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OFFLINE ACTIVITIES FOR BASIC READING SKILLS
OFFLINE ACTIVITIES FOR BASIC READING SKILLS
If you are looking for simple games, strategies, and videos that you can use at home to make a positive impact on phonics, phonemic awareness, fluency, comprehension, or vocabulary check out the Read-At-Home site!
20 Minutes Makes a HUGE Difference!
20 Minutes Makes a HUGE Difference!
Helping to make sure your student is developing reading skills is one of the important things you can do to prepare him or her for the future. By your student reading (independently or with you) for 20 minutes per day and making a few simple activities a part of your daily home routine, you can make a positive impact on your student’s success in school.
Read various texts, like books, poems, letters, news articles, and Internet pages together as a family. You can even take turns reading pages or chapters.
Fiction: Have your student retell what happened, tell their favorite part, and make a connection to the text
Non-Fiction: Have your student tell what they learned, tell the main idea, and tell about the key details they learned.
One School, One Book If your school is doing “One School, One Book” continue reading and discussing the chapters each day.
Questions to Ask
“What surprised you in your book today?”
“How would you change what happened in this story/chapter?”
"What prediction can you make about what might happen next? What evidence do you have to support that?"
READ, LISTEN, & LEARN ONLINE
READ, LISTEN, & LEARN ONLINE
(Y5-5)
Lexia Reading Core5®, is a fun computer-based program that provides differentiated literacy instruction for students of all abilities in grades Y5–5th grade. The activities in Core5 support and build on our classroom curriculum and focus on developing reading skills in six areas: phonological awareness, phonics, structural analysis, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.
Having your student login to their Lexia account at home as a way to work on the basic reading skills that they need. Getting started is easy!
To use on a computer, go to www.lexiacore5.com.
To use on an iPad, iPad mini, or Android* tablet, download the free Lexia Reading Core5 app from the App Store or the Google Play store. *Android support is limited to these devices: Samsung Galaxy Tab S2, Google Pixel C, and Google Nexus 7” (2012 and 2013) and 10”. The app will not work on other devices, including Kindle.
The first time your student uses Core5, you may need to enter his or her teacher's email, along with clicking the "Login with Clever" button.
It is important that your student works without any help while using Core5. All of the work your student does at home is recorded. This way, teachers can see in the future if help is needed and provide additional instruction at school.
Want to learn more? Check out the Lexia Family Support Page.
BOOKS ONLINE
BOOKS ONLINE
It’s not that easy finding children’s books around the house or buying new books every day. Thankfully, there’s a wealth of free kids’ books and articles online you can read to them or share with them to read on a computer, phone or tablet.
(PreK-5)The Library of Michigan provides this complete library of online reference materials on hundreds of subjects to all residents of Michigan. The A to Z list identifies grade level and audience and provides a brief description of each resource. Tutorial videos are available for some resources. Want to jump right to their resources for elementary kids? Head to https://mel.org/kids
(PreK-5)Thanks to the Portage District Library, our students also have access to Tumblebooks via the Digital Library page. Read and listen to some fun digital stories.
(PreK-5)Some PPS teachers have EPIC set up as an option for students. Epic is a platform that gives students instant, unlimited access to more than 35,000, high-quality and popular children’s books, learning videos, teacher-created quizzes, and more.
(3-5)CommonLit is a free collection of fiction and nonfiction for 3rd-12th grade classrooms. Search and filter our collection by lexile, grade, theme, genre, literary device, or common core standard. In addition to these great reading selections on a wide range of genre's and topics, each reading comes with resources like guiding and assessment questions and discussion topics.
(PreK-5) Listen to some favorite stories being read by astronauts while in space at the International Space Station.
(PreK-5) Kids everywhere can instantly stream a select collection of stories, including titles across six different languages, that will help them continue dreaming, learning, and just being kids.
(K-5)The MI Open Book Project was a multi-year initiative funded as part of the Technology Readiness Infrastructure Grant (TRIG) which empowered groups of master teachers to come together, collaborate, and develop a open education resource for use in classrooms around Michigan. They have created social studies textbooks for grades K-12.
PRACTICE READING & WRITING
PRACTICE READING & WRITING
A good foundation in reading and writing is essential for all learning. Thankfully there are numerous resources to practice these skills in fun and engaging ways.
You are the Primary Source of the Future!
We are living in unprecedented times. You can document this moment in history. Create your own Primary Source. Use whatever you have at home to tell your daily story. Create a diary, using either words or drawings. Make phone calls, interview family members you can not visit to see what things are like in other places. Make note of the top news story of the day or document changes in government rules, regulations, and recommendations. If you have access to your Chromebook, create a Google Slide presentation telling your story. Turn your story into a video or graphic novel. The options are limited only to your imagination.
(PreK-5)Students love learning with their favorite robot - Moby. Explore great questions on topics ranging from math to reading, and science to social studies.
- Username: portagepsABC (substitute your school's three letter abbreviation for ABC)
- Password: portageps
(PreK-1)Khan Academy Kids is a free, fun, educational app with thousands of activities and books that will inspire a lifetime of learning and discovery for young children ages 2-7. Download the app on the Apple, Google Play or Amazon app stores, open the app to sign up with a parent email address, and then head to the Home screen to let the joyful learning begin!
(K-5) Inspire creativity and check out Wonderopolis, a place where natural curiosity and imagination lead to exploration and discovery in learners of all ages. Each day, Wonderopolis poses an intriguing question—the Wonder of the Day—and explores it in a variety of ways. One great way to use this resource is to have your child pick a “Wonder” that interests them, read the article, then write a summary about what they learned, including key details. Another option would be to have your child make predictions before reading and then write about how the article was aligned with or differed from his/her prediction.
(K-5)Looking for engaging ways to introduce your child to reading or to encourage your tween to write? Need some age-appropriate book suggestions or activities to do while your child is at home? The materials here are you answer. All of them are created by experts to be fun, educational, and easy to use outside of school.
Writing Ideas for Littles: Journaling and Story Writing
(PreK-K)Even our youngest learners can practice journaling and writing. Have them use pictures to “write” about their day or to tell a story. Then have them tell you about each picture. You can write down what they tell you below the picture. When you are done, read their journal entry or story together. Writing Ideas for Littles: Journaling and Story Writing
Writing Prompts
(1-5)Writing prompts are a great way to light a spark for your student’s creativity. These simple sentence starters or questions will act as a launching point for your child’s writing. Looking for some great writing prompt ideas? Check out the ideas page from WriteAbout.com or try a few prompts from the Story Starter, jr. website.Writing Prompts
Writing Ideas for Littles: Word Hunt
(PreK-K)Another fun activity is to have your child go on a word hunt. Have them take a notebook and pencil and pretend to be a detective “hunting” for words around the house. When they find a word they write it in their notebook. At the end of the activity, have them share their list with you and you can read each word to the child. Feel free to ask them what letters they can identify in the words.Writing Ideas for Littles: Word Hunt
(1-5)Use spelling city to practice vocabulary and spelling lists aligned with your child's grade level or curriculum.Students can login with Google
(PreK-5)Kids love the games and videos courtesy of PBS. They can learn about words, reading, nature, science, and so much more with these great fun, resources.
READ & WRITE...IN ANOTHER LANGUAGE!
READ & WRITE...IN ANOTHER LANGUAGE!
During our time off, many students may want to take this opportunity to learn a new language or practice one they are working on learning. Most fifth grade students in Portage have been learning Spanish this school year and may want to work to keep up their skills. Thankfully there are several great resources out there to support learning languages.
(1-5)Learning with Duolingo is fun way to learn a new language or brush up your skills. Earn points for correct answers, race against the clock, and level up. Lessons are delivered in easy to manage, bite-sized chunks. Learn Spanish, English, French, Italian, German, and many other languages.Available on the web or in the Apple and Android App stores.
(3-5)Conjuguemos a free website that allows students to practice various conjugations in Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Korean, Italian, and Latin. Students can select the verb tense they want to review and there are several types of activities including games for practice.
(PreK-5)Learning to speak Spanish? Check out these free Spanish lessons and children's stories in Spanish (Good for adults too!) The site also includes reviews of Spanish courses if you're ready to get serious. Enjoy!
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