9 Easy to Prep Back to School ELA Activities

Here is a great way to save time and sanity with these easy-to-prep back-to-school ELA activities. It is that time when we welcome new little learners into our classroom and our hearts. Time is precious as we have all the things to do and a growing to-do list, but not a lot of time to get things on the list checked off.

Letters and Sound Matching

Check out this letter and sound-matching activity. It comes with three different versions of I Can statements that do level-matching abilities. One set has upper and lowercase letter matching, one has letter and sound matching, and the last has upper and lowercase matching with the sound like is shown above. What a fun way to see who knows what the first few weeks of school!

Letter and Sound Puzzles

The next activity is themed letter and sound puzzles. Since this set has a back-to-school theme, the puzzles also have a back-to-school theme. You can see the Ff for folder, Dd for desk, and Aa for apple. Use the letters and sounds you have covered or the whole alphabet. The choice is yours and easy to help you level activities for your students. Now, this is an easy-to-prep Back-to-school ELA activity!

Real and Nonsense Words Game

One of the first things we have to assess is who knows what real and nonsense words are. Well, when you have a room full of new eyes and lots of skills to assess, this is hard. Why not play a game in small groups? This game can be teacher-led and allow students to practice real or nonsense words OR read nonsense words. You can use your own word lists or modify this game by breaking down the sounds to see if they can tell you the word. Another option is to ask them for syllables, segments, or initial sounds for the words. What a fun and simple way to let the learner have FUN while the teacher gathers data they can use.

Building CVC Words

This activity may only be used with your higher students but maybe not! This game works on building CVC words. You will see four color-coded options, perfect for 4 students to use independently or 8 in pairs in small groups. Students use the picture to help them build the CVC word. You can use just short a, e, i, o, or u or any combination depending on what sounds you have covered. (This game also comes with CVC printables.)

Writing CVC Words

Next, to help with leveling skills, you also get 4 versions of this writing CVC words activity. They can follow the I Can Statement on this easy-to-prep back-to-school ELA activity… or keep reading to see how to make this work for younger students who may not be ready to write CVC words yet.

Again, many Kindergarten students will not be ready for this WRITING activity back to school, but what if you use these for phonemic awareness instead? Students can use these blocks to work on initial, middle, or ending sounds. They can also tap out the sounds on the picture. The possibilities are endless.

Long Vowel Matching

I know what you are thinking, long vowels for back to school? First-grade teachers may be jumping for joy. Kindergarten teachers just have options they can use now or save for later. This is a long vowel-matching game. Again you get 4 color-coded sets for students to use in small groups. (You will also get printables in this section.)

Writing Long Vowel Words

This game is the same as the matching game above, but this version allows students to write their long vowel words. You can include only the vowel or vowels you have been working on, or even use one of the matching printables. Don’t need this at the start of the year? No problem. Just save it until you are ready.

Blend Building Puzzles

These fun blend puzzles are student favorites! They love them. Each one comes with an easy and more difficult mat. Then they cut apart pieces to create the puzzle. Each pack in the bundle has a set of 4 blends puzzles, so it is good to see what they look like.

Digraph Sorts

The last activity in this easy-to-prep back-to-school ELA activity pack is this digraph sort! Each has a different theme, so this back-to-school-themed back has this crayon theme sort. SO FUN. Each pack in the bundle has a set of 5 digraph blends that you can mix and match, so it is good to see what they look like.

Looking for More Themes?

You can grab the Back to School ELA Activity Pack which is a part of this bundle.
But you can also save $$$ and grab this Bundle including 21 themed ELA activity packs, all with matching ELA activities but all with a different theme.

What about Math?

We got math covered as well… just click here.