For Other Professionals
Family Literacy Bags: Adventures in Reading
Reading Rockets has developed a set of family literacy bags to encourage hands-on fun and learning centered around paired fiction and nonfiction books.
Explore our section on Reading Together for more great family literacy ideas.
Parents who read to their children everyday and talk about what they are reading together promote a joy of reading and literacy achievement. How can teachers encourage reading at home and support the role of parents as educators? One way is through the use of family literacy bags — a paired set of theme-based fiction and nonfiction books and related interactive activities that kids bring home from school to share with their family. Just assemble everything into a two-gallon zip top bag, and they're ready to go!
"Family Literacy Bags are a great idea from Reading Rockets. I love the fact that there are clear, accessible, and easy-to-understand suggestions for parents in each PDF. The activities would be fun and educational to link to any book that suits the themes, not just the ones suggested."
— The Book Chook
What goes into each literacy bag?
- Parent information sheet with an introductory note that you can personalize, instructions about how to use the packet, and tips for sharing fiction and nonfiction books with children
- Two books: one fiction and one nonfiction, selected by Reading Rockets for high quality and wide availability in school libraries
- Creativity Activity: a hands-on craft project
- Imagination Activity: encourages imaginative play, writing, or drawing
- Get Real Activity: focuses on real-world experiences for parent and child
- Bookmark: lists the featured titles and alternative titles
Themed literacy bags
 Theme: Animals Age: Kindergarten Animals literacy bag > |
 Theme: Environment Age: Grade 1 Environment literacy bag > |
 Theme: Food Age: Kindergarten Food literacy bag > |
 Theme: Folktales Age: Grade 1 Folktales literacy bag > |
 Theme: Music Age: Kindergarten Music literacy bag > |
 Theme: Time Age: Grade 1 Time literacy bag > |
 Theme: Dinosaurs Age: Grade 1 Dinosaurs literacy bag > |
 Theme: Wild Things Age: Kindergarten Wild Things literacy bag (English and Spanish) > |
 Theme: Sleep Age: Kindergarten Sleep literacy bag > |
 Theme: What Happens Next? Age: Pre-K and K The Very Hungry Caterpillar literacy bag > |
 Theme: Green Eggs and Ham Age: Kindergarten Green Eggs and Ham literacy bag > |
 Theme: The Snowy Day Age: Kindergarten Snowy Day literacy bag (English and Spanish) > |
 Theme: Farms Age: Kindergarten Farms literacy bag > |
 Theme: Trees Age: Grade 1 The Lorax literacy bag > |
 Theme: Rocks Age: Grades 1 and 2 Rocks literacy bag > |
 Theme: Oceans Age: Grade 1 Oceans literacy bag > |
 Theme: Cooking Age: Grades 1 and 2 Cooking literacy bag > |
 Theme: Weather Age: Grades 1 and 2 Weather literacy bag > |
 Theme: Building Age: Grades 1 and 2 Building literacy bag > |
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Feedback wanted
If you use the family literacy bags in your classroom, we'd love to get feedback on how well they worked, new theme ideas, or ways to improve the packs. Contact us and select "Family Literacy Bags" from the subject field. Thank you!
To learn more, please read our article about family literacy bags.
* Si tiene alugunas preguntas o comentarios, contáctenos y seleccione "Cometarios sobre el paquete de actividades familiares."
Reading Rockets (2008)
wish all of your literacy bags were translated to Spanish
Posted by: maddburt | August 23, 2009 08:10 PMI really like the literacy bags, but do you have any for higher grades, or just K-1?
Posted by: Lynn DellaGrotta | September 29, 2009 02:18 PMThese are great they will help me supplement what my child is learning in school.
Posted by: M. Reindl | October 07, 2009 11:15 AMThese are wonderful resources; do you anticipate writing any literacy bags for older youth?
Posted by: Jenny Thompson | October 09, 2009 09:17 AMPlease add more literacy bags for Kindergarten. Also include the translations to spanish. I would do the translations contact me at this e-mail mgesparza@prodigy.netif you are interested.
Thanks
MEsparza
I used to do math bags for my kindergarden students to take home. I was working at a school where I knew the kids did not have manipulatives and such and I also knew the parents did not know exactly how and what to do with the kids. I made a ziplock full of activities that included directions and plenty of various manipulatives. I did it very inexpensively with dollar store items. The parents loved it and so did the kids. They were very proud of their bags! I can see this being the same! I love this idea. It is a great home school connection. Parents often want to work with their kids but just don't know the different things they can do and try. Great idea!
Posted by: Susan | April 08, 2010 11:21 PMThese literacy bags would be great for my 3-5 struggling readers. Are you considering bags for older readers?
Posted by: Ingrid | April 10, 2010 01:50 PMAs a daughter of a mother whose first language was Armenian, and married to a man who was born in France and whose first two languages were Armenian and French; books in Spanish are not necessary. I know that is not PC. Immersion into a foreign language as a child, promotes learning that language quicker. My mother and husband and other family members were not given ELL to learn English. My husband learned English by the time he finished second grade. My husband graduated from college speaking 3 languages fluently without an accent. My mother spoke Armenian and English by the end of second grade also. My experience as an educator is that the students who are instructed in their native language, do not learn English quickly and struggle for years with reading, writing and become dependent on bi-lingual interventions. We are not helping these students with bi-lingual instruction.
Posted by: Librarian | August 18, 2010 01:28 PMI would also love to see some Spanish materials. Librarian, this is not so much for the kids but so the parents who are not benefiting from daily English instruction can feel connected to their child's education through this activity.
Posted by: Kal | September 15, 2010 07:58 PMWow. These literacy bags are a wonderful idea. This will come in handy for homeschool parents. You can make all kinds of bags in whatever subject you are working on at home. They can even be grade oriented. Thanks so much for the idea. It opens up a whole new realm for homeschooling families.
Posted by: Hope | February 17, 2011 01:28 PMThank you! These are wonderful. Thanks for sharing - they are helpful and they are designed attractively, as well - very much appreciated.
Posted by: Kelly | February 19, 2011 06:51 PMCan you offer more bags for the pre-K crowd? As a member of a home daycare association, we would really benefit from those!
Posted by: Michelle S | February 28, 2011 04:07 PMthank you for sharing these ideas. they are very helpful.
Posted by: shama | April 10, 2011 01:36 AMI read through the materials for the "Oceans" literacy bag and thought it was fabulous. However, I was disappointed when I didn't find any literacy bags for 2nd grade. I will likely make some myself, but as teachers there's so much that we make ourselves. It would be so helpful to find this kind of resource on your awesome web site.
Posted by: Ilona | June 11, 2011 01:53 PMI have been looking for something like this and was so thrilled to find this resource. I would love more. I'm ordering the books through thriftbooks and getting the bags ready to use for this fall.
Posted by: Melissa | June 16, 2011 03:17 PMThese bags are wnderful. I do my own so this is very helpful. Is there anyway to send post a pdf bibliography of all the books used in these bags and also a materials list? It would be so much easier to gather the materials and put together the bags. I also include a journal in my bags so the families can add a picture of them doing the activity or reading together and they can write a blurp about it!
Posted by: Lisa | July 14, 2011 10:13 AMI love this idea! Do you have plans for extending it to 3-4 or even 5th grade?? Thanks!
Posted by: Beth | September 08, 2011 10:35 AMI am a new daycare provider and I'm always looking for more and different ways to educate the younger kids. Do you have any more of these wonderful bag ideas for Preschool level children?
Posted by: April | January 08, 2012 09:07 AMThese literacy bags are a great resource; however, they are not easy to find. Could you set up a link on the homepage or include links under topics on the homepage?
Posted by: Janet | January 14, 2012 01:04 PM
Comments
I think your family literacy bags are wonderful, but I think it would help if you would provide a site from which to purchase the books. I have most of the fiction books, but the non-fiction books I do not have.
Posted by: Martha Faust | August 13, 2009 04:25 PM