Fluency Card Games for Third Grade
Third grade students are learning to read short stories. Fluent readers read with emotion and expression. Practice helps students become fluent readers and to expand their vocabulary. Card games can help third grade students with this while also enabling them to have fun. Parents and teachers can create fun card games using index cards and a marker.
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Spelling Match
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Play the spelling match game similar to the card game "Rummy." On blue index cards, write about 40 phonograms, or ending letters of words, such as -eet, -ock, -ine, and -ame. Use white cards to write blend letters that match with the phonograms to form complete words, such as str-, cl-, br- and sh-. Deal an equal number of blue cards to each third grade student. The students then take turns drawing a white card. The player tries to match the white card with a phonogram in their hand to form a complete word. If they cannot form a word, the white card is placed face up beside the stack and the next player may use that card or draw another from the stack.
Reading Race
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Make two piles of reading cards with one word on each card. Write words from third grade vocabulary and spelling lists, such as grass, well, bend, smell, fishing and kittens. Two students play against each other and against the clock to see who can read the most words in one minute. Have one student be the timekeeper by using a stop watch or an egg timer set to one minute. The student starts reading cards as fast as she can when the clock starts. If the reader cannot read a word, it is placed at the bottom of the stack and he continues reading with the next card. The students then switch places. The student who reads the most cards in one minute wins.
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X-Game Card Game
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Write some common words that the students have been studying on index cards, such as plastic, super, pencil, dog, use, bus and zipper. Draw a big red "X" on a five or six index cards, and place all the cards in a big plastic container. Mix the cards up by shaking the container. Two or more students take turns drawing a card out of the container and reading the word. The student keeps the word if she reads it correctly or puts it back in the container if he does not read it correctly. If a student draws an "X" card, he must pass one of his cards to the player on his left and put the "X" card to the side. The winner is the student with the most cards when the container is empty.
Castle Race Card Game
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Write short phrases on index cards and put these cards face down on a table. Place a box filled with interlocking building blocks, such as log building toys or interconnecting block toys beside the index cards. Students take turns drawing a card and reading the phrase. If a student reads the phrase correctly, she gets two building blocks. An incorrect reading requires the student to give a building block to the student to his left to read. The student with the tallest castle after all the cards have been read is the winner.
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