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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Building Sundaes Game - Vowel Teams (AI, AY, EE, and EA)
Decode words with ay, ai, ea, and ee long vowel teams by crafting cute desserts!
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10 Fun Facts Writing Template
Use this template to distinguish between fact and opinion when studying informational or biographical texts.
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Sweet Sight Words Worksheet - AM
Practice reading, writing, and identifying the high-frequency word “am” from the Kindergarten-level Dolch sight words list.
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Sweet Sight Words Worksheet - GET
Practice reading, writing, and identifying the high-frequency word “get” from the Kindergarten-level Dolch sight words list.
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Sweet Sight Words Worksheet - WHO
Practice reading, writing, and identifying the high-frequency word “who” from the Kindergarten-level Dolch sight words list.
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Fictional Genre Activities
A set of 28 fictional genre characteristic cards to use in a sorting or scoot activity.
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Sweet Sight Words Worksheet - What
Practice reading, writing, and identifying the high-frequency word “what” from the Kindergarten-level Dolch sight words list.
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Alphabetical Order Task Cards - Set 1
A set of 11 task cards alphabetizing a series of words to the first letter.
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Picture, Word, Letter, or Sentence – Sorting Activity
Help your students distinguish between pictures, letters, words, and sentences with this sorting activity.
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Figurative Language Sorting Activity
Explore figurative language in context with this set of 28 sorting cards.
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What's the Theme? - Graphic Organizer
Outline and determine the theme of a text with this 1-page graphic organizer worksheet.
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Alliteration Brainstorming Template
Use this brainstorming template to practice using the sound device alliteration.
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Readers Theater – Play Writing Template
A template for students to use when writing their own Readers Theater script.
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Antonym Task Cards
Build vocabulary and recognition of antonyms with a set of 24 task cards.
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IE Vowel Team Board Game
Practice decoding words with the ie vowel team in this board game.
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Four in a Row Game - Syllables
Segment words into syllables as you count them with this set of 24 picture cards and syllable-count gameboard.
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Word Family Sorting Activity - Set 3
A sorting activity to practice word families.
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Tic-Tac-Toe Game: Short E CVC Words
Practice reading short /e/ CVC words with this set of 6 tic-tac-toe games.
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Word Family Sorting Activity - Set 2
A sorting activity to practice word families.
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Word Family Sorting Activity - Set 1
A sorting activity to practice word families.
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Vocabulary Match-Up
Print an engaging picture-word memory game that gets students actively reading while matching images to their words.
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Syllable Count Sorting Activity
Practice segmenting and counting syllables in words with this set of 24 picture sorting cards.
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Initial Sound Recognition Worksheets (lowercase letters) – Complete Set a–z
A set of coloring activities to develop letter recognition and phonemic awareness.
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Short Vowels or BUST! Card Game
This phonological awareness activity awards points for correctly identifying the words with short vowel sounds.
- 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