Reading with Expression: 5 Teaching Tips and a Free Printable

If you’re looking for some great ways to teach your child to read with expression, you’ve come to the right place! Read on to download a fun printable activity and then read our top five tips.

Let’s start with “Round Up the Sheep.” It’s a great way to start practicing expressive reading!

Sometimes the same words can take on a completely different meaning if you say them with a different expression. For example, if you’re afraid of cats, you would use a frightened voice to say, “Look! A cat!” But if you love cats, you would use a happy, excited voice to say, “Look, a cat!” This activity is a fun way to practice this concept.

Preparing the “Round Up the Sheep” Activity

1. Download the “Round Up the Sheep” Activity.
2. Print and cut out the sheep cards, following the instructions in the activity download.
3. Place the cards in a pile with the sheep facing up.
4. Now let’s practice reading with expression!

Play “Round Up the Sheep”

Have your child choose a card from the pile. The word printed above the sheep indicates the expression with which your child should read the sentence on the back of the card.

Now have your child flip the card over to read the sentence using the indicated expression.

Continue until all the cards have been read.

5 More Ways to Teach Kids to Read with Expression

Have Fun with Emojis

Can you read this sentence—“I miss the smell of ham,” said Dan—like an angry emoji would? Download Fun with Emojis and have a ton of fun reading like an emoji in this somewhat “emotional” activity!

Model Expressive Reading

One of the very best ways to help your little robot improve his reading is to model expressive reading while reading aloud to your children. Need picture book ideas? We’ve got you covered! Download our Picture Book Library Lists.

Read Decodable Books

Decodable books like the ones used in All About Reading feature stories that flow easily and naturally, allowing beginning readers to read more smoothly and comprehend text more easily.

Use Buddy Reading

Also called partner reading or paired reading, buddy reading is a great way to model reading for your child, allowing him to hear and imitate expressive reading. Learn more in this Buddy Reading article.

Encourage Reading Fluency

Does your child read like a robot? This post is chock full of valuable tips that will help your child read with meaningful expression. Explore topics like decoding skills, reading vocabulary, phrasing, and character dialogue.

Have you discovered a great way to encourage expressive reading? I would love to hear about it in the comments below.