Read-Alouds at Home

Reading aloud to your child at home can be enriched by the following: 

• Use voices and gestures that match the characters in the book (e.g., different voices for papa, mama, and baby bears in "Goldilocks and The Three Bears").
• Use props - scarves, eye-glasses, hats, puppets (sock, oven mitt or paper bag will do), or stuffed animals.
• Ask your child open-ended questions about the story. Questions beginning with 'what,' 'why,' 'how,' 'where,' 'when' are considered to be open-ended. This will encourage your child to think deeper (this is critical thinking).
• Have your child make predictions about what happens next in the story.
• Have you child make connections to the story being read. In the classroom we have named these connections text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world. Can your child make a connection to something they've done with the story in the book (text-to-self)? With another book (text-to-text)? With something going on in the world (text-to-world)?

 For books to use in your read-alouds at home with your child, refer to the 'Recommended Books For Read-Alouds' page on this website. Of course you can always use your local public library, or your child's school library, for additional recommendations.