February Literacy Products for Grades 3-5

January is flying by, and it’s time to look ahead to February. This upcoming month has several celebrations, and it’s a great time to link these observances to your reading lessons. If you’re a teacher or reading interventionist in grades 3-5, the following February literacy products for grades 3-5 and freebies may help you in your planning. Check these out!

Martin Luther King, Jr., Literacy Bundle

Low Prep Packet

This bundle of resources has several activities you can do with children in observance of Black History Month. The first activity is a low-prep literacy packet about Martin Luther King’s life. When you assign this packet, kids will review grammar and reading comprehension. They will also get math problem solving activity. Finally, your students will end the packet by making a timeline of Dr. King’s life. This inexpensive resource is perfect for independent work during small groups, your substitute folder, long weekend homework, or a make-ahead assignment if forecasts call for several snow days in a row.

Moveable Passages

The bundle also takes care of your small group literacy plans for a few days in a row. The “moveable literacy” passages will give students a chance to work collaboratively on sequencing, questioning, and determining importance. Dr. King’s life is divided into three separate topics. There are three lower level passages and three upper level passages. I divided all six passages into large print chunks on separate pages.  Students work together to sequence the pages in logical order by matching statements and supporting details. Once they organize the passages, they look at phrases on strips of paper. Students must then determine which phrase reflects the title of the passages, and which phrases are subtitles. After they complete that task, they then look at questions written on strips. Kids will finally match the questions to the sections where they find their respective answers. My fourth and fifth grade reading intervention students have really enjoyed this activity.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Writing Prompt Freebie

These free writing task cards take quotes from Dr. King and turn them into writing prompts that kids can use during their center time or journal time. These can be used in grades 4-8 with some adaptations. Teachers have shared that they use these cards promote both deep discussions and thoughtful written responses from students. Give these a download and enjoy! It’s also included in the above bundle! These are all fun February literacy products for grades 3-5.

Snow Day Integrated Literacy and Math Packet

 Is there a winter storm in your school community’s forecast? Do you have a long winter weekend coming up and need an assignment for students? “A Snow Day” is the product for you! This is a no-prep long-weekend packet that students can use to practice their math and literacy skills. This activity includes an interactive story. Throughout the story, students answer questions and complete activities. The packet covers math problem solving, vocabulary, cause and effect, inferencing, and predicting. This packet is great for independent classroom work or for center activities. It will also help you keep your students on-track during an unexpected “snowcation!” Teachers have shared with me that this product was fun for their students and worked beautifully for long weekend homework or for unexpected school closures.

Bud, Not Buddy Quick Quote Task Cards

I love Christopher Paul Curtis’s novel, Bud, Not Buddy. Bud is such a strong and relatable character. Curtis’s writing lends itself to so many great discussions. This is the perfect novel to add to your upper elementary celebrations of Black History Month.

I created this set of writing task cards to keep the discussion and writing going in your classroom as you read. These task cards contain multiple quotes from the book. Many of the twenty task cards in this set focus on comparing and contrasting two pieces of text. Additionally, students have numerous opportunities to develop their higher order thinking, grammar skills, and reading comprehension with this product.

The cards at the end of the product have writing prompts to correspond with the themes in the novel. These thought-provoking writing assignments can be clipped together on a ring for a literacy center or used as part of a a daily writing assignment. I’ve included a recording sheet and answer key.
Additionally, I have created an additional product in my TPT store to help teach text structures. This set of activities pairs beautifully with this novel study because the enclosed passages all connect with the Great Depression.

Valentine’s Day Decodables

I created these decodable texts for my striving readers in third grade. I send these foldable decodable books home with my third grade intervention students so they can practice blends and r-controlled vowels. If you have intervention students in any grade who are working on these skills, these will incorporate Valentine’s Day while allowing them to practice phonics skills they struggle with.

Enjoy these February Literacy Products for Grades 3-5!

Hopefully, these products will help you plan for February, connect with power celebrations, and really engage your upper elementary students! If you have students in intervention don’t forget to check out the last post I shared on literacy products for grades K-2. More decodable packets are included there! Happy Teaching!