6 Easy Reading Activities for Fast Finishers

Looking for some fun, meaningful activities for fast finishers? This blog post is full of ideas for early finishers that are reading-related! There is also a freebie for you! Thanks for reading!

Reading Activities for Fast Finshers: 1

Reading itself is a favorite activity for early finishers in my room. I have a ton of children’s books, and they are just too tempting. My room is surrounded by great books! My students store 2-3 books in their book boxes that they are welcome to read or look at when they are done with their work, eating snacks (if they are careful), or waiting for something (such as a restroom break). Reading is part of our classroom culture and I give my students as many opportunities to read as I can.

Activity 2: Book Shopping

As you can imagine, one of our favorite activities for fast finishers is book shopping! We spend a lot of time learning about our classroom library, what kinds of books I have, how they are organized, how to put them away when we are done, and what to do if we can’t figure out where a book goes.

So, when we are finished with the books in our book box, we go book shopping! First, the kiddos put their “old” books away, then they can “shop” for new ones. We talk about how to shop for books. Look for a book that you are interested in, you can read most of the words, you understand the topic. We look at the cover, we read a page or two, we study the illustrations! We are savvy book shoppers. The only con about book shopping (besides the excited noises the kiddos make when they find a great book) is that students are out of their seats, so it can be a bit distracting. We usually do book shopping during times that being out of our seats won’t be a distraction.

I also have some super fun book shopping challenges! You can read more about those HERE!

Activities for Fast Finishers 3: Reading Responses

Students sometimes need some time to think and process what they are reading! One great way to do that is to respond to reading! There are so many great ways that students can respond to what they are reading! Of course, our favorite way is to talk about the books that we are reading. Of course, this can also be distracting). I try to give my students 5 or so minutes at the end of reading time to talk about their books with their friends. This goes a long way in getting kiddos excited about reading. They often get ideas for the books that they want to read next.

Written reading responses are another way to go. I have my students keep a Reading Response Journal. It is a super simple little journal made of responses stapled together. When they finish a book that they like, or they don’t like, they do a reading response. Then, when we have time, we share our responses. This journal contains whatever kind of response that I would like my students to focus on. At the beginning of the year we do reading responses together.

As the year goes on, the students respond on their own. These reading response journals are a great way to hold students accountable for their reading. They are also great for small reading groups. You can create different reading response journals for your different reading groups! It is a perfect way to differentiate. You can find my reading response journals HERE!

Activity 4: Book Recommendations

Another one of the activities for fast finishers that my students LOVE is to recommend books to each other. There are lots of super easy ways for students to recommend books to each other! I love THESE book teaser bookmarks by This Reading Mama! I have a stack of them in my writing center so the kiddos can use them to write about a book that they love and put it in our book display, or give it to another student!

A super simple idea is sticky notes! Students write who they are recommending the book to and why, then, stick it on the book, and put the book on their friend’s desk! Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

Or, have a book recommendation display or poster. Students can write the name of the book and why they think someone would like it, and stick it on the poster or display. Then, when students need a new book, they can check out the poster or display to choose a new book!

Reading Activities for Fast Finishers 5: Computer Ideas

My students LOVE to read on the computer. This is great for fluency and listening comprehension. We have several sites that we use regularly! I am not affiliated with any of these sites, they are just ones that we use regularly and enjoy!

FREE Sites: Storyline Online, EPIC (free during the school day), Tumblebooks, and Just Books Read Aloud. I am also in a Facebook group for people who are Bitmoji crazy (guilty). They often post “libraries” that they make in google slides and use their Bitmoji to decorate. Interested in checking it out? You can find it HERE! I often find fun free “libraries” that I post in our Learning Management System for my students to access.

Paid Sites: Razkids, Lyrics2learn, and Vooks!

Sight Word Games: Activities for Fast Finishers 6

Games are always a hit! My students love to play with these fun sight word games. They are super easy to assemble. You just need the game mats, pattern blocks, and dice! I put these into Ziploc baggies and the students can grab and go. They can play on their own or with a partner. They sometimes do take a while, so I have the kiddos who don’t finish the game leave them set up so they can come back to them later. You could also make copies of the pattern block words and have them color them with crayons or markers instead of building them with pattern blocks!

Want to try them? Sign up for my newsletter to get your fun freebie:

Want to get them for your classroom? You can find all the ones that I have in my store HERE!

Thanks so much for stopping by and reading my post! Pin the image below for later when you need some fun ideas to Teach Happy! Thanks again!