When a child is finished reading during Independent Reading and has gone through all of the things that you expect, something more is needed. 

 What I did was to take a bottom part of a bulletin board, and cut manila paper to fit the 3x5 cards, laminated, with different activities.  The child chose a heading and then reached in to get a card. The partner chose a different activity.

 You had to keep the card you had until Independent Reading was completed.  Hopefully, the activity on the card was also done when time was up.

Some activities can be over a 2 day period.  The Enrichment can be as long as you want it to be.

This is what I had:

Reading Activities

Read the most exciting part of the story to your partner.  Discuss why it was exciting to you. Record what you have said in your reading journal.

Find and read a part of the story that describes an important character. Record in your reading journal what you found.

Read sentences from the story that tell what happened at the beginning, middle, and end.  Record in your reading journal.

Read what an important character said.  Read it to your partner.

Take turns reading the story aloud with your partner.

Practice reading a page or two from the story.  Read it to the group when called to the rug.

Understanding

Write 8 statements about the story.  Make some true and some false.  Give this to your partner.  They will put  T or F.  Check their work.

List all characters from the story.  Write a sentence to describe each character.

Draw a picture that shows the main idea of the story.  Write a new title for the story.

Write about an experience you have had that is similar to an experience in the story.

Read the part of the story you like best to your partner.  Tell him/her why.

Retell the story in your own words. Don't just summarize the story!

Write 5 questions about the story.  You will ask your partner to give the answers.

Word Study

Skim the story.  Make a list of compound words that you found.

Write 10 words from the story that you found interesting.  Put them in ABC order.

Write the names of all the important characters in the story.  Write 3 words to describe each character.

List 10 words from the story that have prefixes or suffixes.  Underline the root words.

List 10 words from the story that you can write antonyms for.

List 10 words from the story that you can write synonyms for.

Make flashcards for important words in the story.

List 10 words from the story and rewrite them using plurals.

List 10 two - syllable and 5 three - syllable words from the story.

Skim the story.  List words that tell: who, when, and where.

Enrichment

Make a poster about the story.

Make a crossword puzzle using words from the story.

Design 2 bookmarks about the story.  Give them to someone in your class to use.  (Maybe the teacher will even laminate them for you.)

Write a note to your teacher.  Describe what you liked best or least about the story.

Make a word hunt using words from the story.

Write a different ending fro the story.

Draw 3  pictures that show events from the beginning, middle, and end of the story.  Write a sentence describing each.

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