Are you looking ways to reuse reading passages in your classroom? Do you struggle with having limited copies each year? If so I have several tips for making the most of these copies.

Reading passage copies can be used for so much more than just answering the comprehension questions that come with them. They can be used to practice many other strategies.

1. Vocabulary Development

Passages can be a great way to develop vocabulary. Students can go through the passage and highlight or circle interesting or new words. These new vocabulary words can be used for students to create a journal of these new words. You could even create a class bulletin board with these new words for students to continually add to.

2. Grammar Practice

Another great use is to have students find words within passages the fit certain categories. Students could find all the verbs within the passage and highlight them in a certain color. Then they could go through and find all the nouns and do the same. Are you learning about adding suffixes? Have students find words with certain suffixes. The possibilities are endless for this strategy.

3. Phonics Word Work

Practicing phonics skills that are being taught is also a great way to reuse reading passages. Students could hunt for words with certain long vowel sounds. They could hunt for words that contain certain blends or digraphs. They could be a great way for students to practice or review phonics skills that are being taught.

4. Reading Fluency

One of the simplest ways to reuse reading passages is to have students use them for fluency practice. After we have finished using a passage, they will place it in their reading notebooks. One of their reading stations during my small group reading time is a fluency station. They can easily pull out any past reading passages and practice reading them with a partner or by themselves. If you use a program such as Seesaw, you can even have students record themselves reading their passages.

5. Sight Word Hunts

This has been one of my students’ favorite ways to reuse reading passages. After we have finished using the passage for a standard, we then go on a sight word hunt. I set a timer for 1 or 2 minutes depending on the length of the passage, give them the word I want them to hunt for, and then they see how many times they can find that word within the passage. It is a quick and fun way to have students practice sight words.

I have created a freebie just for word hunts with reading passages.

Click on the image below to check out this freebie!