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The activity encourages students to use their fingers as a mnemonic device to remember key story elements: characters, setting, problem, solution, and main events. This hands-on approach helps students develop comprehension and retelling skills. The activity is adaptable for students with and without exceptionalities, providing a structured and engaging method to reinforce story analysis and communication abilities within an inclusive learning environment.

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5 Finger Retell | Teach Your Child to Retell A Story

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Learn more about the 5 Finger Retell, The Simple Technique Your Child Will Love to Do When They Retell a Story, from Home Reading Helper.

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It involves students reading a script based on a book or story, emphasizing expression and dramatic interpretation. This interactive approach enhances reading fluency, comprehension, and oral communication skills. "Reader's Theater" is adaptable for students with and without exceptionalities, promoting engagement and confidence through collaborative reading. By incorporating dramatic elements into the reading process, this strategy creates an inclusive and enjoyable learning environment that nurtures both literacy and expressive abilities.

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Key Information

When To Use This Strategy

Collect resources

Reader's theater lesson plans (with scripts)

Reader's theater scripts

See the research that supports this strategy

Children's books to use with this strategy

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With reader's theater students work together to present an oral reading of a script, typically adapted from literature, plays, or other written texts. Reader's theater is a an engaging activity used to promote reading fluency, especially oral expression.

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It is a valuable resource  that aids in vocabulary awareness by focusing on sight word recognition. By exposing students to high-frequency sight words, providing contextual understanding, enhancing comprehension, improving reading fluency, and serving as building blocks for more complex words, the website contributes to a deeper understanding of vocabulary. This resource supports both students with and without exceptionalities in developing strong vocabulary skills, thus enhancing their overall literacy development.

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Free Resources to Teach Your Child to Read

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Can You Speak Robot is an activity that involves decoding and understanding "robot language" by substituting letters with symbols and using a key to translate messages. This interactive task aims to engage students in a fun and educational exercise that promotes language skills, decoding abilities, and logical thinking. It can be beneficial for both students with and without exceptionalities, offering an enjoyable way to enhance language understanding and critical thinking within an inclusive learning environment.

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In this activity, students are engaged in identifying and matching word parts (rimes) to create new words. The activity involves cutting and pasting to build a "rime house." This resource encourages students, both with and without exceptionalities, to explore and manipulate word sounds, promoting phonological skills in a playful and interactive manner.

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These games benefit students with and without exceptionalities by fostering skills in phonological and phonemic awareness. Educators can tailor the activities to individual needs by incorporating tactile cues, visual aids, and simplified content for students with exceptionalities, while allowing others to engage collaboratively and independently to reinforce their syllable and phonics skills. The resource indirectly supports fluency and decoding by encouraging accurate pronunciation, providing a versatile tool for inclusive and effective literacy instruction.

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Marker activity

This activity, from our article How Now Brown Cow: Phoneme Awareness Activities, is an example of how to teach students to use a marker (i.e., token) to count syllables.

The marker activity often used for word counting can be adapted for use in counting syllables. Teachers can provide each child with tokens and two or three horizontally connected boxes drawn on a sheet of paper. The children place a token in each box from left to right as they hear each syllable in a word.

Multisyllabic manipulation

This example includes several activities and a chart of multisyllabic words. One specific activity from this page is the Multisyllabic Words Manipulation Game. Teachers can divide words from reading selections into syllables, write each syllable on a note card and display the syllables in jumbled order. Have students arrange the syllables to form the words.
Multisyllabic words manipulation ›
Clapping games

Associating syllables with a beat can help students to better learn the concept of syllables within words. Here's a clapping game to help young learners understand about dividing words into syllables.
Basic words clapping game ›
Using mirrors

The following link includes information on introductory activities such as using mirrors for teaching students about syllables. Information is also provided about the different syllable spelling patterns.
Using a mirror to understand syllables ›
Jumping syllables

This activity teaches student to separate words into syllables. Students move syllables around to create new "silly" words which gives them practice manipulating different sounds.
Jumping syllables ›
Find many more syllable activities developed by the Florida Center for Reading Research.

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As students progress in their literacy understanding, they move from reading and writing single syllable words (often with consonant-vowel-consonant constructions) to reading and writing multisyllabic words. Instruction focused on teaching students about syllables often focuses on teaching different types of syllables (open and closed) and what occurs when syllables join together within a word.

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Is an effective tool for developing phonemic awareness by aiding students in segmenting and manipulating sounds within words. By using visual cues like boxes to represent phonemes, students can practice recognizing and isolating individual sounds. This strategy benefits both students with and without exceptionalities, as educators can adapt it to provide additional support such as color-coding or simplified words for those who may need it.

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Blachman, B. A., Ball, E. W., Black, R., & Tangel, D. M. (2000). Road to the code: A phonological awareness program for young children. Baltimore: Brookes.

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. (2000). Report of the National Reading Panel. Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction (NIH Publication No. 00-4769). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

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Elkonin boxes are used to build phonological awareness skills by having children segment spoken words into their individual sounds (phonemes). To use Elkonin boxes, a child listens to a word and moves a token into a box for each sound or phoneme.

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It is designed to help students understand and recognize different syllable types within words. Through a bingo game format, students engage in an enjoyable activity that promotes phonological awareness and syllable segmentation. The resource is suitable for students with and without exceptionalities, offering a flexible approach for differentiation by adjusting the complexity of words or providing additional support materials as needed.

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Games For Learning the Six Syllable Types? Bingo!

It's a universal fact known to all primary teachers - children love playing ! What better way to learn about the six different types of syllables than grabbing a game board and a handful of counters and playing a fun game with a group of classmates?

Play with Open and Closed Syllables and More!

This resource contains 50 unique game boards (or 25 double game boards), making it perfect for whole-class play. The game also contains 18 syllable-type calling cards (three for each syllable type).

1. Pass out a game board and some counters to each student. Each space on the game board has a word broken into syllables. Students need to pay attention to the underlined syllable in each word.

2. Using the calling cards, call out a syllable type. If the teacher calls out the syllable type that is underlined in the word on their game board, students may place a counter over that space. They may only place one counter on the board at a time, even if there are additional examples of that syllable type on their board.

3. Continue calling out syllable types. Once a student covers all of the words on their card, they win the game!

4. Continue as often as needed, or have students switch to a new game board after each round.

Tips for Differentiating Your Phonics Games

This activity has been designed to help your students gain practice in listening for and distinguishing between the six types of . Some students may find this easier to do than others! Should you need to differentiate this activity for the diverse learning needs of your students, here are some suggestions.

For students who require support, scaffolding is the key! Allow students to write down the syllable type of the underlined syllable in each space before the game begins. This will help the students to identify the relevant words as the syllable types are called, allowing the game to continue more quickly.

For students who require an extension, encourage them to create their own bingo game board to use for the game, consisting of their own selection of words. Be sure that they include examples of all six syllable types when choosing their words.

Download the File Format That Best Suits You

Use the dropdown menu next to the Download button to access this resource's PDF, or Google slides version.

We recommend printing this resource on cardstock for increased longevity and durability.

Store the game boards and calling cards together in a large envelope for easy storage.

This resource was created by Lisamarie Del Valle, a teacher in Florida and a Teach Starter collaborator.

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Practice identifying the six syllable types in common words with this fun and engaging bingo game.

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By providing students with opportunities to match letters to corresponding sounds, the activity promotes phonemic awareness and letter recognition. This strategy is versatile and suitable for students with and without exceptionalities, as it allows for differentiation through visual supports, manipulatives, and simplified versions of the activity.

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Matching upper-case and lower-case

Teachers can use the following activity to ask students to help the "Mama animals" (uppercase letters) find their "babies" (lowercase letters). This game includes matching the uppercase mothers with their lowercase babies. See example ›

This link provides a template for a printable "Superhero" upper- and lowercase letter match game. See example ›

This file includes uppercase and lowercase letters in a matching game that parents can use with their child at home. See example ›

This link provides templates for printing cards to use for writing uppercase and lowercase letters. See example ›

Letter formation: using sand, play dough, or flour

This link provides teachers with downloadable mats with the alphabet letters for helping children use play dough for learning letter formation. See example ›

Letter bingo

Bingo is a simple game that children enjoy and can be used to help them learn about the upper- and lowercase letters. This link allows teachers to print the letters and board needed to play letter bingo. See example ›

Letter stamps

Stamps are an excellent "hands-on" activity for helping students learn about the alphabet. The activity described in the link below provides teachers with some creative ideas for making letter stamps out of sponges. Teachers can use sponges and paint in a variety of ways to help children understand the shape and function of upper- and lowercase letters. See example ›

Letter recognition fluency

This online document contains several activities that are helpful for building letter recognition fluency. Teachers can download materials needed and follow the instructions for each activity. There are also some ideas included for extending and adapting each activity to further enhance learning. Some examples are provided below. Download activities ›

Speedy Alphabet Arc: Teachers can download and print a copy of the alphabet "arc" and have students use letters to match the ones on the arc. Parents could use this idea at home with magnetic letters by placing the arc on the refrigerator and have the child match the letters. Using a timer and seeing how quickly the child can match the letters is optional.

Glow Go: This activity includes the use of glow in the dark chalk and black construction paper. Students can work together taking turns using a flashlight and naming the letters.

Hungry Letter Mouse: Teachers can utilize this activity for students to work on letter recognition in pairs using an eraser and dry erase marker. One student can use the eraser to be the mouse and the other student names the letter before the "mouse" eats it (i.e., erases it).

Letter books

Teachers can use the downloadable materials form this website to create letter books in which each page contains one letter. The kids draw or cut pictures from magazines that start with the particular letter and glue them into their "book." See example ›

Downloadable letter and alphabet cards

Flash cards

The link listed below provides teachers with downloadable ESL flashcards. These are free and printable for use within the classroom. There are large sets for use with teaching letters and vocabulary, and smaller sets for language learning games. See example ›

This website provides printable color flashcards that are great for teaching upper- and lowercase letters. These cards are free and use the Zaner Bloser font which is very simplistic - ideal for teaching young children. See example ›

Alphabet cards

The downloadable alphabet cards available from this link have various fonts to choose from, color picture cards to accompany the letters, and creative ideas for activities. See example ›

Race track alphabet

The website below offers teachers the ability to download letters of the alphabet in race-track format. Children can use toy cars to trace around the letters to help learn the formation. See example ›

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Very young learners are developing their understanding of the alphabetic principle - the understanding that there are systematic and predictable relationships between written letters and spoken sounds. Teachers can help students develop this understanding through lots of fun activities that help students explore the alphabet letters and sounds.

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Students are provided with sentences containing words with multiple meanings, and they match these words to their appropriate definitions, resembling scoops of ice cream being placed on cones. This hands-on activity promotes vocabulary development and comprehension of word meanings. It can be effectively differentiated for students with and without exceptionalities by adjusting the complexity of sentences and providing visual cues or scaffolds as needed

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When I was a Speech/Language Pathologist I used to love to teach multiple word meanings. When students understand that a word can have a different meaning depending upon it's use in oral or written language, their comprehension improves. There are a lot ways to help students learn multiple meaning words. The Ice Cream Scoops activity is a fun activity for expanding vocabulary by teaching multiple word meanings. When you download this activity you'll receive 16 ice cream cones containing words with two or more definitions. Students match the definitions to the words. You'll want to be sure to have the students use the words in sentence so that they can clearly demonstrate that they understand the word meaning.

Storing activities can also be a bit challenging. I've included a sticker for you just in case you'd like to store your activity in a baggie.

The Ice Cream Scoops for Multiple Meaning Words can be found in my online Teachers Pay Teachers store or in the Make, Take & Teach website.

Enjoy!

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Multiple Meaning Words- Ice Cream Scoops - Make Take & Teach

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When I was a Speech/Language Pathologist I used to love to teach multiple word meanings. When students understand that a word can have a different meaning depending upon it's use in oral or written language, their comprehension improves. There are a lot ways to help students learn multiple meaning words.

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Comprehension Awareness in the Classroom

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Comprehension Awareness in the Classroom

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By prompting students to visualize the details of a story or text, educators help them connect with the content on a deeper level. This strategy benefits students with and without exceptionalities by fostering sensory connections and improving comprehension. Visual Imagery encourages students to actively engage with the text, making it a valuable tool for promoting vivid and meaningful reading experiences in an inclusive classroom environment.

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Good readers construct mental images as they read a text. By using prior knowledge and background experiences, readers connect the author’s writing with a personal picture. Through guided visualization, students learn how to create mental pictures as they read.

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Comprehension Awareness in the Classroom

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Comprehension Awareness in the Classroom

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Through activities such as story mapping or sequencing pictures, students visualize and grasp the plot structure. This strategy is adaptable for both students with and without exceptionalities, offering flexibility in terms of adjusting the complexity of texts or providing visual aids to support comprehension. "Story Sequence" promotes critical thinking and organizational skills, creating a comprehensive approach to improving reading comprehension in an inclusive classroom setting.

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Sequencing refers to the identification of the components of a story — the beginning, middle, and end — and also to the ability to retell the events within a given text in the order in which they occurred. The ability to sequence events in a text is a key comprehension strategy, especially for narra…

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It involves having a group of students read a text aloud together in unison. This technique enhances fluency, comprehension, and oral reading skills by providing a supportive and cooperative environment. "Choral Reading" is adaptable for students with and without exceptionalities, allowing for differentiation by adjusting the complexity of the text and providing peer support.

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Language Arts

This planning checklist for a choral reading lesson uses the poem "One Sister for Sale" by Shel Silverstein. See example ›

This PDF includes dozens of poems for shared, choral, paired, and echo reading. See example ›

The website below offers teachers several poetry options conducive to the Choral Reading strategy along with some interesting tips on reading and language development. See example ›

The example of choral reading found on this site uses the children's book James and the Giant Peach. See example ›

Science

This lesson plan includes examples of choral reading activities that correspond to introductory science concepts. See example ›

Social Studies

This website includes a script for the choral reading of the children's book Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain. See example ›

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Choral reading is reading aloud in unison with a whole class or group of students. Choral reading helps build students' fluency, self-confidence, and motivation. Because students are reading aloud together, students who may ordinarily feel self-conscious or nervous about reading aloud have built-in support.

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This approach aims to improve reading fluency by providing opportunities for students to practice oral reading in a supportive and interactive setting. Pair reading helps build confidence, enhances expression, and fosters a sense of shared responsibility for reading success. This strategy is beneficial for students with and without exceptionalities as it promotes cooperative learning, individualized support, and increased engagement, contributing to the development of strong reading skills in an inclusive classroom environment.

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Fuchs, D., Fuchs, L., & Burish, P. (2000). Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies: An Evidence-Based Practice to Promote Reading Achievement. Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, 15(2), 85-91.

Koskinen, P. & Blum, I. (1986). Paired repeated reading: A classroom strategy for developing fluent reading. The Reading Teacher, 40(1), 70-75.

Topping, K. (1995). Paired reading, spelling and writing: The handbook for teachers and parents. Continuum International Publishing Group.

Strickland, D. S., Ganske, K., & Monroe, J. K. (2002). Supporting struggling readers and writers: Strategies for classroom intervention 3-6. Portland, ME: Stenhouse.

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Paired reading is a research-based fluency strategy used with readers who lack fluency. In this strategy, students read aloud to each other. When using partners, more fluent readers can be paired with less fluent readers, or children who read at the same level can be paired to reread a story they have already read.

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This visual tool supports vocabulary development, sight word recognition, and spelling skills. It is adaptable for both students with and without exceptionalities, allowing educators to customize word walls by incorporating visuals, color coding, or providing additional cues for students who may need extra support. "Word Walls" create an inclusive learning environment where students can engage with words, enhancing their language skills and overall literacy comprehension.

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A word wall is a visible display in a classroom that features a collection of words students are studying. Word walls can focus on high-frequency words, word study examples, academic language, and words that are introduced in the content areas. They can be used to support phonics, spelling, vocabulary, comprehension, and writing.