Leaders of Literacy

A question for 1st and 2nd grade teachers who dread

the three-ring circus of literacy centers:

What if just 2 small but significant changes could turn your literacy centers from time-consuming chaos into effective, engaging learning opportunities that your students will love?

Tired of spending your nights, weekends, and breaks finding, picking, planning, and prepping literacy centers…only to watch center time erupt into a noisy nightmare?

When you join the Leaders of Literacy, you get ongoing training and support—and new, low-prep Science of Reading-aligned centers every month—to keep center time simple, smooth, and time-saving.

Why do some teachers have calm, productive literacy centers…while yours sometimes, kinda-sorta feel more like a 3-ring circus, no matter how hard you try?

You signed up to be a teacher.
NOT a ringmaster, trapeze artist, and lion tamer all at once.

Unfortunately, "circus" is only the beginning of your center-related sorrows!

Centers are frustrating even before showtime.

They require so. much. time!

It takes fifty-gallon buckets of time to:

Find and prepare the “unicorn” centers 🦄 that manage to be meaningful, interesting, and just-challenging-enough for all of your students...which eats into your planning time, weeknights, and even weekends.

Create materials that are differentiated for all levels of learners...which means creating more than one version of the same center, sometimes. Phew.

Keep your centers relevant...do you really have to create and recreate word sorts on Halloween pumpkins, winter snowflakes, and Valentine’s hearts?!

As a teacher, you’re probably already tired (and overwhelmed, to say the least). So it’s really not that surprising that centers can be downright exhausting!

Except...literacy centers are important!

To master new skills and concepts, children need multiple opportunities to practice them. That’s where literacy center activities enter the picture. Centers provide authentic, independent activities for students to solidify and master the skills we’ve taught them.

Centers tick off so many crucial boxes because they:

Of course, while your students are engaged in center activities, you’re freed up to meet students’ needs by teaching targeted small groups.

So what does it take
to make center time great?

How do you make center time a blissful buzz buzz of learning?

Do you need to replace your students with pre-programmed robot children?

Nope! You actually only need 2 things to make your centers great:

The right strategic process + the right center activities =
the formula for instantly transforming your literacy centers!

That’s all it takes. With the right, Science of Reading (SoR)-aligned centers—and a proven process for using them—your center instruction will go from chaos to calm. You won’t have to spend so much time putting together your centers, and you won’t have to struggle to keep kids on task.

Think about it. With the right process, you “templatize” your center time and create a reliable, predictable routine that you and your students can follow with ease.

And then, you plug in the centers that provide leveled literacy activities that were designed based on best practices for teaching children reading skills.

That’s the formula for literacy center success.

Of course, finding and using the right process and centers isn’t exactly a no-brainer

Otherwise, you’d already be doing it!

So where do you go to learn a magical process for centers?

And where do you find these centers that hit all the notes of being low-prep, engaging, and rigorous…without taking up hours and hours of your time?

Actually, you can get both delivered to your inbox every month with a tap of your finger.

Introducing

The Leaders of Literacy Membership

Where passionate 1st and 2nd grade teachers go to gain the confidence and know-how they need to build motivated, skilled readers.

(In other words? Circus: eliminated. )

The Leaders of Literacy is a membership program for 1st and 2nd grade teachers who want literacy centers to be easier for them and more meaningful for students.

Inside the membership, you’ll find out how to keep centers SIMPLE! No more circus. No more wasted time, guesswork, stress, or frustration. No more running around all over the internet trying to put together your literacy centers!

All you’ll need to do is login to one place to discover how to provide intentional, systematic, and explicit literacy instruction that your students will enjoy.

As a Leader of Literacy, you’ll get:

Let’s be honest: not all professional development is created equal! At best, it’s not relevant to you. At worst, it’s yet another new thing that your school is adding to your plate…and surprise! It’s replacing the new thing you just learned two PD sessions ago.

Is it too much to ask that PD training actually help you improve your teaching—or that it get right to the point, because you’re a busy teacher without a single second to spare? NOPE!

Instead, you can take PD from a veteran 1st grade classroom teacher who has taken the deepest dive into SoR—me!

As a Leader of Literacy, you’ll join me live once a month on Zoom for targeted, in-depth training that will cover everything related to the implementation of effective literacy centers and small groups. (You’ll also be able to request that I cover topics you’d like to learn more about, how cool is that?) Each training session will include time for questions and answers so you can get exactly what you need.

Not sure you can make the training live? No worries! Each training session will be recorded so you can access it later inside your membership. Watch it whenever you like, as many times as you like.

With each session you complete, you’ll get a 1-hour PD certificate!

Also....

Would you like to stop spending hours and hours crawling through the dark tunnels of Pinterest trying to find good centers? Would you also like to stop blowing your money on TpT resources that claim to be aligned with SoR (but actually aren’t)?

You can! As a Leader of Literacy, you’ll get brand-new literacy centers every month. And not just any literacy centers. I’m talking about literacy centers that have leveled, structured literacy activities for independent work. Ones that are systematic, differentiated, and effective, too.

You’ll also get access to a growing library of these centers. Every month, you’ll receive:

An entire month’s worth of center activities aligned with SoR. There will be a month’s worth of writing centers, word study centers, and member’s choice literacy centers. And…we’ll also be taking requests from our Leaders of Literacy about what centers you need for us to develop! You really will get all the centers you need!

Monthly center plans with clickable links to that month’s centers. All you’ll have to do is click, print, and teach!

A freshly-recorded video of tips and tricks for introducing and using your new centers in your classroom.

All of this will be delivered to you a month in advance (e.g., you’ll get September’s centers in August) so you have everything handled ahead of time.

Please note: these centers will not be available in my website or Teachers Pay Teachers (TpT) store. The only way to get them is to become a Leader of Literacy!

Also....

Who else wants a safe space to ask for help, encouragement, and support? What about a place where you can celebrate yourself and your peers as you rack up your successes with centers?

✋✋✋

Real talk: the shift to Structured Literacy means there’s so much to learn. It can feel overwhelming. So you’ll love the private, exclusive Facebook group that’s only for Leaders of Literacy. You’ll have your fellow Leaders to learn with and cheer you on—as well as expert guidance and support from me! I’ll be there often, almost every weekday. If I’m not, an experienced member of my team will be there in my place.

Also....

Success With Centers (SWC) is my online professional development course that’s based on a simple truth: literacy centers can be easy for you and meaningful for your students simultaneously—without you needing to spend your nights, weekends, and breaks making that happen.

With SWC, you’ll learn a proven system for simplifying literacy centers and creating a calm and focused atmosphere for learners. Each of the 5 modules is broken into short video lessons that teach you a step-by-step process for implementing literacy centers in your classroom.

The entire course will be waiting for you inside of the Leaders of Literacy membership site whenever you’re ready for its amazingness.

You really won’t want to wait though! Once you’ve completed SWC, you’ll get a 10-hour PD certificate. You’ll also be able to:

Implement a management system that maximizes the efficiency of your center rotations while fostering student independence
Use the physical space of your classroom to your advantage! Placing your center activities in the right places will make transitions smoother, and set up your students for success
Teach, model, and practice the procedures for center activities and rotations in your classroom—so your students understand (and meet) your expectations for their behavior
Keep your students focused, motivated, and independent within centers so you are free to facilitate small groups

My system covers every part of literacy centers so you’ll never have to guess what to do. If you can follow instructions, you can do this program.

Success Stories

“Literacy centers were always a nightmare in my classroom. Kids were always going off-task and it felt like the interruptions at my teacher table were non-stop. More than once my admin popped in to find out if everything was okay because it was so noisy! When I saw Christina Winter was offering a course about centers I knew she was the person who could help me. The biggest aha I had taking Success With Centers was the best time of day for doing center rotations—for students and teachers. Changing this one simple thing was a big step toward making literacy centers more peaceful in my classroom. Success With Centers is full of great strategies like this! I used to spend hours planning center rotations that would keep my kids “busy.” Now, my whole attitude about centers is different, and I spend less than 30 minutes planning AND preparing them every week. Thank you Christina for making my life so much easier!”

“Christina has an intuitive understanding of how to make centers engaging. But as a veteran teacher, she knows it’s equally important to make things easy for teachers. She has a singular focus on giving teachers the tools they need to be successful without adding yet another thing to their plates. What I love about Success With Centers is the tangible, actionable tips for planning and organizing literacy centers. My favorite strategy was having students check their own work. This increases student independence and saves the teacher so much time! I can’t recommend this course enough.”

“Christina is an energetic, passionate instructor. She breaks things down into details and shares valuable teacher tips that help you be successful and confident when trying centers. I’ve saved a lot of time when getting organized and started with centers. Thanks!”

“For a working teacher, lengthy PD sessions (either taught live or in pre-recorded video) are painful. Taking a course on your own takes a lot of intrinsic motivation and focus. Christina understands this, so she’s made the video lessons bite-sized which makes the course so much more feasible for teachers to do. Each video is about 3-5 minutes long (some are longer) and packed with valuable information and insights. You can watch them on your lunch break, hit up the copy machine, and then pick up the kids from lunch. At least that’s what I did.

Wait, that's not all! You'll also get...

This exciting EXCLUSIVE bonus! The Literacy Centers Startup Kit—FREE!

You won’t find this in my TpT or website store!

My Literacy Centers Startup Kit gives you all the pieces and parts for launching literacy centers in your classroom. Everything has been done for you!

As you can see, the kit really does have everything you need to launch successful centers!

You won’t find my Literacy Centers Startup Kit anywhere else.

The only way to get it is to enroll in the Leaders of Literacy membership!

How to become a Leader of Literacy

Here’s what happens when you enroll today:

Ready to go in minutes!

Click the enrollment button, complete the checkout, and a few minutes later you’ll receive an email from me (look for the subject line: OMGosh! Welcome to Leaders of Literacy!

Open up that email, because it will have all of your membership information—login, password, how to access your bonuses, and how to join the exclusive Facebook group. The only thing missing will be confetti and cupcakes!

Get access fast!

Once you login to the membership website, you’ll see that you have access to the 1st month of centers, the complete Success With Centers course, and the Literacy Centers Startup Kit!

The membership was intentionally designed to prevent you from feeling overwhelmed, lost, or unsure about where to start. Everything is organized and easy to find—just the way a teacher likes it!

Learn

Start at the Beginning

I strongly recommend starting with the Success With Centers course before you do anything else. But, I’m not the boss of you! Take the course at your own pace, or just dive right into the Facebook group with your questions.

Bottom line, you can use the membership in the way that works best for you.

Lead

Be a Leader of Literacy!

Remember, every month you’ll receive new centers, center plans, and a new live training with yours truly. You’ll also have 24/7 access to your fellow Leaders of Literacy as well as me and the Mrs. Winter’s Bliss team inside the Facebook group.

The only thing you’ll love more than how confident you feel doing literacy centers in your classroom? Is watching your students blossom into skilled readers who love reading.

Meet the Expert - Christina

Hi, I’m Christina Winter, founder of Mrs. Winter’s Bliss, creator of the Success With Centers course for lower primary students, and featured presenter at the Unlocking the Science of Reading virtual conference.

I taught 1st grade for 21 years and in that time I learned a lot about what makes lower primary students tick (but not TikTok—I will never understand that craze 😂!).

You could say literacy centers were my superpower. In fact, substitute teachers would leave me thank-you notes saying, “I didn’t even need to be here today! Your kids knew exactly what to do without me telling them! I’ve never seen 1st graders be so productive and behave so well during center rotations. HOW DID YOU DO THAT?!?!”

What can I say? Teaching literacy skills to lower primary students is my JAM. When it comes to teaching, I love nothing more than the energy of a productive classroom. That’s my definition of bliss!

I’ve dedicated my career to helping teachers like you achieve the same bliss in the classroom. 💞 Would you like to keep your kids engaged and independent with literacy centers—without all the circus? The Leaders of Literacy membership is where I’m providing 1st and 2nd grade teachers with the training and support to make that happen. I’d be honored to be your mentor if you’ll have me.

"Everything Christina does is filled with glitter and rainbows”

“So it’s no surprise that Christina is incredible at teaching teachers themselves. She knows how to balance two things: making centers easy for teachers and beneficial for students. I couldn’t wait to put what I’ve learned into practice in my own classroom. So far the kids love it. They’re growing their skills, but having fun while doing it. The chaos and confusion went down to nearly zero. Everyone should learn from Christina Winter. It’s magical.”

FAQs

What grade levels is the Leaders of Literacy membership for?

The Leaders of Literacy membership was designed for 1st and 2nd grade teachers, and teachers who support 1st and 2nd grade students. I don’t recommend it for other grade levels.

How does the Leaders of Literacy membership work? What do I get as a member?

When you join the membership, you get access to the membership website. Inside that website, you’ll find the growing resource library of centers, your 1st month’s worth of centers, the complete Success With Centers course, and the Literacy Centers Startup Kit! You’ll also be invited to join the Leaders of Literacy Facebook group, where you can receive additional support from me, my team, and your fellow Leaders of Literacy.

Every month, you’ll be able to join me once a month on Zoom for targeted, in-depth training that will cover everything related to the implementation of effective literacy centers and small groups. Each training session will include time for questions and answers. If you can’t make the training, don’t worry—each one will be recorded and uploaded to the membership site. You’ll also receive a one-hour PD certificate for every training session you attend.

You’ll also receive an entire month’s worth of literacy centers that are aligned with the Science of Reading, monthly center plans, and a freshly-recorded video introducing your new centers—every month! The centers themselves will be writing centers, word study centers, and partner literacy centers. But I’ll also be taking requests about what literacy centers you’d like us to develop!

If this is a “one-stop shop” does that mean I need to buy additional resources from you even if I’m a member?

Whether you choose the monthly or annual membership, you’ll get everything you need—in one place—to successfully implement literacy centers in your classroom. There’s no need to buy anything else (unless you want to grab something in my store that’s not inside the membership).

Will the centers work with my curriculum? How about Daily 5?

The centers are part of a structured literacy approach to teaching literacy skills. They aren’t specific to any program or curriculum.

Will I receive PD for being in this membership?

Yes, there are two ways you can receive PD certificates for the work you complete inside the membership. You’ll earn a 10-hour PD certificate after you complete all the modules of the Success With Centers course, and then you can earn a one-hour PD certificate for every monthly training session you attend.

What if I want to cancel? Can I get a refund?

Yes, we have a money-back guarantee. Keep scrolling for details.

Can I share my login with a friend?

The membership is for one teacher only. If you’d like to purchase a group license, please contact me at christina@mrswintersbliss.com.

Isn’t it time you turned your literacy centers from time-consuming chaos into effective, engaging learning opportunities—that both you and your students will love?

$ 22

Per month—billed annually at $270

Monthly LIVE professional development with Christina
Ongoing access to Christina and her expertise in Science of Reading
New centers and resources every month
24/7 support in the community
The complete Success With Centers course
The Literacy Centers Startup Kit
PAY IN FULL BONUS: 2 free months
PAY IN FULL BONUS: $30 gift card to use in my store!

Popular

$ 27 Per month

Monthly LIVE professional development with Christina
Ongoing access to Christina and her expertise in Science of Reading
New centers and resources every month
24/7 support in the community
The complete Success With Centers course
The Literacy Centers Startup Kit

The odds are that no matter what, there will always

be struggling or reluctant readers in your classroom

There will always be students who need extra help. There will always be so much to learn. There will always be new challenges.
But with my ongoing, expert support, you’ll be able to adapt without breaking a sweat.

Who is the Leaders of Literacy Membership right for?

Let’s be plain as day about it!

It is right for you if:

It is not right for you if:

Is there a guarantee? You bet!

The Leaders of Literacy is a monthly subscription membership for 1st and 2nd grade teachers. As a Leader of Literacy, you’ll get ongoing PD and new centers every month so you confidently run effective literacy centers in your classroom. Your students’ literacy skills will grow exponentially when you put all of this into practice!

When you join us, you get instant access to the existing library, video trainings, the complete Success With Centers course, and the complete Literacy Centers Startup Kit. It really is a one-stop shop experience for everything related to literacy centers! There’s so much value packed inside—and it will only go up over time as we add more centers and training videos.

But, we only want people to stay in our membership if they feel great about being in it. So here’s our promise to you.

If you’re a monthly member, you can cancel at any time.

If you join as an annual member, you have 48 hours to watch as many videos as you want, check out the centers, and visit our Facebook group.

Please understand that your cancellation will be processed immediately and you’ll lose access to the library, all of the trainings and centers, the course, and the startup kit.

We’ll refund your money within 48 hours, no questions asked.

A word about the Science of Reading…for teachers who want nothing more than to watch their students blossom into confident, skilled readers

You’ve probably experienced the nationwide scramble to shift reading instruction so it aligns with the Science of Reading (SoR). SoR is a radical departure from the whole language and balanced literacy many of us have been teaching for our entire careers.

Personally, I welcome this change and if you’re here, I know you do too. The research proves that children can only learn to read through explicit, systematic instruction.

The only question is: Why are we only just finding out about this now? This body of research has been around for decades and decades!

The truth is that most teachers nationwide are not being taught SoR in their teacher preparation programs. In colleges of education, many deans and professors don’t know the science or they dismiss it. It’s hard not to think of the kids who could have learned better decoding skills…if only we had been taught how to teach reading the right way.

As the saying goes, “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”

Now that we know better, we can do better. We can teach our kids how to read according to the science so they can become confident, skilled readers.

Because SoR is a body of knowledge as opposed to a curriculum, it can be a lot to sort through and digest. As a busy teacher, you probably don’t have time for that!

You know who does have time for that? Me. I love taking deep dives into best practices for literacy instruction and then translating the research into training and resources for teachers. Why? Because as our recognized authority on SoR Dr. Louisa Moats says,

“Informed teachers are our best insurance against reading failure. While programs are very helpful tools, programs don’t teach; teachers do.”

If being an informed, EFFECTIVE teacher is important to you…then I invite you to become a Leader of Literacy. 💞 —Christina

Isn’t it time you turned your literacy centers from time-consuming chaos into effective, engaging learning opportunities—that both you and your students will love?

$ 22

Per month—billed annually at $270

Monthly LIVE professional development with Christina
Ongoing access to Christina and her expertise in Science of Reading
New centers and resources every month
24/7 support in the community
The complete Success With Centers course
The Literacy Centers Startup Kit
PAY IN FULL BONUS: 2 free months
PAY IN FULL BONUS: $30 gift card to use in my store!

Popular

$ 27 Per month

Monthly LIVE professional development with Christina
Ongoing access to Christina and her expertise in Science of Reading
New centers and resources every month
24/7 support in the community
The complete Success With Centers course
The Literacy Centers Startup Kit

A question for 1st and 2nd grade teachers who dread

What if just 2 small but significant changes could turn your literacy centers from time-consuming chaos into effective, engaging learning opportunities that your students will love?