After months of non-traditional learning, our students may not be too keen on getting back to lessons. With a bit of effort and creativity, though, we can craft lessons our students will love.

The trick is to find a good balance between what will keep students interested while remaining educational. After months of non-traditional learning, many students may struggle to grasp new concepts or find success with previously learned skills. We want to create a pressure-free environment for our students to learn and thrive in as we ease back into a new routine.

There are a few different ways that we can kick off our reading instruction to increase our students’ chance of success. I love to do this with engaging and fun reading intervention activities! 

Warm-Ups

Reading warm-ups are a great way to get your students primed and ready to read. There are different ways you can use reading warm-ups for your class, but they are intended to be a more concrete way for your students to follow along and practice. 

For example, fluency sheets can be used to practice independently during morning tubs, or you can lead the class by calling out a picture and having your students read the corresponding line. Your kiddos are able to get repetitive practice, and you can feel confident knowing they are growing their phonics skill set!

In my classroom I use my Reading Warm-Ups throughout the year. They are so versatile that they can be used to sharpen a variety of reading skills, including phonics sounds, word families, CVC words, and more. They can be used as assessments to monitor students’ individual progress, and there are editable pages for you to create your own! When I was creating the bundle, my goal was to have the needs of both students and teachers in mind!

They are simple for students to understand and can be used as a reward by allowing them to color the pictures on the page when they are done with the warm-up. This allows you to get one-on-one time with one or two students who need more individualized attention. 

And I know that not all districts have the same curriculum when it comes to phonics instruction, so I made sure to include editable pages so you can create what works for you! Each set includes:

• 30 reading warm-ups

• 30 assessment pages + 30 teacher copies

• EDITABLE pages to create your own!

For our distance learners, there is also a paperless option. With the bundle you get 30 digital reading warm-ups including instructions. It’s really a great way to start off your reading lesson and build skills!

Phonics Fluency Mazes

When I’m teaching phonics to my students, the best thing to do is practice, practice, PRACTICE! Three is the lucky number because that is the amount of times that students need to read something to help with fluency. 

I’ve found that combining phonics with a game like a maze has made my students much happier. They get a break from the usual phonics routine, and I know they are still practicing their fluency. It works beautifully for all of us. 

I have a variety of phonics mazes, each one focusing on the sound I’d like my little learners to work on that day. They practice reading each word, color in the letter sounds, and move on to the next word. As they complete each word they can color in the box. There’s also a place to mark each time they go through the maze until they have completed it three times. 

The Phonics Fluency Maze Pack has over 50 sounds for your students to practice. It even has an editable page for you to customize. All you need to do is print and watch your kids shine!

Reading Intervention

Sometimes it can be frustrating when we spend so much time going over sounds with the class just for students to end up not even recognizing these sounds in words! I know I’ve been left bewildered by this and wondering what I was doing wrong. 

All we want is for our kids to be fluent readers, right?

That’s why I created my Reading Intervention resource: to expose my students to words and sentences right from the beginning. 

They’re able to see the connection between sound patterns and their words. Reading becomes more meaningful by having them sound out the words, matching them to the correct picture. When they associate the word with a visual, they are more likely to remember it. 

It’s also for little learners to practice their one-on-one correspondence while reading because it doesn’t always come naturally for some kids. With this resource, they are able to practice by pointing to each word as they read it. 

As a reward, have your students color in the pictures on the page! Don’t forget to have them color in their smiley face to make sure they are getting through the page three times to increase fluency. 

This also comes in a digital version with Google Slides included to use while distance learning!

Download Reading Intervention to get access to 53 sounds for your students to practice.

Stuck on where to start with fluency? 

I have a freebie just for you! 

It’s great for those that are teaching distance learning this year, but it can also be used as printables in the classroom. This packet will help get your little readers fluent in no time. 

To get your free NO PREP Fluency Printables, CLICK HERE.