Sneaking Strategy Lessons into Your Read Aloud

Do you read aloud to your children every day, but wonder what you can do to sneak in some learning?  Reading aloud is a wonderful opportunity to share a few quality minutes with our children snuggling and enjoying a book.  But, did you know you can easily transform a read aloud into an instructional moment with very little prep and without your child even knowing that he may be learning something, too?  All it takes is a few questions before, during, and after reading.

Before Reading

• What do you already know about (topic of book)? (activating background knowledge)
• Look at the picture on the cover and the title of the book.  What do you think is going to happen? (making predictions)

During Reading

• As you read, confirm your child’s prediction.  Was it correct? If not, discuss what happened instead.
• Ask your child questions to clear up points of confusion as you read.

After Reading

• What does this book remind you of?  (making connections to the text)
• Ask your child to retell you the story.  What happened at the beginning?  The middle?  The end?   (summarize the text)

These questions touch on common comprehension strategies that good readers use to understand text.  If we emphasize and model how to use some of these strategies at home, we begin to create a solid reading foundation for our children.  A few questions and you’ve “kicked it up a notch”!

If you would like more information on teaching common comprehension strategies to your child, I suggest reading 7 Keys to Comprehension: How to Help Your Kids Read It and Get It! by Susan Zimmerman and Chryse Hutchins.

Dawn Little (aka Links to Literacy) also blogs at www.teachingwithpicturebooks.wordpress.com where she provides educators with picture book lessons based on comprehension strategies and the Six Traits of Writing.  In addition, she blogs at www.literacytoolbox.wordpress.com where she provides educators and parents with tips and tools to enhance the literacy lives of children.  She is the founder and owner of Links to Literacy, a company dedicated to providing interactive literacy experiences for children and families.  Find out more at www.linkstoliteracy.com

Book Clubs for Preschoolers

Book Clubs are nothing new.  Since the inception of “Oprah’s Book Club” people everywhere have participated in their own book clubs.  Then the idea trickled down to classrooms and literature circles popped up, essentially a book club for students. (Honestly, literature circles were probably around before Oprah!)  More recently, children have begun to participate in book clubs outside of school, for pleasure!  How wonderful is that!

I’ve heard of adult book clubs, teen book clubs, and book clubs for elementary readers. . . all independent readers.  But what about our smallest readers?  Our pre-readers deserve book clubs, too.

How to Start a Book Club for Preschoolers

1. Discuss the idea with your playgroup or child’s preschool class.
2. Choose a weekly time and place to meet and read.  Choose a facilitator for each week.  The facilitator chooses the book and the corresponding art project.
3. Read aloud the picture book.  Make the reading interactive.  Ask questions as you read aloud.
4. Discuss characters, plot points, setting, etc.  Make personal connections to the book.  Get kids interested in the book.  Ask: “What was your favorite part?  Your least favorite?”
5. Provide an art activity to tie into the reading.

In the Book Club that I facilitate for preschoolers, I read aloud The Snowy Day by Jack Ezra Keats.  We connected the book to times when it snowed and some of the things we did in the snow, just like Peter.  Then we made our own footprints in the snow with black paint on our fingers and put it on white paper.  It was a simple art project and connected to the book.

A simple, fun way to connect preschoolers with books. . . in a social setting.  Preschoolers need book clubs, too!

Dawn Little (aka Links to Literacy) also blogs at www.teachingwithpicturebooks.wordpress.com where she provides educators with picture book lessons based on comprehension strategies and the Six Traits of Writing.  In addition, she blogs at www.literacytoolbox.wordpress.com where she provides educators and parents with tips and tools to enhance the literacy lives of children.  She is the founder and owner of Links to Literacy, a company dedicated to providing interactive literacy experiences for children and families.  Find out more at www.linkstoliteracy.com