Reading Center Activities Teaching Resources
Do you need new classroom reading center activities to kick-start literacy learning in your classroom? Explore a collection of thousands of reading activities, games, worksheets, printables, and more that have been created by teachers specifically for you to use in your literacy centers!
What Are Reading Centers or Literacy Centers?
Haven't set up centers in the classroom before? That's OK! The teachers who review every resource on the Teach Starter site before it ever makes it to your subscription have put their expertise together to create this guide to setting up reading centers to ensure your students get the most out of them!
First things first: What are centers? These spots in the classroom are designated spaces where your students can work individually or in small groups practicing decoding, blending, reading comprehension, and any other needed literacy skills. You might think of reading centers or literacy centers as practice areas for students to take the concepts you've been teaching and start tackling them independently.
If you need to differentiate instruction, classroom centers for reading can engage mixed-ability groups or academically-similar groups. You can also use your centers to focus on particular reading areas such as phonics, fluency, vocabulary, or comprehension.
Centers are typically student-led and great for diverse learners to work at their own levels and paces. When group work is involved, the groups are limited to no more than four students.
What to Include in a Reading Center
Just as learning centers can be set up for various subjects (check out our math center activities while you're here!), reading centers can include various activities! That's why you'll find that our teacher team of experts has created everything from task cards to sorting activities to include in your reading centers.
Explore the collection to find the right activities for your students and your centers!
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My Word of the Day Mat
A fun worksheet to use in the classroom when building vocabulary.
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Types of Figurative Language - Worksheet
Practice identifying and creating examples of figurative language with this printable worksheet.
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Vocabulary Builder: Synonym Worksheet
Practice synonym matching with this cut and paste worksheet.
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Dolch Sight Word Flash Cards
Practice the first 100 Dolch Sight Words with a deck of sight word flash cards.
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Context Clues Scoot Activity
Use context clues to determine the meaning of an unfamiliar word.
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Text Features Worksheet
Download this nonfiction text features worksheet so students can practice locating different types of text features found in a nonfiction text.
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Digraph Bug Swatting Game
Practice digraph knowledge at the start of words with this small group bug swatting game.
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Consonant Digraph Cover Up Game
Practice consonant digraphs with your students with this set of two fun partner cover up games.
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Word Building Bricks - Prefixes, Suffixes, and Roots Activity
Build, read and write multi-syllable words using prefixes, suffixes, and base words with a fun word-building literacy activity.
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Dictionary Sorting Game
Get students in the habit of researching with our dictionary activity that helps learners match a word to its definition and part of speech.
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Silent Letters Worksheets - Read, Find, and Color
Identify letters that are silent with this set of three find and color worksheets.
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Google Slides Interactive - Story Elements Activity
Introduce your kindergarten and first-grade students to the elements of a story using this interactive Google Slides activity.
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Grade 4 Magazine - "What's Buzzing?" (Issue 1) Task Cards
A set of five literacy rotation task cards to be used in conjunction with issue 1 of Teach Starter's Grade 4 "What's Buzzing?" magazine.
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Word Of The Week Template
A word of the week template with a variety of tasks to give context and meaning to a word.
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Before, During, and After Reading Fiction - Question Prompts
Question prompts and a worksheet to use when asking questions before, during, and after reading.
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Roll and Read – Sight Word Game Pack
Practice reading sight words with this set of 5 Roll to Read Sight Word Game boards.
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Vowel Teams Sort OA, OW, and OE
Decode words with "oa", "oe", or "ow" long "o" vowel teams using 18 picture cards with sorting mats.
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Vowel Teams Sort EE, EA, and EY
Decode words with EE, EA, or EY long "e" vowel teams using 18 picture cards with sorting mats.
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FIND IT! Consonant Digraphs Board Game
Practice decoding words that include 4 examples of consonant digraphs with our digraph flashcards and board game set.
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Color By Vowel Sound (Winter Worksheet for Kindergarten & 1st Grade)
Use a "cool" color by vowel sound worksheet to bring a bit of Winter into the classroom this season.
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Comprehension Task Cards - Finding The Main Idea
A set of comprehension task cards to help students find the main idea when reading.
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What's the Opposite? Differentiated Antonym Vocabulary Game
Build vocabulary and recognition of antonyms with a fun game of Antonyms Scoot!
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Building Words with Prefixes Sorting Activity
Build words by matching the root word to prefixes, recording the new words on the answer sheet.
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Humpty Dumpty Pocket Chart Retell Cards
Read and retell the story within the Humpty Dumpty tale with a set of retelling pocket chart cards.
- Reading Center Activities for For Pre Kindergarten
- Reading Center Activities for For Kindergarten
- Reading Center Activities for For 1st Grade
- Reading Center Activities for For 2nd Grade
- Reading Center Activities for For 3rd Grade
- Reading Center Activities for For 4th Grade
- Reading Center Activities for For 5th Grade
- Reading Center Activities for For 6th Grade