Summer Reading Camp/After School Enrichment
Get Ready to Read
The following general lesson plans could be adapted to be appropriate for at-risk children entering kindergarten, ESL children with their parents, children entering first or second grade who struggle with reading, preschool summer fun, after school programs, and more.
Daily Lesson Plans
1. Welcome children
2. “ButterflyPark Marching Song” - work on cross-patterning movements and wake up the brain. (found on The Alphabet Workout music CD)
3. Fun movement activity - not necessarily related to reading or letter sounds. I used the following CDs as resources: Bean Bag Rock and Roll, Cool Aerobics for Kids, and Playtime Parachute Fun for Early Childhood – all by Georgiana Stewart, as well as Sing to Learn with Dr Jean, especially the song "Tooty Ta"
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4. Review previously taught letters using the flash cards. Children respond with actions and letter sound/s. For variety, review may also be done by
singing the 3-5 letter songs instead, but still using appropriate motions. If you have a longer program, you would have time for a phonemic awareness activity relating to the letter/s to be taught. See “Free Resources/Teacher Resources for phonemic awareness activity ideas.
5. Introduce the letter/sounds planned for the day depending on how many days and hours you have allotted in your program.
· Tell the story – use puppets if you have them.
· Dramatize the story
· Sing the song with actions
· Have children run through an obstacle course with activities like crawling through a tunnel, spinning a hula hoop, jumping over a rod on blocks, bouncing a ball, tossing a ball through a basket, throwing bean bags at a target, running around cones, etc.
6. Trace or write the letter 5 times inside a bubble letter. (Handwriting 1)
7. Review each letter taught so far.
8. Repeat steps 4, 5, 6, and 7 for each letter taught that day.
9. Begin blending words on the Blending Train – Use the wooden train, the classroom size cardboard train, or the small train from the back of the Introduction to Letter Sounds book or included in the Reading/Writing Package. You can begin to do this after you have taught the first 5 letters (l, h, d, i, p, o – with words like: lip, hip, dip, hop, pod, hid, lid, lop) I give each child a small plastic train whistle on an elastic cord to wear around his neck. When the child figures out a word he may blow the whistle. Pass out the whistles before each blending practice and collect afterward. Children may keep the whistles at the end of the camp. I put a piece of tape with each child’s name on the cord.
10. End with review and another fun movement activity from the resources used at the beginning of the session as time permits.
