Free Reading Response Activities for K-2 Students

In this post I’m sharing FREE, standards-based Reading Response Activities for Kindergarten, first and second grade students. These activities make a meaningful no-prep literacy center, small group activity or whole class lesson.

There is nothing better seeing kids share their excitement about what they’ve read.  I love having discussions about books and hearing students’ thoughts and ideas about what they have read.  Discussion is certainly valuable, but if the goal is to raise reading achievement, writing about text is more beneficial than talking about the text.  

Reading response activities are a popular way to get kids writing about what they have read.  They offer opportunities for students to strengthen their reading comprehension and give students practice in specific skills such as retelling, predicting, sequencing, visualizing and more. 

When students have to do the same response activity over and over again it can take joy away from the actual reading. That’s something none of us want, so having a variety of response activities is key. Allowing students some choice in how they respond keeps them motivated and excited to complete the task.    

But no need to start searching for different ways for your students to respond to their reading! Today I’m happy to share a variety of FREE reading response activities for kindergarten, first and second grade students! 

Free Reading Response Activities

These FREE reading response activities are fully aligned with common core standards and can be used with both fiction and non-fiction texts.  

Each response printable comes in two different versions. The first version can be used with any book you choose, while the second is designed to be used with specific titles from EPIC!

Not familiar with EPIC? Take a look at this post where I shared information on how to create your own FREE educator account.  An EPIC account will give you access to all the titles linked in this resource. Students can read or listen to these books in the classroom or at home.

Each book from EPIC comes with 3-5 standards-based activities. This allows you to give students choice in how they respond and will help to keep them motivated and engaged. 

Teaching first or second grade students remotely??  Need this resource in a digital form?  No problem! The first and second grade reading response activities come in both digital and printable files.  

How to Use Reading Response Activities

Wondering how to use these reading response activities?  There are lots of options! 

💗 Use them as a no-prep literacy center activity! Making it a center activity ensures you fit “responding to reading” into your day.  All you have to do is print the response sheets out!

💗 Make them a follow-up activity to your small group guided reading lessons.

💗 Use them in a whole group reading lesson.  After a class read aloud, work together to fill out a response sheet. This is a great way to provide students with extra support before you ask them to complete the activities on their own.

💗 Finally, they make a meaningful, no-prep activity for a substitute teacher.

Ready to start using these FREE Reading Response Activities in your Kindergarten, first, or second grade classroom?? Simply fill out this form below I’ll send the activities directly to your inbox!   

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Looking for more ways to get your students responding to reading? Check out my Reading Response Resources for kindergarten, first or second grade!  

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