Why It's Important to Read Aloud @ Home
Taken from The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease ... A book about teaching children to want to read.
Taken from The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease ... A book about teaching children to want to read.
“The more you read, the better you get at it; the better you get at it, the more you like it; and the more you like it, the more you do it.”
“Attention spans are not built overnight—they are built minute by minute, page by page, day by day.”
“At age six, you’re a beginning reader. […] But you’re not a beginning listener. You’ve been listening for six years; you’re a veteran listener!”
"We must take care that children's early encounters with reading are painless enough so they will cheerfully return to the experience now and forever. But if it's repeatedly painful, we will end up creating a school-time reader instead of a lifetime reader."
“Few children learn to love books by themselves. Someone has to lure them into the wonderful world of the written word; someone has to show them the way.”
— Orville Prescott |
Mrs. Hadsell's Book Review of The Read-Aloud Handbook
"I love this book and highly recommend it to parents and teachers -- regardless of the ages of your children or students. As a parent myself, this was a book that I had a hard time putting down; I read it in a matter of days. I marked it, highlighted it, and took notes in the margins as I worked my way through it. The meat of the book is 10 chapters full of the whys and hows when it comes to helping children become excited readers. But the icing on the cake, so to speak, is the Treasury of Read-Alouds which makes up the final 121 pages of the book. The author has created a starter list (a huge timer saver for parents and teachers) overflowing with book titles that children will enjoy listening to -- the kind of books that are more likely to hook reluctant readers. If you're interested in taking a peek, you can find the book at the Logan Library."
A Sampling of What You Can Find in The Read-Aloud Handbook
- Why should we read out loud to our children? It builds vocabulary, conditions a child’s brain to associate reading with pleasure, creates background knowledge, provides a reading role model, and it plants the desire to read.
- Data shows that the one prekindergarten skill that matters above all others is the child’s vocabulary. Reading aloud to children increases their vocabulary.
- When is a child old enough to be read out loud to? Jim Trelease says that if they're old enough to talk to, they're old enough to read to. It's the same language.
- Research shows that there are four common factors in the homes of nearly every early reader: 1) The child is read to on a regular basis 2) A wide variety of printed material is in the home 3) Paper and pencil are readily available for the child 4) The family stimulates the child’s interest in reading/writing by answering the child’s questions, praising the child’s efforts, visiting the library frequently, buying books, writing stories that the child dictates, and displaying the child’s paperwork in a prominent place in the home.
- Three important things happen when an adult reads to a child: 1) A pleasure connection is being made between the child and the book 2) Both the parent and the child are learning 3) The adult is pouring sounds and syllables into the child’s ear.
- Children’s books are much richer than ordinary conversation at home or school.
- One-on-one time with a child is the best tool for expanding attention spans.
- Three B’s of an inexpensive reading kit: 1) Books (ownership of a book is important—inscribe the child’s name inside it) 2) Book basket (keep recreational reading in a prime spot where it will be read often) 3) Bed lamp (most children will do anything in order to stay up later—even read).
- There’s a significant difference in listening level (where students can handle higher-level vocabulary words that are read aloud to them) and reading level (the types of books that they can read independently).
- Grammar is more caught than taught. Kids learn it through exposure. “The richer the words you hear, the richer will be the words you give back—in speech or in writing.”
- How do we improve writing and spelling skills? “By reading, reading, and reading.” Good writers watch how other people throw words around.
- “… the chances of a word (or a sentence) being retained in our memory bank are thirty times greater if we see it instead of just hear it.”
- Students who read the widest variety of material, but the most fiction, [have] the highest literacy scores. Fiction engages a larger portion of the brain. It deepens our engagement and helps comprehension.
- Having a discussion after the story is critical, but it doesn’t have to last forever.
- “…endurance in readers, like runners, is not built overnight; start slowly and build gradually.”
- Use plenty of expression when you read.
- Adjust your pace to fit the story.
- Children should have time to read alone every day.
- Make sure your children see you reading for pleasure.
- Don’t read stories that you don’t enjoy.
- Don’t continue reading a book once it’s obvious that it was a poor choice.
- Provide structured time for reading.
- Summer reading is powerful—both reading to a child and reading by a child.
- Encourage students to enroll and participate in summer reading programs at the library.
- Some people fear that forcing/requiring kids to read will kill their love of reading. Take the sting out of the requirement by making it “so appealing and delicious that it becomes a pleasure.” Remember: “Pleasure is more often caught than taught.”
- Let children read what interests them.
- A child’s interest in books skyrockets when: They have books at home, they own a library card, they’re taken to the library, and they’re read to daily.
- Other factors driving student success: 1) Access to books 2) Personal ownership of books 3) Self-selection of the books.
- Don’t force the classics too soon. “The goal is to create a lifetime reader, not a future English teacher.”
- Children easily gravitate to “junk” when it comes to reading. “Our job is to lead them eventually to the better books by reading aloud to them.” The thing about series books (or the “junk”) is that they make a pleasure connection with the child. “Humans seldom do something over and over unless it brings repeated pleasure. Pleasure is the ‘glue’ that holds us to a particular activity.”
- Research shows that reading from the page makes for far greater retention of facts than digital reading.
- ESL/bilingual students can greatly benefit when receiving instruction from educational television that is captioned. Remember, “the chances of a word (or a sentence) being retained in our memory bank are thirty times greater if we see it instead of just hear it.”
- Audiobooks, when used to supplement reading, are excellent!
- The list of books in the Treasury (pages 173-294 of The Read-Aloud Handbook) are more likely to hook the reluctant reader.
- “Exposure to great writing can only have a positive effect, especially if the writing is willingly absorbed.”