Creating Bookworms: The Read Aloud

As a new school year begins for most students, I believe it’s a good time to renew our commitment to our children.  This includes ways to include daily literacy activities for our youngest children.  This month on Literacy Toolbox, I will share ways parents and educators can work to create their own little bookworms.

Two decades ago in Becoming a Nation of Readers (Anderson, Hiebert, Scott, & Wilkinson, 1985) reading aloud was called “the single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading” (p. 23).  I’ve written about read alouds before and I’ll continue to write about them because I believe that they are so important in our children’s daily literacy life.  Children absorb everything we say and do.  How many times have you heard something come out of your child’s mouth that sounds just like you?  Reading can have the same effect.  If our children see us read or hear us read, they will want to be just like us!  Reading aloud to our children goes a long way to creating little bookworms!

Chances are, if you are reading this, you already know the importance of reading aloud and probably do so every day.  I will simply provide you with a few resources to help you along the way:

The Read-Aloud Handbook: Sixth Edition by Jim Trelease

Reading Magic: Why Reading Aloud to Our Children Will Change Their Lives Forever by Mem Fox

What Should I Read Aloud? A Guide to 200 Best-selling Picture Books by Nancy Anderson

What to Read When: The Books and Stories to Read with Your Child–and All the Best Times to Read Them by Pam Allyn

Do you have any “go-to” resources to create bookworms out of your children?

©2010 by Dawn Little for Literacy Toolbox. All Rights Reserved.  All Amazon links are affiliate links and may result in my receiving a small commission. This is at no additional cost to you.

Parent Reading Resources: Reading Magic: Why Reading Aloud to Our Children Will Change Their Lives Forever by Mem Fox

This month I plan to post resources to help parents as they try to raise a reader.  Perhaps through the resources I share, you’ll find something to help you engage your child in reading over the summer (and beyond!).

Reading Magic: Why Reading Aloud to Our Children Will Change Their Lives Forever is another **must have**  resource for parents.  Mem Fox, a renowned Australian author, begins the book with an anecdote about her own daughter.  When her daughter begins kindergarten, she learns from her teacher that she can in fact already read.  “How?” asks Fox.  The answer: from the time she was born until she set foot in kindergarten, Fox read aloud to her.  That was all it took.  This is a powerful anecdote to say the least; but one that I hold personally true, because my son began kindergarten the same way.  Of course, this is not to say that if you read aloud to your child every day from the time they are born until they step foot in kindergarten that they will be reading by kindergarten.  All children learn differently and learning to read is developmental.  Reading aloud to your child provides an amazing advantage for your child and certainly prepares him/her to become a reader.  Don’t be discouraged if your child begins kindergarten and is not a reader yet.  It will come in time.

In Reading Magic: Why Reading Aloud to Our Children Will Change Their Lives Forever, Fox explains that babies are born learners.  She discusses the importance of books in the home and stresses the value of a read-aloud ritual – all topics you’ve likely seen in posts here!

While Fox does include a chapter on how to read aloud, which may be helpful to some parents, she does not include age-appropriate reading lists for parents.  For this reason alone, I would likely pair Reading Magic with Jim Trelease’s, The Read Aloud Handbook.

Still, Reading Magic: Why Reading Aloud to Our Children Will Change Their Lives Forever is another great resource that will serve parents well as they work to raise readers in their home.

©2010 by Dawn Little for Literacy Toolbox. All Rights Reserved.  All Amazon links are affiliate links and may result in my receiving a small commission. This is at no additional cost to you.