Home Group 1-Interactive Read-Aloud

Blog 2: Home Group 1-Interactive Read-Aloud

     Interactive read-aloud are very important when it comes to preschool aged children. Early childhood interactive read-aloud are very important to the way young students look at books. When reading a book it is very important that the teacher reading the book is filled with excitement and expression when reading the story.

     This gist of this article is there are many ways in which reading read aloud can be helpful in educating our preschoolers. When reading read aloud, asking the right questions to encourage higher order of thinking is very important. The answers the students give don’t need to be complicated, but just enough to know they understand the story. The simplest questions can be asked such as “What did you like?” “Can you make a connection in your life?” Or, “Can you predict what is going to happen in the story?” Reading is very important, but having the students interact with the read aloud is what makes it successful. Reading a story over and over is not a negative practice, but can be seen as a positive practice. The students will take something different away from the story each time it is read to them.

     The reason why all of these elements are important is because you want to encourage reading comprehension at a young age. If we can teach our students that reading is fun and can be imaginative, then they are more likely to enjoy and comprehend stories that is either read to them or that they read themselves. When I read a book to my preschoolers, I encourage them to tell me what they think about what happen in the story. It doesn’t have to be a long drawn out answer, but if I am reading a book the book, “Clifford the Big Red Dog” and there is a fire truck in the story, and I ask the students “What did you like about the story and if they tell me they like the water coming out of the fire hose,  I would accept that. It tells me that the student was listening and comprehending what I was reading to them.

      The curriculum I use in my classroom is called "Tools of the Mind". This curriculum encourages students to think about specific questions while I am reading the book. It also encourages me to read the book through to let them absorb the story I am reading to them. At the end is when I will ask the students a question and that is when they will pair and share their answers, this is done so that all students have an opportunity to share their answer. As an early literacy educator, it is my job to engage students in the stories I read to them on a daily basis. It is also my job to make sure they learn and understand new vocabulary in the book. I want to make reading fun and make sure the students learn and are having fun without them knowing it. The more I read to my student the more likely they will embrace the love of learning.