Easy Summer Structured Literacy Activities for Summer School ELA

Research suggests that the average student loses an entire month of learning over the summer. Summer reading homework and summer school can help, but many teachers don’t have high-quality structured literacy resources for summer.

Whether you’re teaching summer school ELA, prepping summer literacy activities for your students to take home, or looking for engaging structured literacy resources for the end of the school year, I’ve got some easy summer structured literacy activities to share with you.

These activities can be used for 2nd, 3rd, 4th, or 5th grade students who need a little extra literacy support. I’m also sharing an example summer school ELA schedule and my tips for making summer school a breeze!

Activity #1: Summer Reading Comprehension Passages for Simple Small Group Lessons

First, if you’re teaching summer school ELA, I recommend incorporating small-group reading lessons into your routine.

Keep summer reading groups simple. Start with high-quality reading passages that provide all-in-one decoding, fluency, and comprehension practice.

Each group can focus on just one passage a week. Repeated readings are great for building fluency! You may not meet with every student every day, since your time will be more limited.

If your students need targeted phonics support, grab these summer decodable reading passages. Each passage focuses on a different phonics skill, making them a great option if you have students at a wide variety of skill levels.

For students who no longer need decodables but still need structured practice, I like using informational texts with engaging summer topics.

Here are a few of my favorites for summer:

• The Solar System
• Life Cycle of a Butterfly
• Wildfires
• Tornadoes

Activity #2: Summer Handwriting Practice Packet for Easy Independent Work

So, what are the other students doing while you’re meeting with small groups? One great option is this summer handwriting practice packet.

These make a great summer school activity because they’re no-prep and easy for students to complete independently. Plus, handwriting is an important skill for brain development, memory, spelling, and reading.

Each page has fun facts about summer-themed topics to keep students learning and writing. You can have students do one page per day. Set it and forget it!

This handwriting packet is also great for students to work on at home over the summer. There is also a cursive version!

Activity #3: Summer Syllable Division Worksheets for Struggling Readers

Upper elementary students who struggle with reading often need support with multisyllabic words. These syllable division worksheets provide practice with dividing, decoding, and spelling two-syllable and three-syllable words.

These worksheets make another great small-group activity or independent work option. They’re a great way to review syllable types and syllable division rules with fun summer-themed words.

Activity #4: Summer Grammar Packet for Engaging ELA Review

Lastly, this summer grammar review packet is for when you need something fun and no-fuss. Most of the worksheets involve coloring and don’t require much writing, so they’re perfect for sweaty and sluggish students.

I love these for end-of-year review or summer school ELA. They can be used for whole group activities, centers, independent work, partner work, or even sub plans. Just keep in mind that struggling readers may need some support with these.

Summer School ELA Schedule

Here is an example of how I would structure a 90-minute summer school ELA block to keep it as simple and efficient as possible.

If you have less than 90 minutes to teach ELA, just cut out one small group. You may need to alternate groups every other day.

Bonus Tips for Making Summer School a Breeze

I taught summer school during my first three years as a teacher in Western NY, and my school did not have air conditioning. 🥵

Despite the heat, it brought in some nice extra income, and I liked that it kept me in a routine!

Here are my tips for making summer school successful but not stressful:

1. Keep it simple: If I could give only one tip, this would be it. Choose activities that don’t require a lot of planning, materials, or preteaching. Pick things that will be engaging for students but easy for you.
2. Create easy routines: Treat the first day of summer school like the first day of school. Establish routines and expectations right away, but make them as easy as possible for you and your students:
   • Rather than having students bring their own school supplies, use shared bins of pencils, crayons, scissors, etc. (as long as your school provides them).
   • Have a morning activity page ready to go on students’ desks or in a basket by the door so they know exactly what to do every morning.
   • Always allow more time than you think you’ll need for transitions.
3. Focus on foundational skills: Prioritize activities that strengthen foundational skills, even if they seem simple. Here are some examples:
   • Fine motor skills (handwriting, tracing, cutting, coloring)
   • Phonics skills (decoding, spelling, phonemic awareness, syllable division)
   • Basic writing skills (complete sentences, capitalization, punctuation)
   • Knowledge building (reading & learning about real-world topics)
4. Get outside: It’s okay to give students extra recess during summer school. You can even grab clipboards and do some schoolwork outdoors. We always took spray bottles out with us, and if students got too hot, they could ask for a spritz! 😅
5. Have time-fillers: In summer school, things don’t always go as planned. (I once had a student get dropped off at the wrong school!) Have some easy timer-fillers ready for when you need them. Here are some I have used:
   • Read aloud on Storyline Online
   • Which one doesn’t belong game
   • Educational videos (my kids loved Wild Kratts while they waited for the bus)
   • Heads Up, Seven Up or Mum Ball

You can get any of the activities mentioned in this post by clicking on the images. I’m also listing them below:

Small Group Reading Passages:

• Summer Decodable Texts
• The Solar System
• Life Cycle of a Butterfly
• Wildfires
• Tornadoes

Independent Work Options:

• Summer Handwriting Packet
• Summer Cursive Packet
• Summer Syllable Division Worksheets
• Summer Grammar Review Worksheets

Other Summer Activities:

• Summer Which One Doesn’t Belong Slides
• Summer Synonym Task Card Activity

Grab a few of these now to make your summer school ELA plans a breeze!☀️