinner and identify the picture they land on. Then, they will find that picture on their gameboard and then quickly identify the letters (or letter sounds) in the sequence. 

This is such a great activity for small groups, literacy centers, and even homework! I also found them to be especially helpful in assessing students quickly and easily as part of our intervention/RTI process throughout the month of March. Best of all, just print and laminate these once and use them over and over in your classroom. 

2. Spin and Say Nonsense Word Game

Looking for a March literacy center that will leave your kiddos smiling? I know you'll love this Spin and Say Nonsense Word Game. To play, students will use a spinner to spin a picture. Once they land on one, they will find the matching picture on their gameboard and read the nonsense words aloud. 

This is another great activity for your small groups and as a center activity. Students love to read the nonsense CVC words and enjoy the St. Patrick's Day Theme on each board! 

3. Real and Nonsense Word Sort 

Speaking of nonsense words, how about a fun sorting game to keep this theme going? In this Real and Nonsense Word Sort, students will choose a card, read the word and determine if it is real or nonsense. Then, they place it under the corresponding category. There are 60 different word cards included, so you'll be able to play this with your whole group at once!

I liked to play by calling on students one at a time to come up to the pocket chart and make their selections. The cards feature a St. Patrick's Day theme and everyone loves to see if they will pull a real or nonsense word. After modeling as a whole group, this makes for a fantastic center activity as well! 

4. March Literacy Center Sensory Bin 

Do you ever use sensory bins in your literacy centers? If not, you're missing out on a great opportunity for high engagement in your classroom! Students love to use activities with tactile materials - so adding a sensory bin to your routine might be just what you need to boost engagement. This March Sensory Basket focuses on letters and sounds in a fun way! 

To use, you'll fill a small bin or tub with some kind of fun filler. I like to use colored easter grass because it's festive and low-mess. Then, you'll add the letter cards or sound cards and some fun seasonal items. I like to add gold coins or rainbow mini erasers to add to the tactile experience.  Next, have students choose or spin for the letter or sound they will be looking for. After they locate the card, they name what they see and then use a recording sheet to mark their answer by tracing the corresponding letter. 

Want to add some additional fine motor practice to the mix? Try having students use tweezers to choose cards from the sensory bins. This is so much fun and targets multiple skills at once including fine motor, letter/sound identification, and tracing. Your students will love this March Literacy Center! 

5. March Hole Punch Literacy Center

Do your kids need to work on developing hand strength? Mine always did too! That's one of the reasons I absolutely love hole-punch activities. Aside from that, the students always loved getting to use hole punchers during literacy centers! This resource is designed to help students practice letter or sound identification while weaving in some hand strengthening. Best of all, there are many different ways to play and skills to target including:

• Capital to Capital
• Lowercase to Lowercase
• Cross Case
• Beginning Sound
• Letters in sequence
• Letters out of sequence

To play, students will receive a game mat and a stack of cards. They will flip cards one at a time and identify the letter or sound on the card. Then, they find the match on their board and hole punch it! I always liked to use these reduced-effort hole punches with primary kiddos. This activity is a fantastic independent literacy center that students will really enjoy!

6. Spin a CVC Word 

Looking for another fun March literacy center where your students can play solo? This Spin a CVC Word Activity will be a classroom favorite! Kiddos will spin a spinner for 1 letter at a time to build a CVC word. As they spin, they add 1 letter tile to the mat to build the CVC word. You can also laminate the pages and have students use dry-erase markers or magnetic letters for this step as well!

Once all 3 letters have been spun and written, students will read the word and determine if it is real or nonsense. There are also 3 optional recording sheets to choose from that you can have students use to write down their words as they go. On this page, they write the word and then check a box to show if it's real or not. After students have finished, you can have them turn in the pages or swap with a partner to check each other's work. 

7. March Word Ladders 

Word ladders are one of my favorite ways to practice blending without using traditional worksheets. We all know those get boring, so why not try a more engaging activity instead? These March Word Ladders are just the thing! To prepare, all you need to do is print the pages and slip them into a plastic sleeve for durability. Then, provide students with a set of magnetic letters. 

To use, students will begin at the bottom of the ladder. They will look at the shamrock and determine the picture. Then, they use magnetic letters to spell out that word. Students can also use a dry-erase marker to write the word. They will continue this process by progressing up the ladder and changing only one letter to form a new word. The pages have options for both tracing words and writing words so that you can differentiate by skill level easily! 

8. St. Patrick's Day CVC Words

Next up on my list of fun March Literacy Centers is an activity that is super quick to prep and super versatile! This St. Patrick's Day CVC Word Building Activity is perfect for practicing short vowel CVC words. To use, students will identify the picture near the top of each work mat. Then, on the 3 shamrocks below, they will use magnetic letters to build the word. This is a great center to prep once and use over and over! 

You can also provide students with one of the included recording sheets and 10 mats at a time to use independently. They will build each word and then write it down on their mat. This is great for student accountability and to help keep them on task! This activity comes with both color and black-and-white options, as well as mats with the letters already on the shamrocks. So you can choose what works best for you and your students. 

9. Counting Syllables Scoot 

Counting syllables is an important literacy skill for kindergarten and first grade students. Try using this March Counting Syllables Scoot Game to make it more fun in your room! To prep, you will just need to print and laminate the included cards. You'll also want to print one recording sheet for each student in your room. Last you'll want to gather up enough clipboards for your students. 

When you're ready to play, spread out the picture cards around the perimeter of your classroom. Students will clip their paper to their clipboard and start in front of one card. To complete their task card, they look at the picture and clap and count out how many syllables the word has. Then, they record their answer on the sheet. 

This game also comes with heading cards that read 1-4 syllables if you would prefer to play it as a sorting game. This is great if you want to use it in your March Literacy Centers or as a whole group activity.

10. Would You Rather Morning Meeting Slides

Now this last idea isn't directly tied to literacy - but hear me out! While not directly geared towards practicing literacy skills in the activity, I always found that it helped prepare my students' minds and bodies to learn. Let me explain... Do your students ever need to shake out the wiggles? This is pretty common for primary students! If we don't allow for some movement breaks, it can make for a pretty rough day of learning! 

So, instead of fighting it... try incorporating some movement into your daily routine! These Would You Rather March Morning Meeting Slides using a fun St. Patrick's Day theme that everyone will love and they'll help ensure that your kids are ready to learn! Each slide has a fun choice to ponder and 2 sets of actions based on what students choose. As they make their choice, they carry out the action shown. Kids will love choosing between things like "being invisible" or "being friends with a leprechaun" and then lunging or running in place based on their choice. Use one of these per day to boost engagement and help students get ready to focus and learn!

Make Phonics Fun with These March Literacy Centers

So friend, which of these was your favorite?! It's always hard for me to choose! I love that these center activities target so many important skills, while also easily limiting the amount of time I need to spend on preparing the materials. Many of them are simply print and go! Another great thing about these activities is that they make engagement simple. My students love the leprechaun theme in these activities and I know yours will too! I hope you found something fun to add to your rotation. You can find all of these activities and many more in my TPT shop! 

Save This Post 

Be sure to pin this post on Pinterest so that you can find it quickly and easily when you're ready to plan your March Literacy Centers!

10 Fantastic February Resources for The Primary Classroom

February is a fun-filled month in the primary classroom. There are so many fun topics to explore in a short amount of time! If you're looking for inspiration to bring a bit of February fun to your lesson plans, you're in the right place! Today I'm sharing 10 fantastic February resources to make targeting math and literacy skills fun and easy. 

Embrace Valentine's Day in February 

February has always been a favorite month of mine because it feels like a bright spot in the dead of winter. A lot is going on between President's Day, Valentine's Day, and many of the other fun themes to explore this month. For this reason, I am all about embracing a particular topic, or topics in your lessons. We all know that the best way to make learning stick is to make it fun, right? And what's more fun than holiday-themed activities?! 

In my room, we always lean heavily into the theme of Valentine's Day. Hearts, candy, and friendship add a special touch to our day and make everyone smile. This will make touching on important primary skills and concepts a total breeze! Here are a few of my favorite February resources for phonics, math, and more:  

February Resources for Phonics Skills

First up... phonics! Here are some of my favorite activities to practice literacy skills during the month of February. 

1. February Morning Work 

Do you have a morning work routine in your classroom? If not, February is a great time to start! This one little thing can positively impact your room. Teaching students to start the day with a predictable morning work routine is great for many reasons. It teaches independence, reviews important skills and concepts, and will allow you a few moments each morning to get settled and ready to teach. 

These February Morning Work Pages use a fun Valentine's Day theme that students will love! Not to mention, they cover many important skills such as:

• Syllables 
• CVC words
• Silent E words and more!

Students will love these engaging worksheets and you'll love how easily they can be independent as they work. There are a total of 33 pages included with activities such as rolling and coloring, filling in word boxes, counting syllables, word ladders, and more! Add these to your mornings for a fun and easy way to review important phonics concepts! 

2. Nonsense Word Sorting 

Do you ever use nonsense words in your phonics activities? This February resource focuses on sorting real and nonsense words into the correct category and will surely be a hit in your classroom! There are 60 words included with a Valentine Theme in this set along with headers for real words and nonsense words. To play, students will choose a card and read the word on it. Then, they determine if it's real, or nonsense and add it under the correct heading. I like to play this game with a pocket chart, but it can also easily be played on the floor or at a table as well. 

The cards cover words with all short vowels and all have a CVC pattern. This is such a fun way to work on blending letter sounds together and also using some critical thinking to determine which words are real. I've also included an optional recording sheet that students can use to write down their answers. The best part about this game, though, is how many different ways you can use it. Try it as a whole group game, a center activity, or a partner game in your room!

3. Valentine's Day CVC Words 

Next up on this February resource round-up, is Valentine's Day CVC Words! This is one of my favorite phonics activities to use in the classroom. The idea is that students will choose a colorful word-building mat, identify the picture on it, and use magnetic letters to build the word. There are 48 colorful work mats included and each one is numbered so that students can keep track of which ones they've used. 

These mats also come with some additional options so you can make them work best for your classroom. Use the black and white versions if you'd like to save on printer ink. And for your students who need a little extra support, I've included a version with the words spelled out on the work mats. This is so great for differentiation as you'll be able to give each group a set of work mats aligned to their skill level. 

You can even add an additional layer of accountability to this activity by providing students with the optional recording sheets. They'll write down their words as they go for even more practice! 

4. Valentine's Day Sight Word Games 

I think we can all agree that finding creative and fun ways to practice sight words is an absolute must for the primary classroom! The more fluent our kiddos become with sight words, the more successful they'll be. But... endless flashcard drills get boring quick! So instead, consider using a fun game like this one, Pucker Up, Buttercup! 

In this game, you'll use 112 flashcards with common Fry Words. You can include as many or as few as you like. All the cards get placed facedown in a pile and students take turns drawing a card. As they choose, they will read the card aloud. If read correctly, they get to keep it. Mixed in with the word cards are "Pucker Up, Buttercup" cards. If a student draws one of these, they make a "kissy face" sound and return all of their cards to the pile. My students thought this game was absolutely hysterical and it always makes practicing sight words more fun! 

5. FREE Word Bank Picture Dictionary 

Last on my list of February resources for phonics practice, I've got a freebie that I know you'll love! Grab this February Word Bank Picture Dictionary to make writing time more fun and independent for your students! 

This freebie includes a page with common February vocabulary words. There is a picture and the written word for each one. The idea is that students will keep these in a writing folder, at their desk, or use it in the writing center. Then, as they are writing and want to add specific vocabulary words to their page, they'll have a handy page to help them do so! 

Not only will this facilitate more independence in your classroom, but it will also help reduce the number of times you can asked to spell things during writing time. 

If you like this freebie, then you are going to love the Personal Dictionary. This resource includes 10 monthly word banks, 4 seasonal word banks, 11 thematic word banks and beginning sound word banks for every letter of the alphabet.  It is the perfect way to get your students interacting with new words during writing and building their vocabulary at the same time.

February Resources for Math Skills 

Keep the fun rolling with these February resources that focus on math skills for primary learners. 

6. Valentine's Day Number Charts

Number sense can be a challenge for primary students, which is why it's crucial to find fun ways to practice. I love using these Valentine's Day Number Charts to target numbers 1-120. These charts feature various sequences of numbers 1-120. Students will look at the numbers included and fill in the number with the colorful heart. I like to laminate these cards and have students use dry-erase markers to complete them. This makes them a great center-time activity. 

I have also included differentiation options to tailor this to your students. Options with more support include most of the numbers in the sequence. Students will only need to fill in a few missing numbers, making this a great option for students who might be struggling with this concept. On the other hand, options with less support include fewer numbers, making them a bit tricker. 

7. Valentine's Day Pattern Clip Cards

Help your students work on patterns in a fun way with these Valentine's Day Pattern Clip Cards. This activity is super simple to prep and can be used again and again, making it a great center-time activity! Simply print, cut, and laminate the cards for durability. Place them in a bin along with a set of clothes pins and you're ready to go! 

To play, students will read the pattern and then use a clothespin to select the answer for the item that comes next in the sequence. There are many different pattern options included such as AB, AAB, ABC, ABB, AABB, and more. You can even make this activity self-checking by using a highlighter or marker to draw a smiley face on the backside of the card where the correct answer is. Students love being able to check their work as they play!

February Resources for the Teacher 

Last, on this list of February resources, I've included some of my favorite things to use to celebrate Valentine's Day with my students. 

8. Valentine's Day Crazy Straw Gift Tags

If you're looking for a super simple Valentine's Day student gift that everyone will love - look no further! And even better, this one doesn't even use candy! These Valentine's Day Crazy Straw Gift Tags are super simple to prepare and everyone will love this fun gift. 

Included, you get 4 different colorful gift tag options to choose from. Simply, print, cut apart, and place together with a crazy straw to complete the gift. There are spaces to personalize the tags with each student's name and your signature to make each child feel special. Then, pass these out on Valentine's Day and watch the smiles spread across the room! 

9. Eyeball Ring Valentine's Day Card 

Looking for another fun option to give your kids for Valentine's Day? Check out these silly Google Eyes Valentine's Day Cards! These cute cards read "I've got my eyes on you" and are sure to make students smile. Simply print them out, cut them apart, and tape down a silly eyeball ring that students will love!

This is another great non-candy option that is inexpensive, easy to prep, and will make your students smile! 

10. Valentine's Day Cards 

This final February resource can be used in many ways! These Valentine's Day cards are great for your writing center, to give out to students, or to keep on hand for students who forget to bring Valentine's Day cards for their friends. Included, you get 20 different colorful Valentine cards that print 2 to a page. Many different adorable sayings are included on each one including:

• Bee Mine
• You are Monsterrific
• You Make My Heart Race 
• I Love You To The Moon and Back and many more!

Place these in your writing center for students to fill out for friends and family, give them out to your students, or print some extras for kiddos in your class to use during your card exchange. No matter what you choose - these are sure to be a hit! 

Have Fun with These February Resources

I hope you have fun with these February resources and find something new to try in your classroom! Over the years, I have found that embracing a Valentine's Day theme all month long really adds to the fun and engagement! Don't forget, you can find all of these February activities and many more in my TPT shop! Happy planning!

Save This Post 

Be sure to pin this post on Pinterest to keep all of these February resources at your fingertips!