Tips and tricks to help your reader take on the HPAS Reads Bingo Card Challenge! (And the cards themselves if you need to reprint, or your child wants to switch to a different reader level.)
Turn in your Bingo Card by November 2nd for a chance to win a prize.
HPAS Reads Early Reader Bingo Card
A simple guide to help you and your Early Reader (who is probably getting better at instructions these days) figure out how to mark their squares!
There are 16 challenges. Some kids might like to do a bunch at once. Others might be slow and steady or need a little reminder. They can turn in their Bingo Card even if it isn’t complete.
“Connections to Curriculum” are pointed out when a book may support a part of the Science or Social Studies curriculum.
We also have great podcasts, a website and an app suggested by HPAS teachers for Emergent Readers. Please note: We cannot post TDSB Logins & Passwords publicly, online.
If a website you visit requires a login & passwords, please refer to the TDSB Learnmark, that can be found linked in your Google Classroom, or reach out to our Librarian Kelly Iggers at Kelly.Iggers@tdsb.on.ca for more information.
HPAS Reads is about getting kids excited about reading, and changing up the routine a little bit! Early Readers are gaining mastery of new skills along the road to becoming independent readers. We hope some of these activities can be fun steps along the way.
Bingo Card
- Read a book about a special day – Connection to Curriculum: Grade 2 Changing Family and Community Traditions. Grade 1 Daily and Seasonal Changes. Young readers always enjoy reading stories about their special days their community celebrates, and learning about the celebrations of others. This can also help children make month to season associations, and understand annual (or other) patterns.
- Draw a picture of the setting of a book you have read – Separating story elements; characters, setting and events, is a skill that helps develop reading comprehension. Paying attention to setting helps readers visualize a story and predict events. Drawing is always good for building hand strength and increasing control of lines.
- Read a book you like to someone else – Reading aloud can be a challenging, but rewarding skill. Whether the student reads to a grown up or a sibling or friend sharing a story is a wonderful feeling. Children may be encouraged to read aloud to a stuffed animal or a pet if they aren’t ready to read to another person yet – many dogs love being read to!
- Read half a storybook: Make two guesses about what happens next – This a reading comprehension and prediction exercise. The point isn’t to get it right. Many stories could take different paths from the midpoint. The point is to relate your guess to something from the first half of the story. Maybe if you were the writer it would have a different ending! Grown-up helpers: these aren’t meant to be too detailed. Just take a pause at a point when the problem in the story hasn’t been resolved yet and see what your young reader thinks!
- Build a Scene From a Book You’ve Read – A challenge for our builders! Use building blocks or pebbles – whatever you’ve got. What is important to include? What could you leave out? This challenges kids to interpret and reimagine.
- Read a Book About Water, Snow or Ice – Connection to Curriculum: Grade 2 Properties of Liquids and Solids, Grade 2 Air and Water in the Environment, Grade 1 Daily and Seasonal Changes. There are lots of great choices including Nibi’s Water Song, Over and Under the Snow and The Story of Snow.
- Make a list of words that start with your favourite letter – This challenge gets kids writing, thinking about phonics and spelling. The list doesn’t have to be long. Young readers might have a laugh watching Sesame Street’s Bert sing his ode to the letter L “La La La” to get inspiration for this task.
- Read a New (to you) Book by the Author of a Book You Have Liked – This task is to get kids thinking a bit about the people who make the books they love (maybe beyond the characters in a series), and teach library skills. Plus we hope that author (or illustrator) they liked has some other books they will enjoy just as much!
- Watch a video with subtitles or closed captioning turned on – Reading at the speed of speech is a challenging skill, but reading along (even skipping over things when it gets too fast) can build vocabulary and train eye movement along lines of text. If you are a no screens or low screens household consider adapting this to playing an audiobook reading of a story your child owns so they can read along with the book while the audio plays.
- Help make a grocery list – Encourage your reader to write down some of the things you need to get at the store. They can check labels on cans and jars or text on boxes. Along with getting them to write short words and phrases, this encourages environmental reading, and the concept that reading is everywhere, not just in books.
- Read a book about an animal – Connection to Curriculum: Grade 1 Needs and Characteristics of Living Things, Grade 2 Growth and Changes in Animals, Grade 4 Habitats and Communities.
- Make a word cloud about your favourite animal – A word cloud is an artistic arrangement of words that make you think of something. This encourages use of adjectives, as well as knowledge your reader has about their favourite animal. Helpful prompts might be Where does it live? What colours can it be? When would you see it? Is it fast/slow? Etc … Show your reader some word cloud examples to get then excited about writing in different colours and making art about something they love. (If your reader isn’t into animals at all – feel free to adapt this to something they do love – there’s nothing wrong with a word cloud about a favourite vehicle or flower! And those both connect to curriculum too!)
- Read a Book About Someone Who Lives in a Different County – Connection to Curriculum Grade 2 Global Communities. Suggestions include The Water Princess, The Ocean Calls and Soccer Fence.
- Draw a Character from a Book You’ve Read – Drawing improves the same skills children need for writing. This can be copying a picture from a picture book or coming up with an interpretation of story from the imagination.
- Recommend a book to a friend – This is just a great way to find new books to read and connect with friends.
- Listen to a Podcast – Our librarian, Kelly Iggers, has offered some recommended podcasts below. And teacher Kelly Fricker recommends Earth Rangers which is pictured on the Bingo Card. Podcasts are great sources of interviews, fiction, radio-drama and in-depth reporting that kids are likely to use as they continue their studies.
Podcasts
Deep Blue Sea (Spodify)
Climb aboard submarine Sea Lab Alpha to join underwater explorers Marina and Reef on awesome adventures in the magical oceans covering our planet. Meet amazing sea creatures, learn tons of fun facts, and discover ways to protect the oceans these creatures call home. Parents, this is perfect for young explorers (3-5).
Bobby Wonder (GoKidGo)
Bobby just found out he’s from another planet, he has superpowers, and Mighty Mila is out to get him! At least protecting his hometown of Pflugerville will be a little easier with Grabstack, his constant companion, at his side.
Whale of a Tale (GoKidsGo)
Zavia and Atlas are a 10-year old sister and brother with different temperaments and skills but one big common interest: fearlessly exploring the vast ocean while driving around in their home — a high tech whale-shaped submarine!
Molly of Denali
Meet Molly Mabray, an Alaska Native girl growing up with her parents, family, and friends. Over eight episodes, Molly and her friend Tooey discover the identity of a mysterious creature that has stolen Molly’s birthday cake.
The Radio Adventures of Dr Floyd
This family friendly new twist on “old time radio” features the adventures and exploits of the World’s Most Brilliant Scientist, Dr. Floyd! Join Dr. Floyd as he tries to thwart the plans of his evil arch nemesis, Dr. Steve, all the while learning about the people and events that shaped the history of the Earth.
Websites
https://storyonline.net
The SAG-AFTRA Foundation’s Daytime Emmy®-nominated and award-winning children’s literacy website, Storyline Online®, streams videos featuring celebrated actors reading children’s books alongside creatively produced illustrations. Readers include Oprah Winfrey, Chris Pine, Rosario Dawson, Viola Davis, Terry Crews, Connie Britton, John Lithgow, Jennifer Garner, Betty White and dozens more.
https://site.pebblego.com/modules (ask your childs teacher for login details)
PebbleGo is a curricular content hub specifically designed for K-2 students. Packed with informational articles, ready-made activities, and literacy supports for students of all abilities, it boosts engagement and fosters independent learning in core subject areas.
Apps
Tumblebooks – This App lets kids view animated versions of favourite books.
Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash