Florida Center for Reading Research
Fluency, Letter-Sound Correspondence, Make a Match
An activity tests the fluency skills of young readers. Scholars match initial sound cards to letter cards. Pairs take turns and work to locate the most matches before the timer goes off. The activity ends with a peer evaluation.
National Center for Families Learning
The Summer Fun Summer Learning Dramatic and Story Reading Unit
What's the difference between story reading and story telling? Participants in a summer enrichment program learn all about the difference as they listen to famous speeches, engage in dramatic readings, and craft their own short stories...
Brigham Young University
HOOT Directed Reading Thinking Activity
It's helpful to encourage kids to make predictions when beginning a reading unit. Before reading Hoot by Carl Hiaasen, have kids read Susan Barlow Broggi's Am I Grown Up When I'm Not Afraid of Spiders in My Shoes? to make predictions...
Curated OER
The Red Badge Of Courage: Directed Reading Thinking Activity
As part of a Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA) class members are asked to predict events in Patricia Polacco's Pink and Say based on illustrations in the story, on their knowledge of Steven Crane's The Red Badge of Courage, and...
Curated OER
Shizuko’s Daughter: Selective Reading Guide
Examine the text of Kyoko Mori's Shizuko's Daughter with a reading guide. With questions that prompt kids to refer to the reading as well as to their own experiences and opinions, the guide is an effective way to keep them engaged with...
EngageNY
Close Reading Excerpt 2: Plantation Life
Time for a good old fashioned match game! Readers complete an initial, second, and third read of Plantation Life to gain a deep understanding. After close reading the text, scholars practice identifying paraphrasing by matching sentences...
Heritage Foundation
How to Read the Constitution
Even lawyers can find the US Constitution to be very wordy! Help learners create a foundation for understanding the Constitution with several analysis essays. Multiple activities complement the reading and allow for active and meaningful...
Curated OER
Let's Read For Speed!
Explore reading for fluency and speed with your class. They discuss reading faster, smoother, and with more expression. Practice reading with fluency using one minute timed reads. They read "Tin Man Fix-It." and record how many words...
Curated OER
Guided Reading with Jazz Baby
Jazz music and musicians are the focus of this language arts lesson. Young readers independently read the book Jazz Baby. To build fluency and independence they read silently, but are guided by directive comments from the teacher. They...
Constitutional Rights Foundation
History of Immigration Through the 1850s
Everyone living in the United States today is a descendant from an immigrant—even Native Americans. Learn about the tumultuous history of American immigration with a reading passage that discusses the ancient migration over the Bering...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Phonological Awareness: Phoneme Matching, Pack-a-Backpack
Scholars sort words based on their initial phoneme or sound. Learners are given two backpacks, each with a picture card; they search and match picture cards with the same initial sound as the ones on each backpack.
Florida Center for Reading Research
Phonological Awareness: Phoneme Matching, Sound Maker - Sound Smacker
Scholars sort words based on their initial phonemes. They choose cards, say their names, and match the initial phoneme to the one posted on one of the sorting bins. If the initial sound matches, they put the card in the sound maker bin,...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Sound it-Bag it
Scholars sort picture cards based on the initial phoneme they hear as they say the name of each image. They pick a card, say its name, then place it in one of five bags based on how its initial phoneme matches the initial phoneme...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Phonological Awareness: Phoneme Manipulating, What's Left?
Scholars subtract initial phonemes from given picture word cards to create new words. Feet becomes eat, and shelf becomes elf.
Curated OER
The Beginning Consonant
In this initial consonant worksheet, students read 3 words that have missing letters at the beginning. Students look at the picture clues and fill in the missing initial consonant, then color the picture.
Curated OER
Phonological Awareness, Phoneme Manipulating, Phoneme Position Sort
Scholars make new words out of old ones by manipulating phonemes. Pupils mix and match initial, medial, and final phonemes to change words like cap into cup or head into bed.
Curated OER
Practicing Letters W and X
Match initial phonemes to practice recognizing the sounds made by the letters w and x. Early readers circle all of the objects that begin with either an x or a w, then trace each letter several times. Try a fun variation by having...
Curated OER
Odd One Out
Letters q-z are the topic of the learning exercise. Learners circle the picture in each row that does not make the initial letter sound indicated. They then fill in the letter that is missing from the beginning or ending of four words.
Curated OER
Inspire a Life of Reading
Making letters out of goop, sight word bingo, tic-tac-toe vowels. Download this packet loaded with activities designed to engage beginning readers. Although designed for adults, many of the activities are appropriate for any age group.
Curated OER
The Gospel of Wealth by Andrew Carnegie: A Close Reading
Andrew Carnegie's "The Gospel of Wealth" provides high schoolers an opportunity to engage more complex text. After a close reading of the essay and an analysis of Carnegie's argument that the rich are superior because they earn money,...
Curated OER
Parrot in the Oven: Pair Reading
After reading and discussing chapter 10 of Victor Martinez's Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida with a partner, individuals write about a time they had to exhibit real courage.
Curated OER
ESL Advanced Level- English Grammar Cloze Worksheet
In this ESL open cloze worksheet, students fill in the blanks in 8 sentences. They use words related to English grammar, not vocabulary words, to fill each blank.
Curated OER
Using the Sounds of Words Reading Task
Young readers demonstrate phonemic awareness in words and blends, and recognize 100 high-frequency words. Use a nursery rhyme to point out rhyming words, and change the words by putting a new letter at the beginning. Each learner will...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Letter-Sound Dominoes
What do dominoes and phonemes have in common? Quite a bit in this engaging phonics game! Each domino has a letter on one side and an image on the other. Everything you need is here; partners place the starting domino on the table then...