It’s important that we have many resources at our fingertips when teaching reading because we never know what will work with our students, their needs, levels, etc. Below are a variety of free reading resources to add to your repertoire.
resources with visual supports
The shared tarheel reader has a variety of books with core boards right on the screen. Plus, there are books in a variety of languages allowing ESL students to read in their language. You can also use switches and change color contrast.
The How To… Life Skills Books are interactive and include the visual supports students need. These books are adapted for special education and speech. They will help students develop matching skills, build language (receptive and expressive) and attending skills.
Boardmaker To Go offers a free unit with visual supports such as core boards and templates.
Target core words
I love these books developed by Tobbi Dynavox that focus on core words. These books include lesson plans with multiple free books for each of the core words in the list. You can print the books or share them on a smartboard or Google Classroom.
Online Tools To Support Learning
The Unite For Literacy site has a large variety of books and read to me options. You can change the language the books are read to you based on your student’s needs as well.
The Oxford Owl ebooks have read to me options as well as annotation tools. Use the tools to highlight words, sounds, punctuation, blends, etc. These books are great when teaching remotely or during shared reading in the classroom. An account is required, but sign-up is free.
Set Up Student Access
Epic is a fantastic website that is free for teachers. It has many topics, leveled books, and read to me options. There is also an alphabet series that is great for highlighting 1 letter at a time. There are options to set up students in your teacher account. Then, you can assign books and quizzes to students, as well as get data on how long and which books students are reading.
Reading activities
Use these reading comprehension sheets in your direct instruction, reading centers, independent work systems, or for homework. They are free in our resource library. Not a member? Click HERE to join our email community.
The Matching CVC words tasks are also free in our resource library!
For students still learning their letters, grab these free alphabet poke cards. They are also in our free resource library.
Check out these blog posts for more info on teaching reading:
- Using Guided Reading In Self-contained Programs
- How To Target Reading and Language With Interactive Books
- Integrate Science and Reading
