3 Pre-Reading Activities that Get Kindergarteners Moving and Learning

Kindergarten is an exciting and magical time! It allows young children the opportunity to explore and discover the world around them. Kindergarten is also a time for getting our students excited about reading. As children take their first steps into becoming readers, it's important to be intentional about the environment and learning experiences that we provide for them.

I am a full believer in curriculum integration. That also means physical and emotional. When it comes to building academic skills, it is important to think about how we can incorporate activities to help them build social, cognitive, and motor skills.

Here are 3 activities that will help your kindergarteners build pre-reading skills while having tons of FUN.

1. Letter Hunt Obstacle Course:

Set up an indoor (or outdoor) space with various stations. Choose 5-8 target letters that you have taught. Each station will showcase one of the letters. These stations can include hula hoops, cones, jump ropes, and chalk-drawn letters on the ground. Kindergarteners will navigate through the obstacle course. Ask them to say the name of the letter and the sound it makes before completing each challenge. Extend the learning by having students trace over the letter before moving into the next station.

2. Charades:

Ask students to list some of their favorite food and favorite pets. Have them help you draw pictures of the food and the animals they listed on index cards. Play the game by having students take turns picking a card and acting out the food or animal without using any words. The rest of the class try to guess who or what they're acting out. This activity is a great way to practice building connection between text and imagery. This is a crucial skill for developing vocabulary and comprehension.

Here is an illustrated charade game for kindergarteners!

3. Phonics Freeze Dance:

Create a set of cards, one for each letter of the alphabet. You can also differentiate this activity for students that are ready to blend sounds by writing decodable words, such as: cat , dog , fox, etc. Play music and dance around. When the music stops, call out "FREEZE!" and hold up a card. The children must quickly find a partner and together come up with a word that starts with the letter. If you are using the CVC word card, partners work together to think of a word that rhymes with the word in the card.

Early literacy skills are the foundation of children's journey as successful readers. Making the experiences of acquiring these basic skills engaging is key to fostering a lifelong love of reading.

Happy Teaching

TP @Sparking Creativity

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