Phonics are the building blocks of reading. Help your students identify phonics sounds by playing a clapping game. Slowly read a passage aloud and ask the students to clap (or stomp or snap their fingers) each time they hear a particular sound, such as a "sh" sound. Or, place a laminated sheet of paper at a reading center with a short, easy-to-read passage printed on it. Use a large font to make it easier for the children to read. Ask the children to use overhead (washable) markers to circle certain words. For example, you might have them circle words that have a long "a" sound with a red pen, and circle words that have a long "i" sound with a green pen. Present older children with a laminated piece of paper with one word on the top, then ask them to write a list of words that rhyme with that word or words that follow the same pattern (such as consonant-vowel-consonant).
Reading comprehension becomes more important as children learn how to read more fluently. Elementary students need to learn vital comprehension skills such as being able to predict what might happen next in a story, or identify the plot in a story. Help your students understand a story by teaching them how to immerse themselves into a story and think like one of the characters. Create a chart with the five senses listed across the top. Then, read aloud from a short picture book. Ask the students to identify passages in the book that illustrate one of the five senses. For example, the author may write how a character's eyes were as bright as blueberries, or how the baby's cries sounded like a mewling kitten. List the phrases on the chart. This is also a good lesson for descriptive writing. Help your younger students think about the meaning of a story by asking them to predict what might happen next. Read a picture book out loud to them, but stop at key parts to ask the students to predict what will happen. Ask each student to explain why they think might happen next. This is also a good lesson for how to identify and use context clues.
Children must memorize their math facts if they are going to succeed when presented with more challenging computation problems. This is true whether the student is learning basic addition facts in first grade or multiplication and division facts in third grade. Play a math game with flashcards printed with math facts. Divide the students into teams and have a race to see which team can get through a stack of math cards before the other teams. Or, play a rousing game of math fact bingo. Divide a piece of paper into 16 squares (simply fold it in half four times). Ask the students to write one math fact in each square in a random order. You can limit this to whatever you are working on (for example, multiplication facts of 7 and 8). Then, show the students a flash card. The students must solve the problem and mark the answer off on their papers if they have it. Flip the flashcards over rather quickly to encourage memorization of the facts.
Other math concepts touched on in elementary school include fractions and percentages, measurement, money and telling time. Teach your young students to tell time by making analog clocks out of construction paper. Use paper fasteners (brads) to create movable hands, then ask the students to show you different times by moving the hands on the clock. Learn about measurement by seeing which children in your classroom have the largest or smallest feet in inches. Or, ask each child to bring an apple to class and see which one has the longest stem or largest circumference. Older elementary students can learn about fractions by dividing up a whole pizza (have a pizza lunch!) into equal parts. Then, ask them to calculate how many pizzas of eight slices each would be needed to feed a classroom of 24 children if each child had two pieces. Integrate some money activities into the lesson by having the children figure out the cost of the pizzas and the amount each child has to contribute to pay for the pizzas. Upper-elementary students can even calculate sales tax.