As a 1st grade teacher, you know that one of the most important things you can do for your students is to help them develop strong reading comprehension skills. But finding the right activities to practice these skills can be a challenge because, more often than not, your students just don’t want to do the same old boring worksheets.
That’s why we’ve put together a list of 11 fun and engaging activities that your first graders are sure to love. From interactive stories to puzzles and games, your students will get the extra practice they need while still having a blast. Let’s get started!
1. Five Finger Retell
One of the most essential comprehension skills is being able to retell a story in your own words. A five-finger retell is a fun and interactive way for your students to practice this skill.
After reading a story together, have each student put one hand up and start counting off on their fingers as they retell the story to you.
Each finger represents a different story element, such as the setting, characters, events, problems, and solutions. As they get to the story end, they should have used all five of their fingers.
2. Make Predictions
Making predictions is a super important reading comprehension skill, and it’s one that can be a lot of fun to practice.
As you read aloud a story with your students, stop periodically and ask them to predict what will happen next. You can also have them make predictions about character motivation and feelings. Encouraging your students to justify their predictions is a great way to get them thinking deeply about the story.
Then, after reading the story, see if their predictions were correct.
3. Retell Using LEGO Bricks
This is a fun activity for students who love LEGO bricks, and probably, all kids do!
After reading a story or descriptive passage together, have first-grade students build a scene from the story using LEGO bricks. They can include as many or as few details as they want.
As they’re building, encourage them to retell the story to you. This is a great way for them to practice both their retelling and prediction skills.
4. Puppet Retell
Puppets are always a hit with kids, so why not use them to help elevate children’s reading skills?
You could play around with this activity in a few different ways. One option is to have one student be the narrator and another use puppets to act out the story for the other students. Another option is to give each student a puppet and have them take turns retelling part of the story.
This is among the reading strategies that’ll get your students engaged and excited about reading comprehension.
5. Sight Word Practice
Sight words are an important part of reading, so it’s essential that your students know them to become active readers with a lot of vocabulary knowledge. But practicing them doesn’t have to be boring!
One way to make it more fun is to turn it into a game. For example, you could hide the words around the room and have your students go on a scavenger hunt. Or you could make a giant word search on the floor with masking tape. Cute story sticks are also always an option. There are lots of possibilities!
6. Active Reading
Active reading is where you discuss the happenings of a text as you’re reading it. This is a great first-grade reading comprehension activity to get your students engaged and thinking critically about what they’re reading.
As you read aloud, stop periodically and ask your students questions. For instance, you could ask them to predict what will happen next, make connections to their own life, or explain what they think a character is feeling.
By encouraging your students to think actively about the text, you’ll help them develop a deeper understanding of it and, in doing so, improve their reading comprehension skills.
7. Simple Signal Words
For early readers or young learners with no background knowledge, like first-grade students, using signal words can be a helpful yet simple strategy to build comprehension skills during read alouds.
The main signal words are “who”, “what”, “when”, “where”, “why”, and “how”. As you’re reading a story with your students, stop and ask them questions using these words. For example, “Who is the main character in the story?” or “What does the fox want?”
By asking these comprehension questions, you’ll help your students break down the text and better understand it.
8. Beginning, Middle, and End Flip Chart
Excellent comprehension skills start with understanding the structure of a story. This simple flip chart activity is a great way to help your students understand the concept of a story’s structure.
On a large chart paper or poster board, draw a big line down the center. Label one side “Beginning” and the other “End”, and in the middle, write “Middle”.
Then, have your students brainstorm events from the story that happened in each part of the structure and draw pictures to represent them. Then, underneath the illustrations, they can write a sentence or two describing what happened.
This helps your students visualize the story’s structure and, at the same time, get a grasp of the sequence of events.
9. Brain Movies
As the name suggests, a brain movie is basically a mental movie that your students create in their minds as they’re practicing active reading.
To do this activity, have your students close their eyes and imagine that they’re watching a movie of the story you just read. Encourage them to pay attention to the characters, setting, and events so that they can mimic what they see in their own brain movie.
Afterward, have them share what they saw with a partner or the whole class. Brain movies work well if you’re reading a fiction story but can also be applied to non-fiction texts.
10. Story Retelling Rope
Among the creative first-grade comprehension activities on this list, the story retelling rope is definitely one of the most popular and makes for an exciting time. Plus, it also helps your students develop their sequencing and retelling skills.
To make a story retelling rope, you’ll need a long piece of string or yarn. Then, cut out pictures or symbols from the story and tape them onto the string in the order that they happened.
Once you’re done, hang up the rope in your classroom so that your students can refer to it when they’re retelling the story in their own words.
11. Puzzle Retelling
Puzzle retelling is another great activity for helping your students develop their sequencing and retelling skills.
To do this activity, simply cut out pictures or symbols from the story and put them in a bag or envelope. Then, have your students take turns drawing a picture from the bag and placing it in the correct order on a piece of poster board or chart paper (you could also use a storyboard template).
Afterward, they can take turns retelling the story to the class using the pictures as a guide.
Jump In: Introduce your 1st graders to poetry by reading to them some of the best-written poems for kids. I’m sure they will enjoy them because they’re easy to understand and have values they will learn. Check the list of 1st-grade poems here — 25 Great 1st Grade Poems To Read To Your Class (Sweet & Fun).
Add Your Own Twists!
These are just a few of the many creative ways that can help your students improve their reading comprehension skills. Try them out with your class and see how they respond.
At the end of the day, it’s up to you to decide how to adapt these first-grade reading comprehension activities to best suit your students’ needs. So have fun with it and be creative!
Do you have any other favorite first-grade reading comprehension activities? Share them with us below!
Last Updated on July 22, 2022 by Emily
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