Happy Birthday, America!
Fireworks, barbecues, and red, white, and blue!
I have found that my students enjoy getting to read articles, especially when I tell them to break out the highlighters! At the bottom of this post, you will find a link to some articles that will deepen your child’s understanding of why we celebrate the 4th of July. These articles are from ReadWorks, a database full of articles on a multitude of topics. The best part? You can create a free account! Their passages also have vocabulary activities and question sets, or you can use the question sets that I created below.
I wasn’t joking about the highlighters! Have your child read the article once through, supporting them only where they need it. They will appreciate your patience as they work hard to recognize different phonics patterns and read fluently. Once they have read it through once, have them highlight the sentence that best tells what the article is about. Next, have them highlight vocabulary words that support the main idea. After the excitement of highlighting, have your child write down at least one new thing they learned and one question they have. Follow up with a question set to strengthen your child’s reading comprehension!
Below you will find the articles as well as the question sets that I created. I provided three different passages, all at three different levels. If your child is not at one of those levels, there are plenty of other passages on ReadWorks tailored to different reading levels.
Articles:
The Declaration of Independence (1st Grade)
July 4th - Independence Day (2nd Grade)
The Declaration of Independence (4th Grade)
Question Sets:
1st Grade - The Declaration of Independence
