Activities | Reading Rockets: Topics A to Z
Need some ideas for reading-based activities you can do with children? This section offers suggestions to help parents, teachers, preschool teachers, and childcare providers fill kids' days with fun and stimulating reading and writing activities.
Comic Cam: Expressive Reading
Jennifer Barber introduces the different characters she created for her stories when she was seven years old. She reads one of her stories using different voices to differentiate between the three characters.
Kid Math's Coming to Dinner | WordGirl
Becky brings home her newest friend Rex, AKA Kid Math. They discuss having a secret identity while Becky's dad cooks.
Tips from the Playground: OE
Reggie explains the different sounds made by the "oe" letter combination. He uses the sentence, "Your toes come before your shoes," to help students distinguish between the two sounds while reading.
Tips from the Playground: KN, GN, and BT
Reggie discusses the silent letters in the "kn," "gn," and "bt" combinations. He advises his viewers that "the ghost is always first," meaning that in all three combinations only the second letter is pronounced.
Tips from the Playground: ER/EST
Reggie explains the uses and abilities of the suffixes "er" and "est." This resource verbally and visually demonstrates to students how these two suffixes function.
Irregular Plural Nouns | No Nonsense Grammar
While plural nouns often indicate more than one of something with a simple "s" or "es," irregular plural nouns do not. They change the word entirely. Elf becomes elves, tooth becomes teeth!
Prefixes & Suffixes
This resource group teaches students about some of the most common prefixes and suffixes and about the effects they have on the tenses and meanings of verbs.
Skits and Martha Bake a Cake—Martha Speaks
Help children build vocabulary and understand STEM education concepts. Skits and Martha bake a cake for Helen.
Engagement | Reading Rockets: Topics A to Z
Families play an important role in how well students do in school. Find information about the importance of teachers and parents working together on behalf of kids, as well as examples of programs that specifically make the link between home and school.
Read a Good Book: Communicating by Drawing | IPTV KIDS Clubhouse
IPTV KIDS Clubhouse kids read and discover more about communication! In this segment, kids go to the library and try to get their friends to guess their favorite book titles without using any words, only drawings and actions.
Activity: Awesome Alliteration | WordGirl
This WordGirl lesson focuses on alliteration. Students will generate a list of alliterative words, then write an original poem using those words
Professor Monkey Follows the Directions—Martha Speaks
Help children build vocabulary and understand STEM education concepts with this Martha Speaks video! Professor Monkey follows instructions to make a paper airplane but accidentally uses paper that has the directions for where he needs to be!
Education | Reading Rockets: Topics A to Z
Teaching reading is a complex process that draws upon an extensive knowledge base and repertoire of strategies. Find out more about best practices in reading instruction and why so many are concerned that our teachers aren't prepared to teach in today's classrooms.
T.D.'s Report on Inventor Tom Adams—Martha Speaks
Help children build vocabulary and understand STEM education concepts with this Martha Speaks video! T.D. gives a report in class about the inventor of chewing gum, Tom Adams.
Getting to the Game (PDF) | Martha Speaks
The PDF of the interactive, informational story "Getting to the Game" designed for in-classroom use.
Simple and Compound Sentences | No Nonsense Grammar
A sentence is a group of words that expresses a complete thought. A simple sentence contains a subject and a verb and by itself contains a complete thought. A compound sentence contains two independent clauses joined by a coordinator: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so.
How to Use Commas with Conjunctions | No Nonsense Grammar
Conjunctions can join two separate clauses, but sometimes they need commas. Learn how to do so correctly.
Using Proper Punctuation for Titles | No Nonsense Grammar
Small works (short stories, essays, magazine and newspaper articles, etc.) are indicated with the use of quotation marks. Larger works, such as books or movies, are indicated either through italics (in typing) or underlining (handwriting).
Shock & Friends Phonics Rap: OE
Shock and his friend rap and beatbox using words that contain the "oe" vowel combination. This resource teaches reading, pronunciation, and decoding.