I love teaching in the spring! We can get outside more and increase hands-on experiences!. Spring is also a great time to fine-tune early reading and reading skills before they head to first grade. As kindergarten teachers, we can nurture a love for reading and help our learners expand their literacy knowledge in engaging, interactive, and seasonal ways. In this post, I will review some fun spring ideas that focus on reading.
Spring-Themed Story Time
After the winter months, I start to pull out my favorite spring and animal themed books. These books are often used as rewards for learners and watching them begin to enjoy reading and listening to stories is an amazing feeling. Some of my favorite books are: The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, Fletcher and the Springtime Blossoms by Julia Rawlinson, or Spring is Here by Will Hillenbrand. During story time, we ensure that we ask our learners questions about the book. Some examples are:
- What do you think will happen next?
- How do you think the character feels?
- Can you find a word in the story that rhymes with ‘sun’?
Phonics Garden
My team and I incorporate a hands-on, spring-themed phonics activity by creating a “Phonics Garden.” We use paper flowers, actual plastic flowers with written letters, digraphs (like “ch” or “sh”), or word families (like “-at” or “-og”) on each one. Our learners take turns “planting” the flowers by matching them to words or sounds. For example, when they pick a flower with “sh,” they need to think of words that start with that sound, such as “ship,” “shoes,” or “shiny.”
Reading Scavenger Hunt
My favorite thing to do when the weather gets warmer is to take our lessons outdoors with a spring-themed reading scavenger hunt. We hide laminated word cards or picture cards around a designated spot outside. Once a student finds a card, they need to read the word or describe the picture on it. We also expand on this game by creating categories like “spring animals,” “colors,” or “nature,”.
Sight Word Flower Patch
In our class, we work a lot on sight words, which are an essential part of the curriculum for young readers. We print out flowers with different sight words on each petal. My team and I display them around the classroom like a blooming garden. Children can take turns picking a flower, reading the word on the petal, and then using it in a sentence. We can differentiate this activity by also incorporating rhyming words, letter names, letter sounds, or syllables.
Interactive Spring Songs and Rhymes
Songs are a great way to boost phonemic awareness. I enjoy including songs and rhyming games into our classroom. When the weather is nice and the sun is shining, we create and find spring-themed songs such as “The Green Grass Grows All Around” or “Here Comes the Sun.” We encourage our learners to sing along and fill in the blanks. Including songs and whyming games can work on vocabulary and encourage practice on word patterns and sounds, which are crucial components of reading.
Spring Word Sorts
We love an activity using spring themed images and sorting them into different categories such as animals, plants, weather, or activities. Depending on an individual learner’s reading level, we also include visuals to support learning.
The spring season offers many opportunities to expand on reading skills in engaging and creative ways. From phonics activities to story creation, there’s no shortage of fun and interactive approaches to help our kindergartners become confident, excited readers. By incorporating these spring-themed ideas into our classroom, we enjoy watching our learners blossom in the spring!
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These are such great ideas! Thank you for sharing! Can I ask where you got those write the room ABC version? Thank you so much!
This is from a seller called “Kindergarten Rocks” and the resource link is here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Write-the-Room-with-ABCs-for-Beginners-Real-Pictures-Alphabet-Activities-3354771