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SELECTING BOOKS TO READ ALOUD

The January 2004 issue of Extensions, the curriculum newsletter of the HIgh/Scope membership association, focuses on the "Whys and Hows of Reading Aloud."  The publication starts out by observing, "Reading aloud has been found to be one of the most important ways adults can foster children's emerging literacy."  In the newsletter, LInda Weikel Ranweiler provides recommendations for selecting books to read aloud.  She suggests:

*  Books that contain rhyme and aliteration...allow you to draw attention to the fact that words are made up of various sounds, helping them to develop phonic awareness.

*  Predictable books...which help children think of themselves as readers.

*  Books with easily remembered phrases or lines for the children to chant.

*  Books that invite physical as well as verbal participation.

*  Books that reflect the identities, home languages, family structures, and cultures of the children in your class.

*  Wordless books that demonstrate to children how they can make up the story as they "read" the pictures.

*  Big books of familiar stories or poems.

*  Alphabet books that invite the response of involvement of the child in the read-aloud experience.

To learn more about Extensions and High/Scope's literacy initiative, go to www.highscope.org.

To learn about Beginnings Workshop collections on "Building Literacy,"  "Talking," and "Storytelling," go to:
http://mail.ccie.com/go/eed/0139

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