Add Fluency Fun to Your Literacy Centers with DIY Expression Sticks

Do you use literacy centers in your classroom?

Literacy centers are the perfect way for students to practice various reading skills throughout the year. The quick activities provide opportunities to spiral in skills you’ve already covered and foundation skills your students need a little extra practice with. Plus, it gives YOU the time to do guided reading and meet with your intervention groups!

Why Expression Sticks?

Literacy centers are a great way to incorporate targeted fluency skills, especially for students who just need a fluency boost and not a formal intervention for each component. If you have any “robot readers” in your classroom, or students who need to apply a bit more voice and expression to their reading, you can use expression sticks!

Expression sticks are easy to make and fun to do! They can be paired with any text and can make repeated reading a little more exciting. This activity also goes hand-in-hand with fluency phrases and sentences that are found in DIY Fluency Jars.

Texts to Use:

Phrase/Sentence Cards
Sight Word Sentences
Short Poems
Paragraphs (fiction OR nonfiction!)

How to Prep:

Brainstorm characters on your own (or with your students!). They can be generic or theme-based. Some examples are holidays, book characters, or animals. I like to make different sets to switch it up throughout the year!
Write each character at the end of a popsicle stick with a marker. **I like to use jumbo size (affiliate link), but any size works!
Place them in a cup for students to grab from. I like to face them down so it’s random and a surprise character for the students.

NOTE: Want expression sticks that you can print and glue onto sticks? Check out the FREE Expression Sticks activity that’s part of my Fluency Boot Camp sampler. (Not yet a subscriber? Click here to get access all the freebies in my resource library.)

Activity Directions:

Before anything else, make sure you review what expression is and all the characters listed on the sticks.
Have students work independently or with a partner. If they’re working independently, I highly recommend having them use a whisper phone (affiliate link) so they can hear their own voices.
Students will pick a stick and read the text, focusing on changing their voices to sound like the character listed on the stick.
Most importantly, make sure the students have fun with it!