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Reading aloud to your child is extremely important to reading development and can be a special bonding time with your child. Reading aloud promotes a love of reading, allows you to model fluent reading, increases development of new vocabulary and supports comprehension.  Reading aloud can begin when a child is an infant and should continue even when your child can read.

I remember reading to Tim as a newborn.  I had all of these wonderful baby books such a Moo, Baa, La La La, Goodnight Moon, and Pat the Bunny, just to name of few.  Tim loved the fun, colorful illustrations, and he giggled as I read some of the rhymes and parts of the books that he could interact with.  He learned from an early age that reading was fun, interactive and a special time with mom and dad.  We did our best to make reading a part of our regular routine often reading before nap time or before going to bed each night.

At age six, Tim still loves books and being read to.  He is always excited to have us read the new book that he brings home from library. My husband will often read books about historical events. Tim cherishes this time.  Reading has become a special bonding time as a family. We often have family reading time whereby we all sit down and take turns reading together. 

Here are some ways to incorporate reading aloud at home

• Take a trip to your local library and have your child get his or her own library card. Local libraries have a wide selection of children’s books for parents to read aloud. The librarians are also helpful in recommending books that might be appropriate for your child based on age or interest. Libraries offer story times and other activities during vacations or after school. They are also free, as long as your return books on time!

• Set aside a special time daily for reading perhaps right before bed or another time that works best for you and your family. This time could be 10-30 minutes depending upon the time that you have. During this time, you could read a book or you and your child could take turns reading. If your child has siblings, perhaps an older sibling can read aloud to your child as well.

• When reading aloud, pause to talk about what is happening in the story. You may discuss connections that you have to the story, who the characters are, where the story takes place and what the main idea of the story is.

• Check in with the classroom teacher or school librarian to see what they are studying or reading about in school. Perhaps the school librarian read a book that your child loved during library class and there are other books by the same author that you could check out at the library.

Ideas to try when reading aloud to your child

• Have your child get involved in the story by describing pictures and making predictions. This could occur before you read the story and during the story. You could pause during the story and have your child make a prediction about what will happen next.

• Ask open ended questions rather than yes or no questions about the story. For example, if you are reading Charlotte’s web you could ask, “Why is Templeton important to the story? Does Charlotte’s plan to save Wilbur work? Why or why not? Open ended questions promote deeper discussions about the story which supports higher level comprehension.

• Model making predictions, asking questions and answering open questions and describing what is happening in the pictures. Modeling will help your child develop these skills.

• Support your child in describing the pictures by doing the following. Ask “what’s this?” and point a picture. Follow your child’s answer with another question. “What is the cat doing?” Repeat what your child says and expand on it. “You’re right, I think the cat climbed up the tree and can’t get down.”

• Help your child make connections to the story. You should model these as well. “This part in the story reminds me of when I___________. This helps me better understand the story because I can understand_______________. Connections can be: personal connections called text to self, connections to books called text to text, or connections to events happening in the community or world called text to world.

Try these tips the next time you read aloud to your child!