Generally speaking, I think parents really understand the importance of reading to their children. As an educator, it’s awesome to know that parents are intentionally carving time out of their days to create reading routines with their children – 1. Because it’s so vital to early literacy development and 2. Because storytime with a parent is just magical!

In the first two installments of this series, we talked a lot about surrounding our little ones with books and making reading exciting and enjoyable. In this post, I want to share a little bit about the actual reading and what happens during a read aloud.

In Teacher World, “storytime” isn’t called storytime anymore. Rather, they are now called “Interactive Read Alouds.” As a part of the Balanced Literacy Framework, interactive read alouds are just that – interactive! Embedded within interactive read alouds are opportunities to deepen reading skills, develop oral language skills, and most importantly, to teach and grow comprehension strategies.

Over the last decade or so, a big emphasis has been placed on comprehension in reading. In fact, the reading assessment that our state (and many, many other states) uses includes a comprehension portion at each level that a child must pass in order to move on to the next level. Educators have learned to base a child’s reading level not only on the accuracy of the word reading, but also by the level of the child’s understanding within a text. In other words, even if a child can accurately read all the words in a text, if he can’t understand and retell information from it, it’s not reading at their appropriate level; it’s word calling.

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Interactive read alouds are a wonderful way to help a child build his comprehension strategies and skills. Of course, when we talk about interactive read alouds in the school setting, we are talking about teaching children from preschool to sixth grade, but there are certainly ways to bring this idea into your reading at home, beginning at infancy.

Many of you probably already do a lot of these things with your LO, but here are some interactive read aloud strategies broken down by age:

Read Alouds with Infants

Most of the books that you are reading to your infant are probably simple board books with little text on each page and a simple story. And since your infant is not saying very many words, you’re the one doing all the talking/reading (unless your baby is Matilda!). As you read, point out different things in the picture and just talk about them. For example, in one of my favorite board books, But Not the Hippopotamus, I might say, “Do you see the hippopotamus hiding behind the tree? There he is! Look, he wants to play, too! He’s sad.” Or if you’re reading a book with which your LO might have a connection, you can say something like, “Oh, look! This baby has a blankie and you have a blankie, too! His blankie is blue. Yours is yellow, right? You love your yellow blankie!” Perhaps you’re reading books about different concepts. You could say, “Look at all the things on this page that are green. [Name them and point] Let’s find things in the room that are green. The curtains are green! My socks are green! The ball is green!”

I realize it’s A LOT of talking, but talking to your child, even at a very early age is so important. My sister-in-law does a “running narrative” of the day with her little girls (2.5 and 5 months) and her husband and Mr. Cowboy used to think she was a bit silly, but my niece was talking in near full sentences by the time she was 15 months. Of course, there were other factors that made her an early talker (both her parents are SUPER smart), but I know it made a big impact. I could probably do an entire post (or two!) on the importance of developing oral language, but I’ll just direct you to this awesome commercial that I love. What I love about talking to your infant while you read is that it seamlessly transitions into having conversations about books together once you’re LO is able to add some words of her own!

Read Alouds with Toddlers

I need to start by declaring my love of toddlers. Sure they are irrational and unpredictable and often naughty, but they’re so fun! And reading together becomes so fun because suddenly they are able to actively share in the experience.

At this age, your LO is able to follow along with simple stories and might start to read along with favorite books. Continue to talk as you read to your toddler, but invite him to join the conversation by asking simple questions. When Lil’ CB was about 16 months old, one of his favorite books was, Pete the Cat. He loved sing along with each page and loved to point out the car and the guitar. So, we’d ask things like, “Where’s the guitar? [Lil’ CB would point to it and smile] Yes! There it is!” and say things such as, “Look at all those strawberries! You love strawberries!” Sometimes if we were feeling particularly silly, we’d pretend to eat the strawberries.

As your toddler comprehends more, your conversations and your questions can expand. Right now, Lil’ CB and I spend a lot of time talking about the characters’ feelings. We look at their facial expressions and talk about what they are feeling and what might be happening in the book to make them feel that way. We also make some (very basic) predictions. Earlier we were reading Kitten’s First Full Moon and we were wondering what would happen when Kitten jumped from the branch into the pond. Lil’ CB said excitedly, “She’s gonna get wet!” It’s fun to explore the idea of cause and effect as we read and see Lil’ CB start to think about possible outcomes. We also talk about our favorite parts of the book after we read it, especially with favorite books. It’s really neat to watch Lil’ CB’s vocabulary and comprehension skills deepen as we read books!

Read Alouds with Preschoolers

Best practices have taught us that genuine conversations that include modeling and teaching are far more effective for teaching and checking for comprehension than those worksheets and multiple choice questions we had to answer when we were in school. You can begin having these genuine conversations with your preschool-aged child as you read together at home.

Building on the kinds of conversations you can have with a toddler, you can also begin to help your child learn to make connections. For example, “Oh, look Piggy is so happy!  Can you think of a time when you were happy?” or “Look, Llama llama made a big mess! His mama is MAD. Remember when Olivia made a big mess by painting on the wall? Her mama was really mad, too, right?” Don’t be surprised if your child soon starts making his own text-to-self and text-to-text connections as you model this!

Take time to talk about vocabulary words with your child, especially ones they can easily understand with some explanation: “Look, Trixie went on an errand with her daddy. An errand is when you go to different places to get different things done. We go on errands when we go to the supermarket or to the bank or the dry cleaners. Do you like going on errands? Do you think Trixie does?”

In a basic way, talk about making inferences – drawing unwritten conclusions from the text and pictures: “Where do you think Knuffle Bunny was the whole time? Why did Daddy have to look really hard?”

You can also work on retelling after a read aloud. Ask simple questions like, “What happened at the beginning of the story? Then what?” Remembering and retelling a story in order helps clarify the child’s understanding of the story. While I wouldn’t do this with every single story (because it’s not as genuine as say, talking about your favorite part), it is definitely a skill worth practicing.

Finally, spend time looking at the pictures and their details, but also be sure to direct your child’s attention to the printed words, too.  Especially when there are fun text features like extra large print or speech bubbles. Pointing out repeated words and phrases and having your child read along is wonderful way to help your child understand the “rules” of printed language. This recent story on NPR shares a little about this topic, too – so fascinating!

The bottom line when it comes to interactive read alouds at any age is to give your child the freedom to ask questions, share their thoughts and make comments throughout the reading. I like to think of a read aloud as mini book club sessions. Much like an adult can barely contain excitement and the need to talk with a friend about a really good book, we need to allow our children to do the same. Even if you’re reading the same.stinking.book.for.the.millionth.time, give your child the opportunity share why the book is so loved. Or better yet, let your child take the lead as they draw you in to their conversation about the book!