As a teacher, it’s always so frustrating when our students struggle. I’m one of those teachers that doesn’t stop until I find something that works for each kid. I wanted to share with you five ways to teach your students to read even when everyone else says they can’t. Reading is such an important life long skill. Some kids do not have a natural love for reading, so I’ve used these five ways to help students learn to read to show them how FUN reading can be!!
#1. Assess Your Students Reading Ability
The first step to teaching your students how to read is to assess them. We have to know where our students gaps are in order to offer them individualized and detailed reading instruction. Assessments are imperative when deciding what skills should be taught. Assessments help teachers determine the pace of their lessons as well. If students have mastered a skill, do we need to spend five weeks on it?
#2 Practice Foundational Skills
One of the five ways to teach your students to read is to practice foundational phonemic awareness and phonics skills. Students need to learn their letters and sounds as well as how to decode the words they read. Teaching students their letters and sounds is the first step. Once they have mastered that, move on to the decoding portion of teaching your students to read.
#3. Provide Hands On Learning
Students are going home these days and playing on iPads and other gaming systems. We have to try and keep up with this mindset as educators. Providing students with the opportunity to practice phonics skills in a hands on way is crucial. Adding dice or other manipulatives can be so engaging!
The POP! Reading games are also SO much fun!
These little alligators are a HUGE hit with PreK and Kindergarten students! They teach students upper and lowercase letters and provide a hands on way to teach reading skills. I created a whole list of items that might help your students at school or home. You can see the list HERE. These ideas will help your little ones LOVE to read!
The activities don’t have to all be from Amazon though. You can use easy prep CLIP IT Cards. These vowel teams clip it cards are so easy and effective for kids. Giving them a clothes pin really allows them to practice fine motor skills. I don’t want to drown in cutting, laminating and REPEAT process so I keep things really simple. A few cuts and on page laminating sheets are AMAZING.
These long vowel reading games are so fun and engaging. I’ve made them so that you just print and play! We add bingo chips to the games to spruce them up.
#4. Read To Your Students Every Single Day
Reading to your students, no matter how old they are, is always beneficially. Children need to hear what a good reader sounds like. Parents and teachers can model for students how to read by reading to them each and every day. Read Alouds are my FAVORITE time of the school day! It’s not just a parents job to read to students though. As teachers, we should be reading to elementary students as often as possible.
It’s hard to know what your students will WANT to read, so let’s chat about that in our group. We can share ideas of what books your students want to read. It’s a free and easy place to come to discuss ALL THINGS TEACHING!
#5. Build Fluency to Teach Your Students to Read
To help your students learn to read, you should spend time practicing fluency with them. Reading fluency is the ability to read with speed, accuracy, and proper expression. Fluency is one of the five components of reading and it really is the bridge between word recognition and comprehension. Teachers should be reading aloud each and every day to students to improve fluency. I blogged about fluency tips not too long ago, so in case you missed it, check it out. Here’s a list of other fluency strategies: repeated readings, paired reading, choral reading, fast reads, shared reading, readers theater and partner plays. The best practice for fluency is just reading. Allow your students to find books that they WANT to read will help leaps and bounds. I have a huge heart for cultivating a love for reading as most teachers do.
If your students are struggling with finding this, I wrote about how I create a love for reading in my classroom. As a mom, I’ve seen this first hand. One of my boys naturally loves to read, the other would rather have you step on his toe than read. I really had to work to find content that he enjoyed. If you find yourselves being able to relate, I’d love to hear what series helps your reluctant readers.
Kristen over at A Teeny Tiny Teacher has some WONDERFUL reader’s theater plays!
I’ve used her activities before and my students always really enjoy them. PLUS, I always see a TON of growth! I hope these five ways to teach your students to read were helpful!
Thanks for stopping by today! Have a great week!
<3,
Ashley
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