It’s that time of year…May! The testing window is open, attention spans are closing, and if you’re like most elementary teachers, you’re doing Olympic-level juggling to keep routines going while pushing for academic growth. If you’ve ever wished for “just a little more time in the day” to support reading and writing, you’re definitely not alone. But here’s the thing: literacy instruction doesn’t have to be limited to your ELA block.
In fact, some of the strongest literacy growth can happen in the in-between moments—during math, science, social studies, even transitions or specials. With just a few intentional moves, you can support foundational skills, vocabulary, comprehension, and writing across the entire day—and it doesn’t have to feel like “one more thing.” Let’s break it down by subject, with ideas for both K–2 and 3–5 learners!
In this post, we’ll explore 3 ways AI can support your reading instruction—not with gimmicks but with meaningful, measurable benefits for students and teachers alike.
Literacy & Math
Math isn’t just about numbers – it’s about how we think. Whether your students are solving story problems, justifying a solution, or noticing a pattern, they’re already using language to make meaning. That’s literacy!
K–2 Ideas:
- Use sentence stems like “I solved it by…” or “I noticed…” Have students write a couple of sentences to explain how they solved a particular problem or revised their work.
- Invite students to create their own math story problems and illustrate them, using transition words like first, next, then, and last.
- Build a mini word wall for math terms (more, less, equal, altogether) with pictures and examples to develop students’ content vocabulary.
3–5 Ideas:
- Incorporate math journals where students reflect on their strategy choices and determine which strategy would be the most efficient.
- Push students to explain their thinking in writing: “Division was the best strategy because the question asked for equal parts.”
Something to try this week: Add in a quick Number Talk daily, where students turn and talk using a sentence frame to discuss and/or write about the math concepts they notice in a real-life picture.
Literacy & Science
Science is all about curiosity, and it’s packed with opportunities to read nonfiction, write about experiments, and use precise vocabulary.
K–2 Ideas:
- Have students draw and label observations from an investigation using domain-specific vocabulary.
- Do shared writing based on class experiments (“First we poured the water…”) to review the genre-based writing process.
- Read short nonfiction texts aloud and model how to use pictures, captions, and headings to build comprehension.
3–5 Ideas:
- Use science notebooks to record hypotheses, procedures, and conclusions. Reinforce students’ understanding of paragraph structure and using specific evidence.
- Introduce mini-research projects driven by student interest and choice to build skills like note-taking, summarizing, and paraphrasing.
Something to try this week: Create a science word wall! Keep science word banks visible and student-friendly with domain-specific vocabulary, student-written definitions, and visuals they help create!
Literacy During Routines & Transitions
Hidden pockets of time can be a perfect time to reinforce common and necessary language skills! Some of the best moments for building and solidifying literacy skills are the quiet (or chaotic) ones, like on the way to lunch, during centers, or while waiting for specials. And the “special” spaces like art, music, and P.E. can be full of reading, writing, and speaking, too.
K–2 Ideas:
- Give clues for a mystery word to release students to pack up at the end of the day.
“I’m thinking of a word that starts with /b/ and rhymes with ‘cat’.”
“I’m thinking of a word with a digraph at the end that starts with /d/.” This builds phonemic awareness and vocabulary with minimal prep!
- Line up! Have students listen for specific sounds, syllables, or vowel patterns in their names as you line up to transition to a new space. “Line up if your name starts with the /s/ sound!”
“Line up if your name has a long vowel pattern!”
- Highlight new vocabulary! After a read-aloud or content mini-lesson, repeat a new word and have students echo it with a motion. Then use it in a sentence.
Teacher: “Whimper! Everyone says, ‘whimper’.”
Students: “Whimper!” (make a sad face)
Teacher: “If you whimper, you make a quiet, sad sound.”
3–5 Ideas:
- Post a new content-area word on the board. As students line up, ask for a synonym, antonym, definition, or a sentence using the word correctly.
“Who can use ‘erosion’ in a sentence that shows what it means?”
“What’s a stronger word than ‘nice’ to describe that character?”
- Keep transitions between subject areas playful by asking students to edit a sentence on the board with a grammar or punctuation mistake.
“Fix this sentence before we start: we our going to revyoow four the science test on friday.”
These short bursts of literacy work help build fluency, vocabulary, and writing craft, even when time is tight. Transitions don’t have to feel like lost minutes – they can become some of the most joyful and surprising learning moments of the day.
So, How Do We Make It Stick?
Start small. Choose one part of your day – maybe science or math – and build in a simple literacy habit. A 3-minute writing reflection. A partner discussion with a sentence stem. A quick vocabulary sketch.
What matters most is not having the perfect literacy integration plan. It’s about being intentional and consistent, one moment at a time! Let’s stop thinking of literacy as one more thing to squeeze in—and start seeing it as the thread that weaves every subject together.
📸 Are you integrating literacy across the day in your classroom? We’d love to see how it’s going! Tag us on Instagram or Facebook with your photos, anchor charts, or student work – your ideas inspire us and your fellow teachers!
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