While the world’s gone digital, there are all kinds of videos of celebrities reading children’s books, at-home learning resources, and ten zillion articles on how to manage remote learning. We know; it’s overwhelming!
Whether you’re trying to keep your remote learners focused at home or you’re a librarian or teacher brainstorming fun, interesting ways to excite kids about reading and writing while remote, we have some literacy-boosting activities for you.
Comic Jarrett Lerner’s Activities Page has cool comics you can finish yourself, cartooning prompts, downloadable instructions on how to draw a shark (among other animals), and a special way to thank your teacher!
National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, Jason Reynolds, gives thought-provoking writing prompts for all ages in two-minute videos that will capture kids’ attentions in his series, Write. Right. Rite. Here’s one on creating an award for yourself. Jason encourages creativity, confidence, and kindness. Plus, it’s a fun way to start the class or day!
Beloved picture book author Eric Carle has a lot of printable activities, including cards to make, fun games, and how to draw a bear using your hand.
Dress Up Like Your Favorite Character Day: Ask each student to dress up like their favorite character and/or a character in a book they’re reading for your next class (in-person or remote). Some may even choose to get fancy and “dress” themselves up with apps and graphics on the screen. Have each student present why they chose that character and what they like about them.
Make Your Own Bookmarks: You can have students make digital or by-hand bookmarks representing a book they’ve read. You can either send them a template to fill in on their device or send home pre-cut 2 x 6 strips of paper on cardstock/heavy paper and encourage them to get creative! They can share their creations with each other and use them while they read.
Book/Character Election: Teach students about the importance of voting by having them cast their ballots for funniest book or bossiest character. Come up with a handful of options for each vote. You could use paper ballots, mail-in ballots, or electronic (sites like SurveyMonkey can help you create a poll).
You can find many more fun literacy ideas here. Like our Facebook page for more resources, articles, and tips.
