Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore
magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo
consequat.
Whether it’s a simple winky face or an encouraging thumbs up, emojis can bring a bit of fun to everyday communication. But did you know that you can use emojis to improve your child’s reading, too? It’s true! Here’s how.
Cut out the emoji cards, place them in a hat or basket, and shake them up.
Print the practice sheets that most accurately represent your students’ reading levels.
Cut out the sentences and place them in another hat or basket.
Playing “Fun with Emojis”
It’s time to have some “emotional” fun! Have your child choose an emoji card and a practice sentence.
Encourage your child to read his sentence with expression, using the emotion displayed on the emoji card.
Continue choosing emojis and sentences, giving your child plenty of practice reading with expression. If needed, consult the Emoji Key on page 2 for help with identifying the emotion represented by the emoji cards.
Check out how much fun our activity testers had reading with expression in the video below!
More Ways to Play
Get really emotional! Turn up the fun a notch by having your child choose one sentence and four or five emoji cards. Then have him read the sentence multiple times, with a different emotion each time.
Can the other players guess which emotions are being expressed? Give it a try!
Here’s another idea: act it out! After your child chooses a sentence and an emoji, have him read and act out his sentence … with expression, of course!
Are you an All About Reading user? Here’s a bonus idea for you: laminate your emojis and store them in an envelope. Then whenever fluency practice needs a bit of spicing up, just pull them out and emote! Fluency practice and fun at the same time? That’s what I call a win-win!
What’s your favorite way to make fluency practice fun? Let me know in the comments below!
I love this activity specifically for that reason, Donna! This activity is useful even with “cool” teens that won’t do many things because they think it’s too young.
Provide the student with fun activities that keep him motivated in reading. This emoji activity is of great support to the student to learn how to express their emotions and strengthen prosody that together with rate and accuracy we have the 3 main points of fluency.
Yes, it’s important to help keep kids motivated to read! Here are some additional ideas to help motivate kids. I hope your student enjoys the emoji activity!
Another way to use this game is to number the emojis, laminate the sheet, and use with dice. The reader rolls a number and uses that numbered emoji to read with expression. I find keeping track of little slips of paper hard, and this may help. Also helps with numeracy.
I have an Jr Hi student that struggles with fluent reading. I can use this game with multiple reading levels. Each student has their own bowl of sentences & emojis – so no one knows I have customized the sentences for each student. I use sentences on & just above my struggling reader’s level, but I also add sentences with some “50 cent” words (isthmus, colonel, choir) for my excellent readers. They all think they are just learning how to read with inflection & expression – but they are ALL working on improving their fluency as well. I love seeing my struggling reader’s (surprised & relieved) face when he sees “better” students trip on a tough word. It normalizes his struggles and improves his confidence!
That’s awesome, Penny! I love how you are customizing for each of your students and helping your struggling reader improve his confidence too. Terrific ideas!
Thank you for sharing your fabulous idea!
I’m a retired reading teacher and volunteer at our local school.
This activity will help curb the boredom for my littles!!!!
You’re welcome! This activity has proven to be a hit with all kinds of ages, from littles to even high schoolers that need some reading with expression practice.
I tend to be skeptical when I see computer-based strategies, particularly those that employ the Internet (or elements of it), but this strikes me as a great opportunity for visual learners, social learners, kinesthetic learners, and aural learners. Perhaps it can be used as a starter exercise for older students who are learning various analytical reading strategies, as well as those who need to work on tone, word choice, and sensitivity to one’s audience in their writing. Quite a few of my remedial college composition students could have benefitted from this activity before tackling more complex writing skills. Thank you for sharing!
one of the best games yet to help my kids and students with fluency. Each one at various levels really enjoys using the emojis when reading. Thank you!
brenda cotton
says:looks like lots of fun
Angela Nicole Friday
says:Oh I love this. This is an updated version of a station I used years ago. I can’t wait to use it!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceI hope you have a lot of fun with it, Angela!
Traci Beach
says:This is a fantastic and fun idea!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceThank you, Traci!
Melissa Vasquez
says:I want to incorporate the emoji’s in my small groups! Students will enjoy this.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceI hope your students have lots of fun with this activity, Melissa!
Mary Kroll
says:Oh my goodness! I teach STEAM but I am thinking how I can use these. Loving :) Awesome Job
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceI’d love to hear how you use this activity with more STEAM-related subjects, Mary!
Mary branch
says:This is such a cute idea!
Kristal B.
says:This is so cute and will encourage students to want to read!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceThank you, Kristal!
Jenn V.
says:How fun! I can’t wait to try this with my students! Thank you for sharing this.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceYou’re welcome, Jenn!
Linda Turner
says:Love the idea of using emojis
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceI hope you have a lot of fun with this activity, Linda!
Teresa Marie Barton
says:Love this!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceThank you, Teresa!
Barbara Carroll
says:This looks like fun! I can hardly wait to use it with my kids!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceI hope your kids have lots of fun with it, Barbara!
Debra LaRoy Jackson
says:I love this activity!!!!! I can not wait to try it. Thanks for the idea!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceYou’re welcome, Debra! I hope you have lots of fun with it too!
isabel Moore
says:This will be so exciting and fun to help my dyslexia students become fluent readers. Love the idea!!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceThank you, Isabel! We have found this is a great activity that students of a wide range of ages enjoy.
Donna
says:Well I think I just found a new way. The good thing about this is that it can be used with any age as Emojis are ageless. Can’t wait to mix it in!!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceI love this activity specifically for that reason, Donna! This activity is useful even with “cool” teens that won’t do many things because they think it’s too young.
Deisy R Arrechea
says:Provide the student with fun activities that keep him motivated in reading. This emoji activity is of great support to the student to learn how to express their emotions and strengthen prosody that together with rate and accuracy we have the 3 main points of fluency.
Merry
says: Customer ServiceYes, it’s important to help keep kids motivated to read! Here are some additional ideas to help motivate kids. I hope your student enjoys the emoji activity!
denise nobles
says:love this idea! can’t wait to give it a try.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceI hope your student enjoys it, Denise! We’d love to hear how it goes.
Anne Hamilton
says:My students will love this activity!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceWonderful to hear, Anne!
Deepti
says:would love to try all of the above method
Elsa
says:such a great idea!
Marian
says:Another way to use this game is to number the emojis, laminate the sheet, and use with dice. The reader rolls a number and uses that numbered emoji to read with expression. I find keeping track of little slips of paper hard, and this may help. Also helps with numeracy.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceI love this spin on this activity, Marian! Thank you for sharing it.
kriti Agrawal
says:thank u for keeping mom’s motivated love from INDIA
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceYou are so welcome, Kriti!
Jeanine Karen Johnson
says:Thank you. This is a great idea.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceI hope you have a lot of fun with it, Jeanine!
Carol Orr
says:This is such a cute fun idea. I’m looking for anything to stimulate our grandson. We want to keep him going forward.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceI’m glad you like this, Carol!
Stephanie Gordon
says:This is SO cute!!! I love this idea!!! My kids are gonna love this!
Penny B
says:I have an Jr Hi student that struggles with fluent reading. I can use this game with multiple reading levels. Each student has their own bowl of sentences & emojis – so no one knows I have customized the sentences for each student. I use sentences on & just above my struggling reader’s level, but I also add sentences with some “50 cent” words (isthmus, colonel, choir) for my excellent readers. They all think they are just learning how to read with inflection & expression – but they are ALL working on improving their fluency as well. I love seeing my struggling reader’s (surprised & relieved) face when he sees “better” students trip on a tough word. It normalizes his struggles and improves his confidence!
Merry
says: Customer ServiceThat’s awesome, Penny! I love how you are customizing for each of your students and helping your struggling reader improve his confidence too. Terrific ideas!
Grammy
says:Thank you for sharing your fabulous idea!
I’m a retired reading teacher and volunteer at our local school.
This activity will help curb the boredom for my littles!!!!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceYou’re welcome! This activity has proven to be a hit with all kinds of ages, from littles to even high schoolers that need some reading with expression practice.
ABIGAIL W
says:I tend to be skeptical when I see computer-based strategies, particularly those that employ the Internet (or elements of it), but this strikes me as a great opportunity for visual learners, social learners, kinesthetic learners, and aural learners. Perhaps it can be used as a starter exercise for older students who are learning various analytical reading strategies, as well as those who need to work on tone, word choice, and sensitivity to one’s audience in their writing. Quite a few of my remedial college composition students could have benefitted from this activity before tackling more complex writing skills. Thank you for sharing!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceYou’re welcome, Abigail. And thank you for your analysis of this activity.
Jeanie
says:I can’t wait to use it. I have a struggling reader that I tutor and he will really like this! Thank you!
Fiona
says:Seriously great idea. Students have no “naff factor” when exploring using emojis, to support practise of various skills.
Nicole Saltsman
says:one of the best games yet to help my kids and students with fluency. Each one at various levels really enjoys using the emojis when reading. Thank you!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceYou’re welcome, Nicole! I especially like that you are able to use these with each of your students at varying levels of reading.