World Read Aloud Day

From a very young age, I always wanted to work with children - I remember lining my stuffed animals up and playing school as I instructed them on various life lessons - simple addition, the fine literature of Raggedy Ann and Andy, and the basics of botany were some of my go-to lessons. Once I could read, I would assemble small group circles and read aloud to my most favorite stuffed animals.

As a classroom teacher (in my previous life) I used read alouds for a variety of age levels. We read aloud during nap time with my preschoolers, I read Magic Tree House books aloud for a book club in an after school program that I ran, and I read aloud to my older grade kids during in-class lunch period. I've also used the read aloud strategy for middle and high school literature students during novel studies (though I usually find an audio book for this as reading the same two or three chapters for six class periods a day is way too much!). 

One of my favorite read aloud collections is the Instructor's Read-Aloud Anthology. All of the selections are brief enough to hold everyone's attention and they offer a wide range of themes - holidays, special people, international cultures and more. I also like that each story has a very brief blurb introducing it that includes a recommended audience. I've had my copy of the book for well over a decade, but wouldn't you know it, Amazon has it listed (just in case you want to add it to your library).

So, you might be wondering what the actual benefits of reading aloud are for your kids. Well, the anthology above has a great list of reasons to read aloud to kids.

 1. Reading aloud introduces kids to new words.

 2. Reading aloud introduces children to more complex sentence structure.

 3. Reading aloud exposes students to more standard forms of English.

 4. Reading aloud exposes students to various styles of written language.

 5. Reading aloud develops a sense of story in children.

 6. Reading aloud motivates children to refine their reading skills.

 7. Reading aloud provides structure and motivation for creative writing.

 8. Reading aloud can serve as a springboard to discussion or creative activities.

 9. Reading aloud can enrich students' general knowledge.

10. Reading aloud adds pleasure to the day.

Hopefully I have you super excited about adding read alouds into your day. There are lots of easy ways to incorporate reading aloud with your kids: as an introduction to a concept (for example a story about overcoming a personal obstacle can be used as an introduction to a Smart Moves lesson), to give an insight into another culture (for example, showcasing how the children in another culture spend their after school hours), or as a way to share holiday celebrations (for example, we shared a read aloud about Martin Luther King Jr with our kids on MLK day).

Do you utilize read alouds with your kids? Do you have a favorite anthology? Let me know!

Graphics used in this blog post have been purchased from Thistle Girl Designs.

List of reasons to read aloud to kids is found in the Instructor's Read Aloud Anthology © 1984