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Students will be able to recognize and read simple sight words. They will also be able to retell basic story elements such as characters, setting, and main events in a story.

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30 Meaningful Vocabulary Activities for Every Grade

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Learning new words is like adding to your writing toolbox.

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21 Reading Fluency Activities Your Students Will Love!

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These 21 hands on and engaging reading fluency activities will help your students become better readers while still having fun!

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Reading comprehension games and activities

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Reading comprehension games engage students and reinforce skills. Learn why these comprehension games are great for indoor recess and learning stations.

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Phonics concepts GO FISH Games bundle aligned with the Science of Reading and Orton-Gillnigham Based. Great addition to your lessons! By purchasing this bundle, you will receive all of the phonics Go Fish games available in my TpT Store! All Go Fish! Phonics Games are sold individually from $2-$5 do

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Go Fish is a great print and go activity for early finishers, tutorial sessions, partner word work, and/or literacy centers. Just print on card stock (laminate optional), cut, and go! Your feedback is greatly appreciated! You can find other phonics go fish! activities at TpT store, Special Insp...

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8 Easy Phonemic Awareness Activities - Begin Learning

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Phonemic awareness activities help kids develop an essential core reading skill. Get 8 easy ones from Begin's early learning experts!

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Phonemic Awareness Activities - Word Lists Freebie

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Teach Phonemic and Phonological Awareness skills anytime and anywhere with these word lists. This set of phonemic awareness word lists includes a sample of word lists from the entire product.This is your opportunity to try before you buy.This sample includes word lists for:❤️Rhyming❤️Phoneme Blending❤️...

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How to Enhance Your Kid’s Vocabulary: Tips and Strategies - Hands of The Carpenter

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Looking for tips for expanding kids’ vocabulary? Check out our article on how to enhance your kid’s vocabulary with practical strategies and exercises

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Are you required to teach a list of vocabulary words each week? Vocabulary words are a very important piece of teaching students to read. Learning and mastering essential vocabulary words can be achieved through vocabulary graphic organizers, vocabulary templates, no-prep vocabulary worksheets, vocabulary games, and a vocabulary display for your classroom wall!

Before we jump into the activities, if you prefer to see some of these activities in action, check out the video below!

Vocabulary Words of the Week in Journals

At the beginning of the week, we take two days to introduce all of our new vocabulary words for the week. When the words are introduced the teacher shows the word and a picture to match the word. The students take turns guessing what the word means. Finally the teacher reads the definition with the students. The students help the teacher determine an action that will represent the vocabulary word. This is a very important piece because research shows that when kinesthetics are included into learning, students are better able to retain the new information. All week this action is paired with the word whenever it is read or said. The students then write the word and definition onto their Words of the Week sheet and place it into the vocabulary journal for future reference.

Vocabulary Journals

Vocabulary journals should be a staple in every classroom. Vocabulary journals can take the form of a stapled packet, coil binded book, or hole punched binder. The purpose of a vocabulary journal is to have a place for students to keep all of their vocabulary practice and a place for them to look back and reference past vocabulary words. I love adding the vocabulary journals the parent teacher conference portfolios. I also love to have students bring their vocabulary journals back to the reading table during reading groups to reference or add information.

Free Editable Word Cards

Every week we put our new vocabulary words on cards. These cards are used all week for a variety of games and activities. At the end of the week, the students take the cards home to practice and keep. Download a free copy of the editable vocabulary cards here.

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Vocabulary Headbandz

Vocabulary Headbandz is a fun game that students love. Simply print off your vocabulary words onto these free editable vocabulary cards. Each student attaches a vocabulary word card to their headband. The youngest participant takes the first turn. Then play passes to the left. When it's your turn, just flip over the timer and ask each of the players a question that will help you figure out what the picture is on your head. Once you've asked each player a question, simply begin another round and then another. If you guess the vocabulary word before the timer runs out, simply take another card and put it behind your headband. Continue to ask questions until the timer runs out. For each vocabulary word that is guessed correctly, you get a point. The player with the most points at the end of the game is the winner.

Teacher Tip:
If you don't own the Headbandz game, the headbands could be made from sentence strips and binder clips.

Memory/Concentration

Memory (also known as Concentration) can be played two different ways. Students can have two stack of vocabulary words and take turns turning over two cards in an effort to get a match. Each time a card is turned, the student turning the card has to read the word aloud and use it in a sentence. If the student gets a match, he/she can keep the match and go again. If the student does not get a match, the next player takes a turn. Another variation of the game would be to have one copy of cards have the vocabulary words printed on them. The other set of cards has the definitions printed on them.

Vocabulary Display
Teacher Tip: Use two different colors of paper when printing the cards. Also, choose a dark color or make copies on card stock paper so the answers don't show through the back side of the card.
Vocabulary displays can be a powerful instructional tool. Complete the vocabulary posters with the students. Provide the students with their own vocabulary mini-posters to complete with the teacher. If you have more than one word per day, make multiple copies of each word and display them all. Leave this information up on the wall all week and at the end of the week, the expo marker can be wiped off with Lysol wipes or a Mr. Clean magic eraser.

Vocabulary Bingo

After the class has learned at least twenty-five different vocabulary words, bingo is a great option that students love to play that will provide a great opportunity to review. Students simply write a vocabulary word in each space of their bingo card. The teacher provides the definition of one of the words and the student finds the vocabulary word and covers it with a bingo chip. The first student to get 5 in a row, 4 corners, or black out wins the game.

Roll a Word

Students need a vocabulary word list or stack of word cards. This activity should be played with partners or small groups. Students take turns choosing a card/word. Then student rolls a dice and follows the prompt on the Roll a Word sheet. Other players determine if the answer is correct. Players take turns until the teacher decides that the time is up.

Vocab Short Stories

Writing stories is the ultimate determination of whether or not a student truly understands the meaning of his/her vocabulary words. The teacher writes the vocabulary words that he/she would like the students to use when writing their short stories before making copies. Students need to use all the vocabulary words in context all while forming a short story. This activity comes with templates for 8 words, 10 words, or 12 words as well as with or without space for drawing a picture to match the story.

Parts of Speech

Nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs are an important piece of students learning grammar so why not combine them with vocabulary word practice? Students read the words at the top of their sheet and then sort them into the proper grammar categories. This worksheet is available in 8 words, 10 words, or 12 words templates.

Draw a Word

Drawing detailed pictures of a word's meaning is another powerful tool to help students learn, understand, and retain a new vocabulary word. The teacher can choose the six words prior to making copies or the student can choose the six trickiest words.

Picture This

Give each student a vocabulary card with a number. Write the numbers from 1-25 (or however many students you have in your class). Once students get their card, instruct them not to show anyone their card. Provide the students some time to draw the vocabulary word with as many details as possible. The student needs to also include their card number in the corner of their drawing. Write the list of vocabulary words on the board and give each student a recording sheet. Students walk around the classroom and look at each picture. Then they write the vocabulary word answer in the correct box of their recording sheet. Another variation for teachers who want more structure would be to have students sit at their desk while students take turns coming to the front of the class one a a time to explain their picture to the class. Students who are sitting at their desks would need to determine the word that the picture is showing and write the answer on their recording sheet.

Act it Out

Act it Out is similar to Picture This except instead of drawings, the students would use actions. The actions are performed as a group or one at a time in front of the class for the others to guess the vocabulary word and write it on the recording sheet.

Vocabulary Word Mini Posters

Earlier in this post I explained vocabulary displays. When the teacher is completing the vocabulary posters with the students, the students can complete the mini posters and put them in the vocabulary journals. This is a great option to keep the students engaged and actively participating.

Vocabulary Dice

Vocabulary dice can be used with any list of vocabulary words. Give each student a list or stack of vocabulary words. Students can do this activity independently or with a partner. Once a word is chosen, the student rolls the dice and follows the prompt on the dice. Answers can be provided verbally or written on a piece of paper or marker board.

Vocabulary Sentences

Students choose five of the trickiest words from the vocabulary word list. Then the student writes a sentence that shows the meaning of the word in context within the sentence. Students can also color the vocabulary word within the sentence.

What's included in this 56-page vocabulary pack:

Vocabulary Journal

My 5-Day Vocabulary Routine

Words of the Week

Vocabulary Words Worksheet

Vocabulary Mini Posters

Roll a Word

Vocabulary Dice

Vocabulary Bingo

Vocabulary Short Stories

Draw a Word

Parts of Speech

Vocabulary Sentences

Act it Out

Picture This

Editable Word cards

Editable Grammar Flip Flaps

Vocabulary Posters with Display

Detailed Explanation with Pictures for each Activity

Click here to purchase the entire Vocabulary Pack resource.

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Are you required to teach a list of vocabulary words each week? Vocabulary words are a very important piece of teaching students to read. Learning and mastering essential vocabulary words can be achieved through vocabulary graphic organizers, vocabulary templates, no-prep vocabulary worksheets, vocabulary games, and a vocabulary display for your classroom wall!

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Fluency: Activities for Your First Grader

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Reading fluency is a child’s ability to read a book or other text accurately, with reasonable speed, and with appropriate expression. A fluent reader doesn’t have to stop and “decode” each word and can focus attention on what the story or text means. Fluency is the bridge between decoding words and understanding what has been read!

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Fluency is the ability to read accurately with reasonable speed and expression while understanding what is read.

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ParentPowered - Evidence-Based Family Engagement

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Literacy programs aligned to the science of reading include focus areas such as vocabulary development, phonological awareness, phonics, and fluency. This article highlights how educators can help families support students to build skills in one of those areas, reading comprehension.
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe.

Can you read this excerpt of poetry? If you're like most people who encounter Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky, you have little trouble reading it out loud, but you can't form a mental picture of what's being described. Even Alice, the character who reads the poem as it appears in Through the Looking Glass (1871), says "It seems very pretty...but it's rather hard to understand."

Reading comprehension is the difference between true understanding and pronounceable nonsense.

Achieving reading comprehension feels effortless to experienced readers in most cases (with the exception of whimsical 19th-century poetry), but it's actually a complex, active process of constructing meaning.

Parents are well-positioned to build these early reading skills of language and reading comprehension on a daily basis. Almost every interaction a parent has with a child has the potential to be a language- and story-rich interaction and build an array of skills that children need to become proficient readers. Supporting language and literacy does not take lots of resources, and it can be lots of fun with the practice activity ideas that we'll share.

First, we'll explain what parents and caregivers can do in the years before school to foster the foundational skills that lead to essential reading skills later on.

Next, we'll cover six effective reading comprehension strategies that all levels of readers can use. For each strategy, we'll also share a sample family-facing message from the ParentPowered family engagement program. These messages provide simple and fun tips on how parents can help their children learn comprehension strategies and become proficient readers.

Supporting reading readiness

Build oral language skills

Children begin building foundational skills that support reading comprehension from birth. As adults who read text nearly as effortlessly as we listen to spoken language, it's easy to forget that oral language comprehension precedes reading comprehension. That is, most effective readers were first effective listeners and speakers, at least mastering the basic phonology skills of at least one language. The written word is actually an artificial format to capture the natural phenomenon of language.

Because textual language is derivative of spoken language, the ability to comprehend what we're reading relies not only on decoding the words and structures we see but also knowing what these mean from our early experiences with oral language. Not all children get the same amount or richness of exposure to oral language in the infant and toddler years ( Hart & Risley, 1995), and this has consequences for reading and general cognitive abilities later on.

Here are some ways parents of young children can leverage everyday moments to build language skills on an ongoing basis, long before they begin the reading process.
Ask questions and have conversations
FACT: The more children talk, the more ready they are to read and write. Children get excited to talk about their favorite things and experiences.

TIP: During playtime, ask your child to tell you about the toy they're playing with. Ask, "What are you playing with? What does it do? That's so cool!"

GROWTH: Keep talking. You're preparing 4K! Let your child choose an activity. Ask, "What do you want to play today? How do we play?" Have fun playing together!
Narrating Actions
The more language children hear, the better! And when they hear the word "spoon" while a parent is using the spoon, it's easier for them to connect the form to the meaning of the word. Narrating actions is a simple way to use language in context for the benefit of your child.

FACT: When you describe the things that you see and do, you're helping your baby develop early vocabulary and language skills. Describe things early and often!

TIP: As you prepare a meal, describe your actions. Say, "I'm stirring the soup. The spoon goes around and around in the bowl. Now I'm adding pepper!"

GROWTH: Keep describing what you see and do. Try describing your baby's movements during tummy time. Say, "You're lifting your head to look at me. Hi baby!"
Build vocabulary
FACT: Words open up a world of learning. They help children learn about the world around them. They also help kids and communicate with friends and adults.

TIP: At bedtime, introduce new words by saying good night to things in your child's room. Try, "Good night pillow, good night blanket, good night light bulb."

GROWTH: Keep naming objects to prepare 4K! Add descriptive words as you say a silly good morning to things in your child's room: "Good morning SHAGGY carpet!"

Build print awareness and love of books

An important part of the literacy process is learning how books work and discovering the joy that both books and stories can bring us. Here are some practice activity ideas for parents who want to teach their children key ideas they'll need for future independent reading.
Make book-reading a participatory activity
You don't need story maps or graphic organizers to engage in active reading. Whether the child is eight years old or in eigth grade, you can't go wrong by asking them questions about the story.

FACT: The more children are involved in a book the more they'll understand. Talking about what's happening and what might happen next really gets kids involved!

TIP: Stop at the end of each page when reading a familiar bedtime story together. Ask, "What do you think will happen next? Why?" Try the same with a new book.

GROWTH: Keep guessing what comes next! You're preparing your child 4K. Read a rhyming book together. Leave off the last rhyme. Can your child guess what comes next?
Use illustrations
The illustrations in a picture book are a helpful resource for understanding the story. And when caregivers draw the child's attention to the illustrations, they're showing her that just like in spoken language, what you hear connects to what you see.

FACT: Looking closely at illustrations helps children understand books. You can build this skill by looking at the pictures before you read the words.

TIP: At bedtime, look at the cover of a book with your child and ask them to describe what they see. Then ask, "What do you think the story will be about?"

GROWTH: Keep looking at pictures to prepare your child 4K. Turn to the first illustration and ask, "What do think the characters are thinking? Feeling? Doing?"
Bring the story to life
Acting out fun, action-packed stories is not only a fun exercise for children; it also encourages making an inference from context clues.

FACT: Acting out stories is a wonderful way to bring books to life. It also helps kids deepen their understanding of the story and build key literacy skills.

TIP: After you finish a book, act out your favorite part of the story. You and your child can choose to be your favorite characters and do what they did!

GROWTH: Keep acting out books. You're getting ready 4K! Now try acting out the whole story. Take turns turning the pages and acting out what you see!
Practice basic book handling
FACT: New readers learn we read from left to right, top to bottom, and front to back. Your child learns this by following along as you read together.

TIP: Snuggle up during reading time. Place your child's hand in yours and point together at each word as you read it. Can they point to words without your help?

GROWTH: Keep exploring books together! Now ask your child to hold the book, and point to where you start reading. Ask them to help by turning pages.

Six key reading comprehension strategies

Now that we've discussed the early language and literacy skills that allow children to become readers, we can talk about the strategies readers use to make meaning of what they read. These comprehension strategies work for any kind of text and any age student. Even experienced adult readers use these strategies, often without realizing it! But there's a first time for everything, and young readers can benefit from explicit instruction in these strategies.

1. Activating background knowledge

Successful readers make connections between ideas in the text and their own prior knowledge and personal experiences. Activating background knowledge helps all students with comprehension, and it's especially important for students who are English learners. When a student who is learning English encounters a word they don't know, there are two different possibilities for what's happening.

In the first case, a teacher or parent can use the word for "sleet" in the home language to activate the student's background knowledge of this phenomenon. English learner students often just need help mapping existing key concepts to the new words they encounter in English. Just because they don't know the words for it in English doesn't mean they don't have conceptual knowledge about a topic.

In the second case, the student could benefit from a quick explanation of sleet, preferably with a video or other visual aid. This direct instruction promotes equity in education by ensuring that individual students have what they need to access the learning.

Sometimes, just asking students questions that lead them to remember familiar stories or their own experience is an effective intervention strategy.

FACT: Understanding others' emotions is a big first step in learning how to make and play with friends. You can help your child notice how others are feeling.

TIP: As you read bedtime books, pause when a character is feeling sad or scared. Ask, "How are they feeling? How can you tell? Have you ever felt that way?"

GROWTH: Keep talking about how others feel! Now when you read about a character who feels sad or scared, ask: "What would you do to help them feel better?"

2. Predicting

Predicting is powerful! In this reading comprehension strategy, students use what they have understood from the story so far to guess what might happen next. When students anticipate the future of a story, they lean on prior knowledge, contextual clues, and understanding of story elements and genre. These informed guesses can be about the plot, character development, and outcomes.

Predicting encourages students to make inferences and activate background knowledge. For example, if I'm reading E.B. White's Charlotte's Web, once I learn that Charlotte has woven a special message in her web to try to save Wilbur, I might predict that this will catch people's attention and make them think differently about farm animals.

Another way predicting helps with reading comprehension is by giving the reader a more personal stake in what happens in the story. When you have an expectation for how something will go, you're more eager to find out the result. It's fun to find out whether your prediction is correct! I'm not likely to put down Charlotte's Web until I find out whether Homer Zuckerman changes his mind about Wilber's fate based on the extraordinary workings of the animals in the barn.

FACT: In school, kids begin reading longer books with more details. Making sure they understand what they read is key to helping them thrive.

TIP: At bedtime, check in with your child. Ask, "What are you reading?" Then try, "Tell me about the story so far." Ask, "What do you think will happen next?"

GROWTH: Keep checking for understanding. Now ask your child to read a page or two of their book to you. Ask, "What did you find interesting about that part?"

3. Monitoring comprehension

Have you ever finished a page of a book and realized you have no idea what you just read? You probably decided to re-read the paragraph until you processed and understood it. That process of noticing and taking action is called comprehension monitoring. It's a super important strategy for understanding what you read.

Because comprehension monitoring involves assessing and evaluating your own understanding, it is an example of metacognitive skills (thinking about your own thinking).

By engaging in comprehension monitoring, readers take an active role in their own learning process, becoming aware of any potential gaps or areas of confusion. Parents can foster this skill by modeling it themselves. They can think aloud while reading and ask students questions that encourage self-reflection and self-assessment.

Readers who use comprehension monitoring are better able to follow a story and navigate complex texts with confidence.

FACT: At this age, kids start to really notice ways they learn best and strategies that work for them. Talking about these discoveries builds study skills.

TIP: After your child finishes an assignment, ask about it. Try, "What went well? What are some of the strategies you used to do this or figure this out? Did you make an outline? Take notes?"

GROWTH: Keep asking about your child's assignments. After finding out what went well, try, "Was anything challenging? Anything you'd do differently next time?"

4. Asking questions

In school, kids are always being asked questions about what they're reading. At home, caregivers can turn the tables and invite kids to come up with their own questions.

One way families can support this strategy at home is to model the process of asking thoughtful questions about the book. This creates an open and inquisitive atmosphere around book-reading. It also shows that reading is an active conversation with the author and the ideas.

Types of questions adults can model and children can ask about the text:

Clarifying question-e.g. What is a runt?

Connecting question-e.g. What do Charlotte and Fern Arable have in common?

Inferential question-e.g. Why does Fern want her aunt and uncle to buy Wilbur?

A little curiosity goes a long way in promoting reading comprehension, especially with scaffolding from a grown-up reading partner.

FACT: Asking your child WHO, WHAT, WHY, and WHERE questions during story time helps them understand books and become a better writer, too.

TIP: As you read a story, ask questions. Point to a picture and say, "WHO is this? WHAT are they doing? WHY are they doing it? WHAT will happen next?"

GROWTH: Now after a story, ask a HOW question to get your child really thinking! Say, "HOW would this story be different if it were in outer space?"

5. Retelling

When children retell a story, they process what happened and put it in their own words. Parents can encourage this strategy by asking their child to retell the main events, characters, and key details of the story.

By asking open-ended questions such as "What happened in the story?" or "Who were the main characters?" adults help children organize their knowledge about the story.

If the child is struggling to remember what happened, no problem! Just go back into the text to find the answers. Looking at the pictures helps too!

Parents can also take turns retelling parts of the story themselves. Modeling the strategy shows kids what to do.

FACT: In school, kids retell stories. They write about them, talk about them, and act them out. When kids retell stories, it shows they understand stories.

TIP: When your child gets home from school ask, "What book did your teacher read today? What happened in the story? What was your favorite part?"

GROWTH: Keep retelling stories! Now retell a story that YOU loved as a child. Make sure to include lots of details about the setting and characters.

6. Embracing storytelling in all its forms

When it comes to childhood learning, all roads lead to play, and reading is no exception. Acting out the story with character voices is an awesome reading comprehension strategy that brings the book to life and makes reading a blast.

FACT: When you give book characters different voices, you help your child learn that each character is different. This helps your child understand stories.

TIP: When reading a book to your child, give each character a different voice. Try high and low voices. Each time the characters speak, use the special voices.

GROWTH: Keep giving characters different voices. Your child can try as they read to you! Ask your child to show you what each character sounds like.

Reading comprehension helps students thrive

Reading comprehension is essential for success in school and life. Parents and educators both want kids to become skilled readers who can inform and entertain themselves with a wide range of texts. Fortunately, there's a lot parents can do to build the foundational skills for reading and support comprehension on an ongoing basis as children advance through increasingly complex texts.

For experienced readers, comprehension is the jumping off point for an even more exciting part of the literacy process - exercising critical thinking skills. The level of understanding that is required to analyze a text critically may be higher than the level needed to answer multiple choice questions. But underneath all levels of readers are the foundational skills of comprehension that parents can help develop one simple activity, one conversation, one story at a time.

About the author
Curran Mahowald is a former high school language teacher turned education research advocate. In addition to having worked at ParentPowered, she has also designed parent-facing informational materials at Oakland Unified School District and currently works on improving national research-to-practice infrastructure at the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University. Curran holds an M.A. in Cognitive Science in Education from Teachers College, Columbia University and B.A.s in Linguistics and French from the University of Southern California.

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6 Effective Reading Comprehension Strategies for Families

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These reading comprehension strategies boost student literacy at home and ParentPowered' everyday learning moments bring them right to families.