While at a teacher conference in early March, I came across a bookmark from Usborne Books company titled, “10 Tips for Reading Aloud to Children.” These 10 tips are based on Jim Trelease’s “Thirty DO’s to Remember When Reading Aloud.” Then, in late March at our AMS conference in Boston, I found a link to Diane Frankenstein’s “Eleven Essential Elements” to raising children who love to read. There are so many wonderful suggestions out there for how and why to read to children. I am going to summarize and add my own experience into a common sense list of how and why to read to kids.
1. Allow children to choose among at least two to three books. Take them to the public library in your area and show them how to pick a good book. Show them how to carefully look at the front covers, flip through a few pages, and get a feeling for what the books are about. If they are beginning readers, see if they can read some of the sight words and decodable words to you. Ask why they are choosing the books they did! Children can start to relate to a genre or author they prefer with a little bit of book selection practice.
2. When sitting down to read a book together, make sure the TV is off and that there are no other distractions. You will be able to tell when children are ready to stop reading, when they become antsy or fidgety and not because they are distracted by someone or something else.
3. Before opening a book to read together, have a brief discussion about the title, author, and illustrator. Ask them what the author’s and illustrator’s jobs are, and if they don’t know, you can tell them the author writes the words and the illustrator makes the pictures. Then, ask them what they think the story will be about, which can be checked as you read. When they are old enough (around age 5), ask them if the story seems like they have real characters or made up characters within the story.
4. When reading the book together, allow children to hold the book if they can. Allow them to follow the words with your finger pointing left to right, and have them carefully turn the pages. This allows the children to understand book orientation skills, and it involves them even more in the reading process.
5. If you have been working with your children on letter sounds or common sight words they see around town, allow them to read those words in books. You can say something like, “You’ve seen this word before at the grocery store. I bet we can figure it out together.” Make sure this is done in a way that is not overwhelming to the children. You want a read aloud to remain a pleasurable thing.
6. Read slowly and with a “natural voice” and expression. Read excitedly when there are exclamations, and make sure your voice “goes up” when there is a question mark. You should read aloud like you talk in regular conversation. Slowing your reading pace makes this easier.
7. When appropriate, stop and ask, “What do you think will happen next?” Allow children to use the picture clues or previous events to support their predictions. Sometimes pictures are helpful and sometimes they are a distraction, but the children can use them. You can always say, “I pictured something different in my mind during this part of the story,” and tell them what you visualized in your imagination. Allow children to do the same, after you’ve modeled it, if they want to try.
8. If you are reading a book for a second or third (or twentieth) time, allow the children to “read” the phrases or sentences they remember. When they seem ready, help them point to the words as they say them, to develop a one-to-one correspondence with the words. Read along with them if they seem nervous about pointing to the words and saying them.
9. When the children seem ready to stop reading, or you can’t seem to read enough books to them, have them draw a picture of their favorite part or a part that reminded them of another story or their own life. Connecting with books is so important in the children’s retention and understanding of books. If they had questions during the book, and they came away learning something new from the book or your conversation, see if they will draw that part (to reinforce their new understanding). Just because you have finished reading a book does not mean you are “done” with a book. More posts on this topic will be coming soon!
10. When it is time to pick out new books at the library or bookstore, ask them which books have been their favorites. They can pick a few similar books, but encourage them to explore different genres, too. Many girls tend to prefer fairy tales and picture books, while many boys love space, sports, superheroes, and comic books. Don’t be frustrated if your child sticks with a particular series or genre. You’re doing your job as a parent if you spend a little extra time exploring different genres and expanding their horizons. Be patient and be positive about things like comic books. Look on the bright side…they are engaging stories and they do wonders for their reading expression! :)
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