I have been missing reading aloud to kids lately. My new "flexible" schedule allows me to work with teachers and students on technology and also to teach Personal Learning Time (PLT) groups. I don't have a lot of time for reading to children. That makes me sad.
There is so much power in read alouds - modeling fluency, tone, introducing kids to new types of literature, and on and on. I really miss it. I had a teacher come in this week who had a reluctant reader who just could not pick out appropriate books. He was an English Language Learner who checked out chapter books in English - but he was not ready for them. He was not able to, or really interested in reading them. I showed her a series I had that were spooky books that looked like chapter books, but were high interest, low level books. Librarians know what these are, but most teachers, administrators, and parents do not. She took a stack of books back to her classroom and shared them with him. He wanted to check them all out! She reported that he was so excited to read the book he chose and that others also wanted to check out that series. I had another teacher come in who is reading aloud a mystery she bought at the book fair. Her students had begged her to keep reading. They couldn't wait to find out what happened next. I often have students check out the books their teachers read aloud and follow along (or read ahead). I love when teachers read the first book in a series. My third grade teachers do this often. As soon as they start I can't keep that series/author in the library! Read alouds are powerful. Librarians and teachers should do them every chance they get to introduce students to series, authors, and styles of writing!
