Reviewing Skills with Reading Games!

Have you ever heard the saying "With one polka dot, nothing can be achieved"? This saying speaks to the power of repetition. Most teachers agree that repetition plays an important role in education. If a teacher attempts to teach an objective one isolated time during a school year, chances are good that few students (if any) will remember that objective at the end of the school year. However, if a teacher periodically reviews and builds upon the objective after the initial lesson, the likelihood that students WILL retain what they learned increases. That's why the concept of a spiral curriculum is such a hot educational topic. Plus, it's the main reason why we teachers like to review concepts before our students are required to take standardized tests.

A few weeks ago, I decided that I wanted to create some engaging reading activities where students would be reviewing important reading skills they have already learned. In order to make them engaging, I decided to add a competitive element so that students would view them as games.

I was quite pleased with the end result! The picture below shows 1 of 12 nonfiction passages in my 4th/5th grade set.

UPDATE!  These games are now available in a digital format (Google Slides), as well!  

MATERIALS NEEDED (Print Version)

Each student needs:

• Reading passage
• Die
• Pencil
• Red pen or marker

Each group needs:

• Directions
• Answer Key

DIRECTIONS FOR PLAYING (Print Version)

• Choose how many students you want to compete in each group. I have mainly played this game with groups of 2 to 4 students, but you could certainly play with a larger group, as well.
• Distribute the passage to everyone in the group, and tell them to read it carefully. (Also tell your students that if they finish reading it early, they should not start answering the questions yet!)
• When everyone has finished reading the passage, instruct each student to pick up a die, roll it, and then record a tally mark on the line beneath the passage. (Students will add a tally EACH time they roll the die.)
• Tell students to answer the numbered question that matches the number shown on the die. (For example, if Student A rolled a 4, she should answer Question #4.)
• Instruct students to roll the die again and record a tally mark. 
• If a student rolls the number of a question that has already been answered, he or she should immediately roll the die again.
• If a student rolls the number of a question that has not yet been answered, he or she should go ahead and answer the question.
• When a student finishes all six questions, the number of tallies at the bottom of the page should be counted and that number should be multiplied by 2. 
• When everyone in the group has finished answering the questions, have students check their answers together.
• Students should record the number of correct and incorrect answers at the bottom of the page, and multiply accordingly. 
• Instruct students to determine the grand total by adding the three subtotals.
• The person(s) with the LOWEST GRAND TOTAL is the winner!

Print this page for student reference.

DIRECTIONS FOR PLAYING (Google Slides Version)

The rules are the same as above. The main difference is that there is a dice-rolling option in the menu bar, so students do not have to roll a real die (unless they want to!) As you can see, each question has its own slide, and there is also a slide at the end of the game that guides students through the process of determining their score.

FREE GAME

Click here (or on the image below) to download one free nonfiction game. This game includes both the print and the digital version!

MORE GAMES ARE AVAILABLE!

Click on any of the images below to check out the reading games I have available in my TpT store! Each set includes 12 reading passages!

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Leave a Comment 3rd grade, 4th grade, 5th grade, Freebie, reading, Student Engagement, test prep