Happy new school year!
This morning, a parent stopped by the library before school. She was looking for book suggestions for her children to read on their trip this weekend, in the car. I made several suggestions and she checked them out.
I told her I was so happy that the students would be reading and not watching a video in the car. I shared with her that I used to read aloud on car trips with our children. It had several benefits. One, the driver was engaged and stayed awake! Two, we had wonderful conversations with our children about the books. “Why do you think the character did that?” “What do you think will happen next?” “What makes you think that?” Having this shared experience with our children allowed us to deepen our conversations by relating shared experiences with the characters as well as making connections to new experiences.
A wonderful resource to help choose books to read aloud to our children is by Jim Trelease. His handbook offers wonderful books by age. He suggests reading books that are 2-3 levels above where your child is reading independently, if your child is reading. Reading aloud to your child helps develop their ‘listening vocabulary’. This is important to help them with their own reading. By developing their ‘listening vocabulary’, your child will know what the words mean, when they discover that word reading on their ow. They understand this new word they are seeing for the first time.
My favorite reason for reading aloud to my children … cuddling at night and sharing a great story, adventure, and/or mystery. They only allow us to cuddle for such a short period of time. What a great way to extend the experience, than with a great book!
Happy Reading!
