When I first started researching the best methods for teaching students to read, I often felt overwhelmed by everything I was learning. I wanted to make sure I was keeping my students engaged in my literacy lessons for kindergarten but still teaching them important skills. So, I started coming up with games to play.
These don’t need anything extra- just a whiteboard and marker!
Boggle
To set up this game, I made a grid with 9 letters. I picked 8 consonants and 1 vowel (that I put in the middle). My students had to make as many words as they could using the letters.
I did this activity with my students after reviewing vowel sounds.
To make it a little more difficult – I told them that the letters had to be touching (so you wouldn’t be able to make the word snap in this grid).
Names
I did this activity later in the school year with my students so that they had developed a strong understanding of phonics.
We chose a couple of students’ names per day to deconstruct. They loved counting the letters and syllables in their names and noticing different aspects of the sound-symbol relationships.
Please note- some students’ names will not follow ‘traditional’ phonics patterns. That’s okay! Names are special and can be spelled in many different ways.
Letter Mix-Up
Similar to the Boggle game above, I made this activity by writing some graphemes and having students make words with them.
I did this one after teaching the ch digraph to reinforce the sound it says.
Literacy Lessons for Kindergarten
These were such fun activities to do with my students, and it got them excited to practice blending sounds and decoding words. I tried to mix up which activity I did with my students during the week so that they never get bored.
Looking for more literacy whole groups activities for kindergarten? I also used simple letter cards to teach literacy skills to my students!
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