Decodable Stories for 1st Grade: 5 Must-Do Reading Activities!
Tired of printing off a worksheet, then having your child say, “Mom, I’m done. What do I do now?” [When you thought it would keep them busy for at least long enough for you to catch your breath, or answer another kiddo’s question as a homeschool mom?]
As a classroom teacher, students always had 5 jobs to complete with their decodable stories for 1st grade:
- Highlight focus letter and sound
- Highlight new sight/heart words
- Echo Read-Aloud
- ‘Me or We?’ Partner Reading
- Comprehension Picture
The 1st reading activity I lead children through in decodable stories for 1st grade, is highlighting the new focus letter(s) and sound. Highlight the alphabet letter when you see it in a word. When introducing digraphs in decodable stories for 1st grade, students would highlight both letters that worked together to make ONE SOUND.
The 2nd reading activity I lead children through in decodable stories for 1st grade, is highlighting the new sight/heart word for that lesson. Students used a pink highlighter for these heart words, because pink reminds me them of a heart. Not all words can be sounded out. Some words we need to memorize by sight (or by heart 🩷).
The 3rd reading activity I lead children through in decodable stories for 1st grade is echo reading. I read a sentence. Kids echo. Be sure your child is following along under the word he/she is actually reading. Kids are smart, and can skip this step, easily repeating back to you what you read. DON’T SKIP THIS STEP!!
The 4th reading activity I lead children through in decodable stories for 1st grade is ‘Me or We?’ partner reading. Of course, you’re going to start this partner reading activity with ‘rock-paper-scissors’ to see who goes first! The first child reads a sentence (or whole paragraph). Then the 2nd child reads the next sentence (or paragraph). Child gets ‘stuck’ on a word? Child 2 asks, “Would you like coaching or time?”
Not all kids want help with the word right away. Don’t take away the satisfaction of ‘productive struggle’ to read a word correctly!
The 5th reading activity I lead children through in decodable stories for 1st grade is drawing a comprehension picture. This is a picture that matches the character(s) and what happened in the text.
Next time you print off a decodable story for 1st grade in your phonics curriculum, put your child to work with these 5 reading activities!
Yours in Phonics,
Melanie
