Literacy Activities
Classroom activities for promoting literacy
Vocabulary
Title: Flyers
Objective: Students will be able to use new vocabulary words in the correct context.
Materials: Construction paper, Scissors, Glue, and Markers
Instructions:
1. Students will get into groups of 2-3.
2. The teacher will instruct that the students must use three of the new vocabulary words to make a flyer for a fictitious event of their choosing.
a. Some options are BBQ, Wedding Announcement, Talent Show, Garage Sale, etc.
3. Students will make a creative flyer effectively using three of the vocabulary words taught that week correctly.
4. Students will circle all vocabulary words.
5. The flyers will be hung up in the classroom or on a bulletin board to showcase student work.
Extension: Groups that are quick to finish can either make another flyer using three different vocabulary terms or they can add more vocabulary words to their existing flyer.
Basic Sentence Structure
Title: Writing a Letter
Objective: Students will be able to correctly use capital letters, indentions, commas, periods, question marks, and exclamation points.
Materials: Notebook paper, pencils, unlined paper, pens, and envelopes.
Instructions:
1. The teacher will instruct that all students will be writing letters. These letters will be taken home in their “Take Home Folders.”
2. In these letters, the students will talk about a place that they have been and their experience there.
a. Students must include one comma, one period, one question mark, and one exclamation point.
3. Students will then take out a sheet of notebook paper and a pencil and begin to draft a letter using correct grammar.
4. The teacher will then ask all the students if they used capital letters when they were supposed to. Then ask if the students remembered to indent at the beginning of all the new paragraphs they wrote. Then the teacher will ask if they used punctuation correctly. (Instead of proofreading every students – if time permits however, proofread every one.)
5. The teacher will then hand out the unlined paper and pens. Students will copy their rough copy onto the fancy paper.
6. After the students are finished writing, envelopes will be handed out to put the letters in.
7. Students will take the letters home to their parents.
Extension: For students who finish quickly and have good grammar skills, have the proofread a few of their peers rough draft letters. Students can also write an actual letter to someone they know if they finish early.
Patterns within Words
Title: Patterned Words
Objective: Students will recognize patterns between similar words and be able to use those patterns in deductive spelling.
Materials: List of words for the teacher to reference, notebook paper, and pencils.
Instructions:
1. Students will be paired in groups of two.
2. Each group will receive 1 word from the list below.
a. Hit, sat, pet, duck, ball, bank, cap, draw, bell, and best.
b. These words obviously vary in difficulty of finding words that follow the ending pattern. Harder ones such as bank, duck, and best should be given to more advanced groups or groups who can, by working together, find the word pattern.
3. The groups of students will come up with as many words as possible that “follow the pattern” of the word they were given.
a. For example: Hit = lit, sit, it, kit, wit, fit, bit, quit, pit
4. After two minutes each group will share with another group the word they originated with and then the words they came up with.
5. After presenting to each other, all of the groups of two will describe to the whole class their words they found and how they found them.
Extension: For advanced students or students that finish early, have their group work on another one of the words listed above.
Comprehension - Graphic Organizers
Title: Map It!
Objective: Students will be able to use a word web to map the characteristics of the main character and the events that happen to them.
Materials: Storybook of your choosing, blank paper for each student, and pencils.
Instructions:
1. Pre-Teaching -> Teach students what a bubble or word map is and how it is useful.
2. Read a storybook to your class. Depending on the average level of the class the storybook can range from “The Three Little Pigs” to “The Sword in the Stone.”
3. Then identify with your class who the main character is.
4. Hand out blank sheets of paper to all the students.
5. Instruct the students to put the main character’s name in a bubble in the middle.
6. Now students will bubble the rest of the word map with characteristics of that person and events that happened to or involving them.
7. Have students share in small groups what they came up with to describe the character and what events they chose to write down and why.
Extensions: For students who finish early, have them start on a word web that describes another character in the story. More advanced students can create a timeline of events for the story or show the patterns of cause and effect.
Character Evaluation in Realistic Fiction
Title: Main Character Evaluation
Objective: Students will be able to use descriptive words to tell about the main character of a historical fiction book.
Materials: Construction Paper, Glue, Markers, and Scissors
Instructions:
1. Students will use construction paper to make a two-dimensional bust of the main character in the historical fiction book.
2. Students will then write 10 descriptive words on the bust to detail what that character did in the book.
3. For higher level grades students can write 5 sentences using 10 descriptive words.
Extension: Students can also make busts of other characters in the book. They can also use this same activity for people they see every day.