384 results
Elementary critical thinking reading simulations
Oregon Trail: Simulation Game
Super engaging slideshow game to get students thinking about what life on the Oregon Trail was like. You lead the class with 13 scenarios, and students make decisions and keep track of survival points. A great way to introduce the Oregon Trail to students. It includes 42 slides, directions, and a student handout to record survival points. I use this activity with my 8 graders a few details might need to be edited if used with younger grade levels.Takes about 1 hour.
Grades:
3rd - 12th
Types:
Also included in: Western Expansion Games Bundle: Oregon Trail, Gold Rush, Lewis and clark
The Sinking of the Lusitania: Solve the WWI Mystery w Primary Source Analysis!
Perhaps one of the most important events of World War One, the sinking of the Lusitania has fascinated kids and adults for years. Use this mystery to harness that fascination and engage students in an inquiry-based mission that they will remember all year long!In this mystery, students are posed with an engaging scenario - they are CIA Agents that must piece together once and for all how and why the Lusitania sank. They are presented with a variety of "exhibits," all cleverly designed to engage
Grades:
5th - 12th
Types:
Also included in: GROWING WWI BUNDLE: Higher Order Thinking WWI Activities (SS5H2)
Lunch Bunch Games | Friendship Escape Room
This Friendship Escape Room is the perfect challenge for upper elementary and middle school students to build teamwork and learn about positive friendship skills. This challenge is meant to be given in a shorter time span than other escape rooms and is perfect for those lunch time groups! Students are given the a scenario where there school is infected with Bully Fever and to release the antidote students need to work together to solve the challenges, release the keys and solve the secret co
Grades:
3rd - 7th
Types:
Also included in: Escape Room Counseling Bundle | Friendship Growth Mindset Career
CELLS CSI Investigation - Examining Plant and Animal Cells
*TOP SELLING ITEM*
In this lesson, students will be given a mystery to solve, based on their knowledge of cells. To solve the mystery, they need to know the major differences between plant and animal cells. Students apply their knowledge to a "real-life" scenario in which they must classify cells as plant or animal. Students will record their conclusions in a forensic lab report similar to one that could be used in court. This is an excellent activity for the end of a unit on plant and animal ce
Subjects:
Grades:
4th - 7th
Types:
Reader's Theater: Boston Tea Party
This is a great reader's theater script to introduce/reinforce the importance of the Boston Tea Party as a major event in our history leading to the American Revolution. In addition, it's great practice in the areas of expression and fluency. The following play script contains 23 individual parts, but can be easily adapted for a class of any size. I have ranked the parts by size (long, medium, short) in order to make it easier to differentiate parts for all levels of readers. In addition, I h
Subjects:
Grades:
3rd - 6th
Types:
Also included in: America Becomes a Nation: Reader's Theater Bundle for 4th Grade
Escape Room Solve the Mystery Challenge | Teamwork Activity | Breakout Game
Bring the fun and excitement of a breakout room to your classroom! This cross curricular mystery challenge will have your students engaged, investigating and challenged from start to finish without the need of complicated locks or boxes. Students will work their way through 4 clues, each time they complete the clue challenge, they eliminate a suspect. You can use this as an introduction to teaching mysteries or a review day game!This is the PRINTABLE VERSION, the DIGITAL VERSION is available her
Grades:
3rd - 4th
Types:
Wants and Needs Sort - 1st grade Social Studies Needs vs Wants Activities
These interactive needs vs wants activities are perfect to teach your students about wants and needs, and to help them understand the consequences of choosing wants vs needs in real-life situations.PACKED with everything you need! Includes a lesson plan, simulation activity with teacher script, vocabulary aid, sorting activities, critical thinking worksheet, and writing activity.Description:This fun interactive activity sends students on an adventure simulation as they pack their backpacks with
Grades:
K - 2nd
Types:
Back to School Escape Room | Team Building Activities | First Week of School
Are you ready to kick off the new school year with a thrilling and collaborative experience for your students? Our Back-to-School Escape Room Team Building Activities will make the first week of school unforgettable as students work together to solve puzzles, decode challenges, and build lasting connections.This is the PRINTABLE VERSION, the DIGITAL VERSION is available here. Why Choose Our Back-to-School Escape Room Team Building Activities?Engaging and Interactive: The escape room format adds
Grades:
3rd - 4th
Types:
Also included in: Escape Room Challenge Bundle | Breakout Games | Teamwork Challenges
Mock Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) Classroom Mystery/Detective Simulation Game
Stage a mock crime scene investigation in your classroom! Kids solve the mystery through observation and science labs. They study crime scene photos, gather clues, analyze fingerprints, and experiment with powders and chromatography. Students love participating in this forensic science simulation - and cracking the case!Open the preview to take a closer look at the game-like project. The crime scene and detective activities are laid out for you. With a few common household items (such as pens, p
Subjects:
Grades:
3rd - 5th
Types:
Reader's Theater: The American Revolutionary War (differentiated script)
Experience life as a Patriot or Redcoat soldier during the key events and battles of the American Revolutionary War! The war is brought to life in this whole class reader’s theater based on 4th grade Ohio Social Studies standards! This 9 page script features the following: Paul Revere’s midnight ride, the shot heard ‘round the world, Ethan Allen & Green Mountain Boys, the battle of Bunker Hill, Crossing the Delaware, Valley Forge, the Battle of Yorktown, the Treaty of Paris, and much mor
Subjects:
Grades:
3rd - 6th
Types:
Also included in: Ohio 4th Grade Reader's Theater Mega Bundle!
Gifted and Talented - Living on Your Own: Lessons in Financial Responsibility
Challenge your gifted and talented to play the “game of life” and survive financially during their first year in college. This concept-based unit allows students to “earn” an inheritance from a distant relative by repurposing items from a barn. With this “money,” students find affordable housing, transportation, furnishings, and other essentials. Then the “game of life begins with monthly reoccurring expenses, opportunities to buy additional necessities and/or wants, as well as challenges or o
Grades:
5th - 8th
Football Escape Room Mystery Challenge | Breakout Game | Teamwork Activity
Bring the fun and excitement of a breakout room to your classroom! This cross curricular mystery challenge will have your students engaged, investigating and challenged from start to finish without the need of complicated locks or boxes. Students will work their way through 4 clues, each time they complete the clue challenge, they eliminate a suspect. You can use this as an introduction to teaching mysteries or a review day game! This football themed mystery works great in the fall during footba
Grades:
3rd - 4th
Types:
Also included in: Escape Room Challenge Bundle | Breakout Games | Teamwork Challenges
Gifted Crime Scene Investigation Activity The Case of the Missing Cash
This highly engaging crime scene investigation activity will have your students using their critical thinking skills as they critically read and analyze witness testimonies, view and evaluate evidence, and draw inferences to determine the motive and identity of the person guilty of robbing a bank. Higher-level thinking skills will be practiced while investigating the crime scene, as students form a hypothesis about who committed the crime, establish a motive, and then justify their hypothesis b
Grades:
5th - 8th
Types:
Reader's Theater: The Constitution-United We Stand! (leveled script)
Students will bring the development of the United States Constitution to life in this whole class reader’s theater based on 4th grade Ohio Social Studies standards! Students will gain a deeper understanding of the different state’s viewpoints in a connected and engaging way! This original play contains 22 parts featuring 3 reading levels to ensure whole class participation, fluency development, and differentiation. In addition, 14 name tags are included to make a class presentation of this pla
Subjects:
Grades:
3rd - 6th
Types:
Also included in: Ohio 4th Grade Reader's Theater Mega Bundle!
Christmas Around the World Reader's Theater Set (Differentiated scripts!)
Focus on differentiation with this Christmas Around the World set of leveled Reader’s Theaters! This set focuses on telling the story behind 4 important customs celebrated around the world at Christmas time. Written on 3 separate reading levels, it is easy to match each student with a part that meets their individual need! Each script contains 5-6 parts, making it a perfect activity for centers or leveled guided reading groups! Modified versions provide support in basic fluency skills, regu
Grades:
3rd - 5th
Types:
Also included in: Special Holidays in America: Reader's Theater Bundle for 4th Grade
Reader's Theater: Ohio and the War of 1812 (intermediate level with 24 parts!)
Students will bring the War of 1812 and the Battle of Lake Erie to life in this whole class script of Don’t Give up the Ship! This fast moving script explores the causes and events leading to this important war in our country’s history in an engaging and connected way! This original play contains 24 parts featuring various reading levels to ensure whole class participation, differentiation, and engagement. Students will integrate important Social Studies concepts with key LA common core standa
Subjects:
Grades:
4th - 6th
Types:
Also included in: Early Ohio History Activity Bundle for 4th Grade Social Studies
Design a Zoo: A Digital Project Based Learning Experience
Thanks for choosing this project based learning experience for your students! They are sure to have fun, be creative, and learn some valuable skills.
In Design a Zoo, students take on the role of a design consultant asked to create a new zoo. Students will need to:
–Name the Zoo
–Create a welcoming sign
–Select the animals
–Design animal habitats
–Create information sheets
–Create a budget
–And present their work to a "Board of Directors"
This experience is designed to be completed without sub
Subjects:
Grades:
3rd - 8th
Types:
Roanoke: The Lost Colony! A Reader's Theater (with differentiated parts!)
What happened to the colony of Roanoke? Students will bring this century old mystery to life in this whole class reader’s theater based on 4th grade Ohio Social Studies standards! Students will gain a deeper understanding of the events, people, places, and effects of this important piece of our country’s history in an engaging and connected way! This original 7 page play contains 21 parts featuring 3 reading levels to ensure whole class participation, fluency development, and differentiation. St
Subjects:
Grades:
3rd - 6th
Types:
Also included in: Early United States History Reader's Theater Bundle-Discovering America
Editorial vs. Regular News Article Game (Is it Fact or Opinion Writing?)
In this engaging, self-checking Google Slides game, students gain a valuable skill for interacting with media. Students are guided to learn the difference between fact and opinion writing—even when the difference is subtle—by reading information about both, then looking at headlines and choosing whether the headlines are for editorials or regular facts-only news articles. All headlines are from real articles, so students are learning with content that is relevant. Students are given feedback i
Subjects:
Grades:
4th - 10th
Types:
Robotics Competitions for Dash Robot
BEFORE YOU PURCHASE:This packet works with Dash robot. In order to effectively implement this resource, you must have at least 1 Dash robot and 1 iPad OR one compatible laptop.This packet includes 8 robotics competitions to use with Dash robot. The competitions range from easy to more difficult. They will not only test your students' coding skills, team work, communication, problem solving, and logical reasoning skills! Scoring sheets are provided for each competition. Suggested implementation i
Grades:
3rd - 6th
Types:
Reader's Theater: An Age of Exploration! (intermediate leveled reading scripts)
Help students bring the Age of Exploration to life with this 24 part, differentiated reader’s theater! This fast moving script re-enacts several key explorers who discovered North America and helps students connect to our country’s history in an engaging and involved way! This original play contains 24 parts featuring various reading levels to ensure whole class participation, differentiation, and engagement. Students will integrate important Social Studies concepts with key LA common core st
Subjects:
Grades:
3rd - 6th
Types:
Also included in: Ohio 4th Grade Reader's Theater Mega Bundle!
Jamestown: A Reader's Theater (with differentiated parts!)
Bring the settlement of Jamestown, John Smith and Pocahontas to life with this whole class reader’s theater based on 4th grade Ohio Social Studies standards! Students will gain a deeper understanding of the events, people, places, and effects of this important piece of our country’s history in an engaging and connected way! This original play contains 23 parts featuring 3 reading levels to ensure whole class participation, fluency development, and differentiation. Students will integrate importa
Subjects:
Grades:
3rd - 6th
Types:
Also included in: Early United States History Reader's Theater Bundle-Discovering America
Escape Room Challenge Bundle | Breakout Games | Teamwork Challenges
Bring the fun and excitement of a breakout room to your classroom! These cross curricular mystery challenges will have your students engaged, investigating and challenged from start to finish without the need of complicated locks or boxes. This bundle includes over 10 different escape room challenges.Students will work their way through clues, each time they complete the clue challenge, they eliminate a suspect or collect tools to move on to the next challenge. You can use this as an introductio
Grades:
2nd - 4th
Types:
The First Thanksgiving Simulation: Journey on the Mayflower
This is a week long simulation where your kids will become a part of history! Students will read about the process of the pilgrims coming to the New World and then receive their experience cards, which will let them be a part of the famous journey.
They take the knowledge they gain from the reading and the information on the experience card to write a journal entry from a pilgrim's perspective. Kids will be learning and engaged in these reading and writing activities!
Includes:
- 5 days
Subjects:
Grades:
2nd - 8th
Types:
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Learn more about reading resources
Not only is reading a core concept in the study of English language arts, but it’s also a cornerstone skill for proficiency in many other subjects (for instance, without strong reading skills, students won’t be able to solve math word problems or read through primary sources for social studies class).
If you’re a teacher or parent looking for printable and digital reading resources to help your student learn a reading concept, look no further! TPT has an extensive collection of resources, created by other teachers, that are designed to help with any need across grade levels.
Elementary students just learning to read can practice the basics with some simple, fun phonics practice activities or small-group reading centers focused around sight words. Students in middle and high school can read novels and complete hands-on, interactive assignments that build their comprehension and critical thinking skills. With plenty of TPT resources at your fingertips, you can sharpen your student's reading skills in no time.
Fun and engaging reading activities to try
Engaging reading activities can energize your students and foster a love of reading. Here are a few ideas for reading activities from our teacher-created resources that you can find on TPT and try in your classroom:
Interactive Phonics Activities
Use hands-on activities such as sorting, matching, or building words with manipulatives to help students recognize phonics patterns and learn word families.
Word Hunts
Encourage students to find specific words either in a text or around the classroom to help reinforce sight word recognition.
Reader's Theater
Bring short stories, books, poems, or plays you’re reading in class to life by assigning roles to students and having them act out scenes. This can help enhance fluency and comprehension.
Interactive Read-Alouds
Engage the class by pausing during read-alouds to discuss the story’s theme, reflect on a character’s motivations or actions, or to ask students questions.
Comparative Analysis
Explore different adaptations of the same story (book versus movie, classic version versus a modern retelling) to encourage analysis of interpretation and presentation. You can also pair texts that are similar in theme, like poems and songs.
By incorporating these (and other!) reading activities into your lesson plans, you can nurture a love for reading while enhancing comprehension, critical thinking, and communication skills.
Frequently asked questions about teaching reading
What types of reading resources are available on TPT?
There are many different types of reading resources sold by Sellers on TPT. Some popular reading lessons include: phonics, vocabulary, spelling, and balanced literacy.
How do I find reading lessons on TPT?
Educators can save time preparing reading lessons with resources created by experienced teachers. Simply start a search for reading resources on the TPT marketplace, and filter by grade level, price, and/or resource type to find materials that've been proven to work in classrooms like yours. No matter what you’re teaching, there are plenty of reading lessons and activities sold by Sellers on TPT that are tailored to meet your students' skill levels.
How can I make my reading lessons fun and engaging?
Students learn best when they're engaged! Sprinkle a little fun into your reading lessons by using manipulatives, pairing unusual texts like poems and short films together, or doing an escape room activity.
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