4 Activities to Trick Your Students into Loving Reading

If you've ever taught first grade, you know that teaching reading, in particular phonics, takes a huge portion of your time. What you might not know is that there are several easy ways to make phonics practice fun and engaging. In my class we do many different games and activities to practice phonics. Here are 4 activities that are sure to have your students asking for more! All of these activities can be found in my No-prep phonics packs here. 

1. Bingo!

That's right, plain old Bingo! Simply fill a grid with words that contain your phonics pattern from the week. It is a great way to get your students to recognize what the words like and help them to sound out the words. 

2. Memory Matching

Memory matching is a great activity for students on all reading levels. By having to match the words to the pictures, it allows access to even your struggling readers. I often use these games as one of my centers, and it easily keeps my students entertained and on task for the whole time. I print the cards on card stock and put them in ziplock bags so that they can be saved and reused. 

3. Phonics Stories

My students love reading these short little phonics stories that I write. First, I have them go through and highlight any words they see with our phonics pattern. Next, they go back through to read the highlighted words. Finally, they read the whole story and answer 3 short comprehension questions. Who knew highlighters could make reading so engaging?!

4. Phonics Board Games

These "board games" are as simple as it gets. The students simply roll a dice and read the word they land on. If they can't read the word, they go back three spaces. Somehow involving a dice makes everything more fun, and my students beg me to play more of these. Somehow this also makes me "the best teacher ever". Once again, very simple effective in getting them to practice reading.

What about you? How do you get your class to practice phonics?