Popsicle sticks are a wonderful tool to use in your classroom! They’re inexpensive and easy to prep for instruction. Plus, they’re “ready to use” at a moment’s notice! You can use them for multiple activities, and students will love how interactive these simple wooden sticks are. Try out the following popsicle stick activities to make your small group reading lessons more engaging!
5 Ways to Use Popsicle Sticks in Small Reading Groups
There are so many ways to use popsicle sticks in your classroom! Here are a just a few options for keeping your small groups engaged:
1. Discussion Questions
You can use the sticks for literature circle questions and comprehension questions. Label each stick with “who, what, when, where, or why” and have students pick. If they pick a stick labeled “who” they will discuss the characters, protagonist, antagonist, or whatever you decide to use with that prompt. You can also use the sticks for summarizing the plot. Label the stick with the 5 elements of plot and if a child picks that element, they will give details to show their understanding. Another idea is to print questions on index cards and attach to the popsicle stick. Students will pick a question to answer.
2. Active Reading Prompts
Active reading it the process of thinking and reflecting about the text while you are reading. For some students, this process comes naturally; however, many children need to be explicitly taught how to do this. Create active reading prompt sticks using Read, Stop, Think! strategy.
Show students how to read small chunks of text then stop to think about what they read. Of course, not all kids will know where to start or what to think about. That’s where the popsicle sticks come in handy. Label the sticks with prompts such as “I predict….”, “I think….”, “This reminds me of….” Students will begin to understand how to reflect about what they just read.
3. Fluency Expression Sticks
Another way to incorporate popsicle sticks is through the use of fluency expression sticks. Students will love pulling out a stick that tells them to “Read it like a pirate” or “Read it like a robot.” Expression sticks will help your students become more fluent readers by encouraging them to change their reading to sound like different characters. Voices should go up and down when reading – not sound like a robot!
Learn how to make your own DIY expression sticks or grab a sample page of expression stick character prompts from my Fluency Boot Camp sampler!
4. Phonics Activities
Popsicle sticks can be used for matching games, word sorts, and word ladders. Primary and Intermediate grade levels will benefit from these activities. Matching games can be used for word families, rhyming words, and pairing the vocabulary word to the definition. Word sorts can be created by writing one word on the popsicle stick and having your students sort by phonics patters, syllables, or type of word such as noun, adjective, or verb. Word Ladders can be used by gluing word strips onto the sticks then using the stick to help with automaticity. For example you can have your students practice CVC words by reading a word, find the rhyming word on the stick, then line up the sticks so the words are stacked. The students would like the words up just like they would for numbers on dominoes.
5. Word Games
There are many games you can play with popsicle sticks, but one of my favorites is “ZAP!” Simply write words on a stick and place the popsicle sticks, words down, in a cup. Each player takes turns pulling a popsicle stick and reading it. If you pull a “ZAP!” stick you have to put all your sticks back. The person with the most sticks wins! (NOTE: Keep the “ZAP!” sticks out after they’re pulled so the game eventually ends!). This game can be played with sight words, phonics/syllable patterns, or even vocabulary.
Organization & Management
Once you start making different popsicle stick activities and games, you will definitely want a way to organize them all. I started with just rubber bands to keep my sets together, but I could never tell which set was which, so then I started using bags and containers.
I love repurposing containers to hold popsicle sticks for my different activities. Drink powder packet containers (i.e., Crystal Lite) are my favorite, though, because the label comes off easily and they have a lid! Pencil cases from the dollar store, plastic sandwich bags, or any time of reusable storage bags are also an inexpensive way to keep your popsicle sticks organized.
How do you use popsicle sticks in the classroom?
