Discover my favorite activities that are aligned with the science of reading curriculum to help your young learns master reading fast.
This is a visual for how students work their way up the Reading Ladder. Kindergarten is working within the levels 1 and 2 throughout the year. When working with your child, please focus on these skills so that they have a solid reading foundation. Success is earned and needs to be worked for. Thank you to Katelyn's Learning Studio for this amazing resource.
Each classroom brings students of multiple learning styles and backgrounds. It is our job to provide opportunities that reach all of the many different learning styles that come to us. For this reason, it is
What reading strategies do students need to know? Find out here and keep track with a free chart!
This list of FREE online reading for kids provides you with engaging books and passages to use with your guided reading groups!
Each classroom brings students of multiple learning styles and backgrounds. It is our job to provide opportunities that reach all of the many different learning styles that come to us. For this reason, it is
This reading response worksheet is ideal for practicing story elements, reading strategies, comprehension, text connection, author study, vocabulary work and so much more!
Activities that boost fluency all year long…and that you only have to prep once!
Fluency tends to be a commonly overlooked skill, but you can change that by learning about strategies for teaching fluency with your elementary students!
Graphic organizers are timeless, versatile tools that support students in independently using reading comprehension strategies. A quality graphic organizer can be the difference between students using and understanding a comprehension strategy or not. WHY USE GRAPHIC
Adding some fun games for reading in the classroom schedule will instantly get your kids excited to read! These 5 fun reading games are...
Procedures, routines, printables, anchor chart examples, and mentor texts to support reading independence while launching reading workshop.
Are you wondering if guided reading can align with the science of reading? Let me show you 4 quick changes you can make to make it work!
Do you have elementary students in your homeschool? If so, you will find this FREE Elementary Reading & Writing Bundle so helpful! It’s full of useful homeschool printables for writing and reading assessment as well as reading comprehension. This limited time freebie will end on 4/26 so you will want to be sure to grab the...
Back when I was a student, there is only one vocabulary activity I can ever remember doing in class or for homework. It was looking up the word in the dictionary, writing the definition, and using the word in a sentence. I can recall this assignment itself (probably because of the sheer number of times I had to do it), but ask me how many of those actual words I am able to remember. Couldn’t tell you a single one, to be honest!
Visualizing the text is such an important strategy used for building your students’ reading comprehension. It is very versatile as it can be used in different ways with students of all ages and reading levels. I
Get your students reading and writing this summer with these fun and engaging enrichment activities for elementary grades.
Howdy! Jen Bradshaw here from Teacher Karma. Thinking strategies to improve reading comprehension Reading without meaning is like eating pizza without cheese....and NOBODY wants that! So how do we get our students to make connections to the text, think while they are reading, and focus on what is most important......MEANING?? When I was in the classroom, I had great success with using the following anchor chart, Reading is Thinking. It is a great way to kick off a mini-lesson by presenting the thinking strategies that they will be learning about and USING EVERY DAY...really for the rest of their lives. Reading strategies to improve comprehension In my opinion, the 6 most important reading strategies are: asking questions predicting summarizing visualizing inferencing making connections Never try and do all of these strategies in one day! Depending on the grade level you teach, you may want to spend a whole week on each thinking strategy before moving on to the next one. If you would like to pick up your freebie and learn more about strategies to improve your student's comprehension, click here please. :) Best wishes!
Fluency tends to be a commonly overlooked skill, but you can change that by learning about strategies for teaching fluency with your elementary students!
Learn about the Science of Reading and Structured Literacy. Then get a FREE resource that provides you with actionable steps for bringing Science of Reading-aligned instruction into your classroom.
Book Talks are a powerful way to share new books with students and encourage them to try out different genres they may not have thought about before. While I have been doing book talks with my students for years, I wanted to bump it up a notch and not only have them begin to create... Read more
Learning to read is such a fun and special time: it's a valuable skill, and sparking an early love of reading can make it become a lifelong passion. In order
When I was a brand new teacher, I thought the quality of my teaching was ultimately tied to the quality of my resources, so I spent hours searching for great materials. I believed that if I had quality resources, ones that my students enjoyed and were engaged with, then that would make me a good teacher. Well, I still believe that having quality resources is extremely important, but over the years I've also come to realize that being a good teacher is SO much more than the tools in my toolbox. Everyday has a million moving parts that need our constant attention, focus, knowledge and skills of best practice. So even though I now believe that being a good teacher is more than the quality of my teaching materials, knowing that I have a good variety of kid tested and teacher approved resources at my fingertips allows me the time and energy to focus on other aspects of my teaching day. So today, as a follow-up to my original "favorite resources" post, I want to share with you MORE of my "go-to" resources that I consistently use in my classroom with my students! Build a Sentence I love this resource, and so do my students! This resource gets beginning and intermediate ELs speaking and writing! First, a photograph is posted. Then students generate a word bank by telling what they see in the picture. I ask for one word at a time. No matter the level of my ELs, everyone can come up with at least a word or two. I get additional details by asking about colors and quantities of items they see. Once our word bank is sufficient, they use those words to create varying lengths of sentences. They are asked to create a 3 word sentence, then a four word sentence, then a five word sentence, and so on. I'll ask, "Who thinks they can come up with a 4 word sentence?" My students all start thinking and counting on their fingers, then quickly a hand shoots up, then another. They love it! This activity is heavily scaffolded for beginners. Students orally create the word bank and sentences, but I write the words and sentences on the board using correct spelling and grammar. Then they copy. I am a big believer in modeling for beginners, and I model a LOT! This activity is a definite favorite among my students. They practice their oral language skills as well as their writing skills. I do this with my small groups at least once a month. Writing with English Learners I created this resource to prep my students for the writing portion of the annual language proficiency assessment. In Virginia, where I'm from, ESL students take the WIDA ACCESS each winter. Being that writing is the literacy skill that usually takes the longest to develop, I wanted to explicitly teach the skills students needed to be most successful on this assessment. In my lesson plans, I incorporate a listening, reading, speaking and writing focus each week. For the writing focus, I usually pull from these two resources. Whether I am teaching how to stretch out words, write a story, explain a process or analyze information, this resource allows me to choose the skills my particular groups need to work on. For my intermediate and advanced ELs in grades 3-6, I focus on "language formats" found in writing. Whether they are asked to describe, provide an opinion, analyze or compare and contrast, understanding and applying the language with that format is key. 5 Ws and H - A Writing Resource for Adding Details This resource is a new favorite! It teaches students to add meaningful details to their sentences. I often ask students to "tell me more." This writing activity gets them in the habit of giving more information in their sentences by adding thoughtful details. This resource is designed for gradual release. The first set of activities can be done in a whole group setting. A photograph is projected and students are asked to answer the 5W & H questions about the picture. This information is then used to write two thoughtful sentences. As students become more proficient with adding details to their sentences, the next set of activities can be done in either a small group setting or as an independent activity. The last set of activities are writing prompts that students can independently respond to in their notebooks. Posters are included which add a great visual reference for a classroom display. Restate the Question This is a simple, yet effective, activity that teaches students to restate the question or prompt in their answers, both orally and in writing. As a writing activity, either project a prompt on the whiteboard and have students write their responses in their notebooks, or print out the question and have them glue it into their notebook. This takes modeling the first several times, but afterwards should be a quick independent activity. For a speaking activity, pull out a card and ask the question. Students take turns answering several of the questions. This works great in a small group setting. My students often ask if we can keep on "playing." VIDEOS! VIDEOS! VIDEOS! Incorporating videos into my lessons is a MUST! When I plan a new unit, one of the first things I do is to scour the internet looking for fun and meaningful videos. My go to place is YouTube. There are some real gems out there, but it does take some looking. When I find a goody, it goes into my collection and I use it again and again. Here is a blog post that I wrote about using short films to teach reading comprehension skills. I continue to add to the list as I find new films. Click on the image to see the list! Check out my Short Film Bundle here. Monthly Themed Vocabulary This is an great resource to use with primary learners and beginning ELs. Each month contains 20 vocabulary words. I love this because it's relevant to what's happening around students at the given time of year. Along with the terms, which I use as a monthly word wall, matching cards, writing activities, a vocabulary booklet and BINGO games are included. In closing... As I create my weekly lesson plans, these "tried and true" resources are many of the activities that my students use throughout the school year. Having a collection of reliable and engaging materials available frees up the time I'd otherwise spend searching. I'm sure you have your go-to resources too. Happy teaching!! (Affiliate Link)
Teaching reading strategies in kindergarten that follow the Science of Reading research and a free printable to help support students
These easy to use techniques can be used by teachers for students in upper elementary and middle school to develop stronger reading comprehension skills.
Science of reading activities can be so helpful for students of all ages. Reading is an essential skill to have in order to succeed in school and life. It’s not just about being able to read the words, it’s about understanding what you are reading and connecting those ideas with what you already know.
Discover the new way to teach guided reading, grab some printable free decodable books, and learn all about how the science of reading is...
Wondering how to improve reading fluency with young readers? Get eight practical tips!
Reading comprehension skills like making inferences, finding the main idea, and recognizing cause and effect are critical curriculum elements in any ELA classroom. As our students build their reading skills, they need to develop their understanding of 12 different reading comprehension skills. One of my favorite ways to teach students about the reading skills is with doodle notes. Don't worry...I've put together a 20+ page set of doodle notes that you can download for FREE! (Sign up at the bottom of this post!) Have you tried doodle notes in your classroom? If so, you know that... ⭐ Doodle notes are a great way to introduce students to important information. These doodle notes include definitions for 12 different reading skills. In addition, there are tips provided for each reading skill to help students use each in their reading. The definitions are simple enough for students to understand, but specific enough to help students recognize the differences in each. ⭐ Doodle notes tap into multiple learning styles. Doodle notes are obviously great for visual learners. They also create a connection between the right and left hemispheres of the brain. This leads to an increase in learning, focus, and retention. The doodles on the note pages also help a variety of learners connect images with information. The free set of reading doodle notes also includes 4 versions for easy differentiation. There are doodle pages for lower grades, upper grades, as well as notes that are filled-in or in a guided notes format. ⭐ Doodle notes expose students to skills they can use in the classroom. Doodle notes are a fun and engaging spin on traditional notes. The free set of doodle notes focus on reading comprehension skills. Therefore, they work perfectly as a review of skills before students show off their learning while reading passages. Of course, I think reading passages should be engaging, too. So, some of my favorites to combine with the doodle notes are these... --- Reading Passages and Text-Based Evidence - R.E.A.D. Strategy --- Social Emotional Learning Passages - Read, Doodle and Do --- Nonfiction Reading Passages - Doodle and Do ⭐ Doodle notes are extremely motivating and therefore work as awesome introductions to units. The free set of reading comprehension skills doodle notes are such an awesome way to introduce students to more in-depth reading units. You could easily have students complete the packet of doodle notes before diving deeper into each reading skill. Or, you could have students complete one section of the doodle notes as they learn about different skills. The good news is that I've already created 12 reading mini-units for each reading skill. Find them here. ⭐ Doodle notes help students review and reinforce information naturally. When students complete doodle notes, first, they do the work of adding the notes to their pages. However, their learning doesn't end there. Students are super motivated to doodle, color, and embellish their note pages. As they get creative, they naturally read over and review their learning. It's the perfect way to mix creativity and learning! If you'd like to add this FREE set of reading comprehension doodle notes to your classroom, just add your email and name below. Then, check you inbox for your exclusive freebie!
How to teach main idea and topic with these free downloadable reading comprehesion resources for elementary students. Perfect for comprehension!
93 best Reading resource images on Pinterest from free 2nd grade reading comprehension worksheets multiple choice , image source: pinterest.com
The ultimate goal of any reading teacher is for students to have strong reading comprehension! Although reading comprehension encompasses lots of different reading skills, basically we want students to understand what they’ve read. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? In a typical class though, you’ll have a variety of types of readers. There’ll usually be a handful […]
Close reading has many benefits. Close reads could be used as a strategy that is beneficial in helping students tackle higher-level text-dependent questions.
If you teach a struggling reader, these 12 incredible resources for struggling readers are here to encourage you through practical tips and activities.
CLOSE Reading FREEBIE! CLOSE READING seems to be one of the biggest buzzwords in education right now. So, what exactly is CLOSE READING, and why should I use it in my classroom?? Reading CLOSELY helps students to uncover layers of text meaning that will, in turn, help them to have a clearer understanding […] Read more...
The Best Reading Manipulatives For Every Classroom - 15 of the best reading manipulatives for your classroom. These manipulatives for reading help reinforce literacy skills and make learning fun.
Teaching reading strategies in kindergarten that follow the Science of Reading research and a free printable to help support students
Our principal has really been encouraging us to add more writing into our daily lesson plans. "They should be writing all day long" he tells us. The research is there to back him up. I bumped into this Roll and Retell page from Fun In First on Pinterest awhile back and finally figured out how to add it to our learning day. I printed and laminated four copies of the Roll and Retell page to hand out to each of my four table groups. After a round of Daily 5 I handed them out. I also gave each table one die. Each student at the table took turns rolling the die and then answering the question based on the number they rolled. They each used the individual book they were reading to answer the questions. I felt like it would be a great advertisement for new books for each child to read when they were done with the one they were working on. I also knew it would be great oral practice BEFORE they started writing. Once they had a chance to talk about what they were going to write, I set the timer for 5 minutes and let them write. Then we shared our responses. Here are a few of their responses. I had so much success with this activity with my students, that I created versions that cover the standards for 2nd, 3rd and 4th grades. There are 6 different Roll and Respond Sheets that cover all of the Second Grade ELA Common Core Standards for both literary and informational text. There are 5 different Roll and Respond Sheets that cover all of the Third Grade ELA Common Core Standards for both literary and informational text. There are 7 different Roll and Respond Sheets that cover all of the Fourth Grade ELA Common Core Standards for both literary and informational text. Before you go, head on over to our giveaway page to enter our current giveaway! Every week one lucky winner gets a $25 Teachers pay Teachers gift card! Dr. Susan Hall, literacy leader and founder of 95 Percent Group, mentions this Roll and Retell Activity as a Reading Comprehension Game that Students Will Want to Play Over and Over! Check it out for the other ideas there as well! What have you tried in your classroom lately? Link up with Fourth Grade Flipper for Tried It Tuesday and share! This post contains affiliate links. I earn a small commission each time someone makes a purchase using one of my links, which helps to support the blog. All opinions are my own and I only promote brands and products that I have used myself and truly love. I would love to hear from you! ❤️ Have a question? Idea for a resource you might find helpful? Be so kind and leave a comment below.
It's hard to fit it all into your schedule! Here's my 3-step process that makes it easier to create your K-2 structured literacy schedule.
Need quality reading comprehension worksheets? Huge list of reading worksheets with comprehension questions, FREE for you to use in your classroom!
Learn about the Science of Reading and Structured Literacy. Then get a FREE resource that provides you with actionable steps for bringing Science of Reading-aligned instruction into your classroom.
Let's discover science of reading aligned centers. You will be able to fully integrate science of reading into your literacy centers.
These easy to use techniques can be used by teachers for students in upper elementary and middle school to develop stronger reading comprehension skills.
This product is not endorsed by UFLI Foundations nor is it affiliated in any way. No part of this product copies any material found in the manual. You can find all the resources you need to successfully teach reading for free on the UFLI Foundations website. This resource was designed to provide fou...
