Reading is a vital part of education. We hear it all the time, every teacher is a reading teacher no matter what subject you are teaching. If you are looking through scientific facts, you’re reading. Learning about the first person to walk on the moon? You’re reading! Discovering “Who done it?” in a Hardy Boys story; you’re reading! Reading is everywhere so we have to make sure we are turning our students into rockin’ readers. A great way to do that is through the use of reading activities.
How to Make a Rockin’ Reader 101
Whenever we are reading in class we are reading teachers. Therefore, every time we read in class we, as educators, have the opportunity to transform a little reader into a rockin’ reader. There are so many reading activities for kids out there, but here are a few activities you can do with your students to make the most out of reading every time.
Reading is a vital part of education. We hear it all the time, every teacher is a reading teacher no matter what subject you are teaching. Click To TweetAs Easy as ABC
To begin, you want to make sure you’re starting at the very beginning. According to Julie Andrews, that’s a very good place to start. When you are starting your students off, you want to begin with the basics.
When you’re learning your ABC’s learn it to the classic tune or find some other rockin’ music that has a sick beat to learn your ABC’s to.
Once you have learned the basic letters, take time to look at phonics. Spending time on these basic skills is so important to your young readers. If you know students struggle with sounds like –ch or –th, make sure you focus on these phonetic sounds when you read.
There are so many phonic games available on TpT. Click this link to find fun phonic games to help your kindergarten and first grade students.
Shhh It’s Reading Time
Another way to enhance reading is by introducing sustained silent reading into your classroom. Sustained silent reading is taking a certain amount of time out of your day to work with a few students (two or three) who need extra help and while you’re working with these students the others are reading.
How do you make sure your students are actually reading when they are supposed to be? Introduce reading response sheets to your classroom so when students do have sustained reading time, you can have a check to make sure they were staying on task.
Always be a Guide
If you have students who struggle with reading, guided reading is a great activity to partake in. Guided reading looks like this:
- Pick up a piece of text that relates to what you are reading or choose a class novel.
- Write some questions up on the board or project them so students can see.
- Read out loud to your students stopping to discuss the questions that you have displayed or to discuss a difficult idea or concept.
Guided reading is a great way to make sure your students understand the text and creates so many teachable moments. If you’re looking for guided reading activities, you can findGuided Reading with Total Physical Response on in the VIP TEACHER resource library here at Mrs. Shipley’s Classroom.
Take a Closer Look
One of the best reading activities or reading strategies I have used in my classroom is the idea of close reading. In a close reading, you ask the students to experience the text three different times. When I use this in my classroom, I follow this process.
- I have my students read first for basic comprehension and unknown vocabulary.
- During the second reading I ask them to take note of a certain concept we are covering whether that’s character development, theme, or another literary element.
- Finally, the third time I have them analyze the text explaining why they believe this is the theme or how the character developed throughout the story.
Using close readings in my classroom has really been a game changer for my students. They have become more thoughtful while they are reading and don’t hesitate to go back and reread when necessary.
You can use close readings in a variety of ways for a variety of topics. If you want to just practice close readings, you can also do that by looking at close reading passages on TpT.
Have Fun!
Sometimes we get so caught up in identifying all the points of plot and the character development we forget that reading should just be fun. Therefore, I encourage you to choose a fun, read-aloud novel to share with your students.
Sure you can and should talk about the different elements of the text but make fun the focus while you’re reading this class novel. Having a shared reading experience will really help you later when students are reading their own books because you will have a reference point.
I have found that finding a good series and only reading the first one to your students, sparks the need to know what happens next. This need can turn a non-reader into a reader, even if it’s just for a little bit.
There are so many fun reading activities out there for you to use in your classroom. The most important thing you can do as an educator is read with your students, read to your students, and encourage students to read to themselves.
Reading is one of those vital educational tools that students will use whether they are going to be carpenters or professional speakers so make sure your students rock at it!
Want to grab that Guided Reading with Total Physical Response for your classroom? Click below to grab your pass to the VIP TEACHER RESOURCE LIBRARY at Mrs. Shipley’s Classroom.
