Summary

Are you struggling to pick the best activities for early readers? Learn the qualities for the most effective activities when teaching reading and how to use them in your K-2 classroom.

Qualities of Effective Activities for Early Readers

Choosing the best activities for early readers can be challenging. There is so much noise in the early literacy space that it can be hard to figure out what activities are actually going to help your readers. 

When I first started teaching reading, I was lost. I had one course on early literacy in my teacher preparation program and the course focused on a balanced literacy approach. I was asking my Kindergarteners to read independently for 20-30 minutes at the start of the year to almost 45 minutes at the end. Kids rarely read and I was doing more behavior management than teaching.

The Struggle with Activities for Early Readers

I knew there had to be a better way. So, I started reading research and throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what stuck. I was also on a budget. The last thing I wanted to do was spend a ton of money I didn’t have on things that didn’t work. So, I got to work testing and creating and re-recreating activities that do.

Want to check out the activities now? Go ahead and grab these activities for early readers. There’s enough for the whole year and then some. Each topic comes with month-long lesson plans so you can focus on your students, and spend less time planning.

Features of Quality Activities for Early Readers

Quality activities for early readers focus on the alphabetic principle (the idea that each letter or grapheme makes a sound) and phonemic awareness, the manipulation of sounds within words. Teachers should use early reading activities to encourage conversation among students, focusing on improving their knowledge of language and connecting the text with the students’ life. These activities for early readers systematically work through the alphabetic principle, improving students’ letter sound knowledge. As early readers, they will learn the most common consonant-vowel-consonant patterns, digraphs, various sounds of vowels and more!

How to Choose Reading Activities for the Early Years

It can be challenging to figure out how to choose reading activities for the early years. The most effective activities have students’ buy-in and engagement – which can be a hard thing to accomplish! To see the purpose, you need to be explicit with the reason why you are choosing the activity. For both yourself and your students. 

First, start by observing your student as a reader and gathering some data surrounding their phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, and letter-sound knowledge. Ask yourself: what does this student know and use consistently? What is the next skill they need to improve your reading?

These activities for early readers are perfect if you are unsure of the developmental progression when gaining reading skills. Gather your data, and use this progression to figure out which activities are best for your early readers. With numerous activities for each target skill, you can easily have your students choose which activity they would like to do increasing both engagement and buy-in. 

The Importance of Phonics & Strategic Instruction

Research from as early as the 1950s up until today has shown that humans do not acquire the ability to read in the same way we learn how to speak. To read, humans must learn, and master, the alphabetic principle gaining an understanding of how symbols (letters) represent sounds which are then blended to create words that hold meaning within the sentence. PHEW! That’s a BIG task for our youngest students.  

All that to say, strategic phonics instruction is really important. And, it can be boring. Very few students scream and shout with excitement when it’s time for word study. These activities for early readers are a great way to change that and get kids excited to learn letters and their sounds. Pro tip: call out the “boring” nature of phonics. If nothing is engaging my students I often go “You know, this isn’t the most exciting thing and it’s something we have to do. I wonder how we can work together to try our best and get this done”. 

Student success increases engagement as well. When students can access the information and see their growth they are more likely to participate in the activities. This is one reason why strategic instruction is SO important. It builds upon itself, giving students short steps up a tall staircase to climb rather than hanging off a steep mountain. These activities for early readers build upon each student’s success so while they increase in difficulty they never feel out of reach for the students. Take the guesswork out of planning your reading small groups and know your students are working on the best activities for early readers with systematic month-long plans for each new phonetic skill. 

Best Phonics Activities for Early Readers

The best phonics activities for early readers combine the following two features: hands-on manipulatives and require students to think critically about the sounds within a word. When introducing a new sound or concept, phonics activities should focus on the target skill ensuring student understanding before applying it within a larger text.

These are some of the best phonics activities for early readers. Breaking down each skill into month-long trajectories students are introduced to a sound and then asked to practice it at the word, sentence, and finally the story level. Activities also feature an encoding, or writing, portion to incorporate a multi-sensory approach to learning.  

Differentiating reading activities

Differentiating is a key piece of student growth, and teaching early readers is no different! It means presenting, or modifying, the content in a way that makes it more accessible for the students. Often a class can be working on a bigger idea while each student might be tackling that concept in their own unique way. You can read more about the importance of differentiating and how to differentiate within your literacy block here.

As both a K-2 classroom teacher and a special educator, making learning accessible to all is a key philosophy within my teaching. It’s one of the reasons I started making activities for other teachers! Quality differentiation takes time. It takes time to know your students and it takes time to create what they need. But no one said that you had to be the one to create it.

I fully believe that you are the only one who can differentiate for your students. No printable activity is truly “print and go” when it comes to quality differentiation. Why? Because the teacher has to decide which activity best matches the needs of their students! These activities for early readers give teachers over 200 activities (sorted by skill and level) to ensure they can provide quality activities to all students, regardless of their current reading ability.  

Reading Activities for Early Readers

Reading activities for early readers can be one of the most challenging things to find! They jump up in level too fast and kids often lose interest as learning the alphabetic code is tiring work. Imagine learning a new language and being expected to speak it, mostly fluently, after just a week or two. It’s an impossible task!

When thinking of reading activities for early readers, be specific and intentional. Focus on one skill at a time, then proceed to the next. Once your readers have a solid foundation, then you can start putting the house together with bigger chunks of text, such as decodable readers. 

Nonsense words are a great, low-stress activity to encourage students to practice both blending and the alphabetic principle. Many students are more comfortable reading nonsense words because there is no pressure to say a real word – the words are already pretend! They often sound silly too. Try having students read nonsense words in a nonsense (or silly) voice to increase engagement.

Activities for Struggling Readers in First Grade

When choosing activities for struggling readers in first grade, look for activities that target one skill at a time. To teach reading effectively, it’s important to “go slow to go fast”. Moving forward before students have mastered foundational skills can cause gaps in their knowledge later on affecting their ability to read correctly. Learn more about what defines a struggling reader here.

Mastering short vowel sounds is a key task for struggling readers in first grade. Vowels are the basis of all syllables in the English language – and they sound so similar! These activities for early readers provide four weeks of targeted lesson plans for each vowel sound. Students first identify and say the vowel sound in isolation before slowly moving through the word, sentence and story level. 

More Information To Choose Activities for Early Readers

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