Read Aloud Book List

This is just a list of books that I *love* to use for read-aloud or story time. Be sure to do the character's voices so students can pick up on fluency. Discuss the story's setting, beginning, middle and end. Stop before the problem is solved and have students guess what will happen next. Point out common sight words. These are just a few of my favorites. No way does this include every book I love because we would be here forever!

Simms Taback

I also like his book Joseph Had a Little Overcoat. I like the illustrations, and the story has predictable text which is very good for learning readers.

Anything by Leo Lionni

His books are a little older but the writing is just so good!

Love You Forever by Robert Munsch

This book will make you cry but it has a powerful message of love.

Any Joy Cowley book

Her books are so amazing. They have patterns, rhythm and sight words. Students really get involved in the characters.

Corduroy by Don Freeman

Ah, childhood memories. Corduroy is a teddy bear that ends up on an adventure.

Anything by Laura Joffe Numeroff

She has a large collection of books of animals getting something. These are great books for making predictions and discussing beginning, middle and end.

Anything by Bob Shea

I am very into Bob Shea books. The colorful illustrations and kid-friendly writing just get to me.

This book sounds gross, but Jon Scieszka takes fairy tales and puts a fun twist on them! Your kids will laugh at these stories.

I adore parody books and this one is perfect for Halloween!

I like Byron Barton books because the text is so simplified and the illustrations are large, and attractive to kids. They make for easy reads and encourage young readers.

Bill Martin Jr. also wrote the Brown Bear books. I adore this book for learning about the alphabet letters, and because it has rhythm and rhyme. Perfect-o!

I got this book from Scholastic and my students just really loved the idea of dinosaurs having a party at night. They would ask me to re-read it many times.

Anything by Mo Willems

Most kids are familiar with the pigeon books, but Mo really has really written an array of books that kids can really relate to.

Lois Ehlert

Her books are like eating a piece of chocolate. A little long, but so satisfying. I love her books.

Anything by David Shannon

My son and little brother really adored these books. David always got in trouble and always apologized. Plus, he had an awesome wide mouth with sharp, scary teeth. David just makes us laugh so hard!

I often read Aliki books to help supplement science. Her books are truly wonderful for teachable moments or studying something more in-depth.

Anything by Eric Carle

I have a REAL soft spot in my heart for Eric Carle books. The Very Hungry Caterpillar was the first book I remember picking up and wanting to learn how to read. Can't go wrong with anything Eric Carle!

Todd Parr books are the best!

The stories are short, but they often focus on friendship, sharing and acceptance. The illustrations are bright and bold and catch the eye!

Why Read Alouds Matter

Reading aloud to your child is such a crucial skill-building block that you should begin reading to them when they are infants. Not only do you form a bond by spending time together, but it enhances learning and language skills. Look for books that are age-appropriate. For infants to toddlers, I would recommend sturdy board books or books with simple text, and even books with just one word per page identifying an item. 

When reading with toddler-school age children, look for books that have rhyme and repetition. If there is a pattern or rhythm to the text, children will remember the words and begin to associate the sounds with the letters. 

Another suggestion as a former teacher, is that you point out the parts of a book. Show them the spine, the front cover/back cover, show your child how to turn the pages, point to the words while reading so they learn it is left to right/top to bottom. Discuss what an author and what an illustrator does. Tell your child books have a beginning, a middle and an end. Show them how to hold and carry a book. 

You are your child's first teacher, so if you model proper book behavior, your child will learn it from you. Remember, the library is FREE and there are a multitude of books waiting for you and your child to read.

Audio, Leap Pad and Playaway tablets, etc. also counts as reading and learning literacy skills. But honestly, nothing can take the place of a parent spending time reading with their child(ren)!

Ways you can help your child read!

Handy Dyslexia Chart

This week I have been reading The Gift of Dyslexia by Ronald D. Davis. 

I saw this great chart online from TES and thought it was too good not to share. It gives teachers an idea of signs a student may show that they have Dyslexia. Now the book is very good at connecting ADHD, Dyslexia, Dysgraphia, Dyspraxia and Dyscalculia together. I am just now getting into the chapters on how you can work with learners to help them strengthen skills in the areas that they struggle. Stay posted!

Reading and Writing Difficulties

There are many issues that contribute to reading and writing difficulties. Some of these are physical, cognitive, linguistic, social, educational, visual, emotional, economical and cultural. The one contributing factor I will focus on is linguistic. According to Verhoeven, et. al, "The importance of linguistic factors in reading relate even more to reading comprehension processes... the linguistic processes involved in the comprehension of oral language strongly constrain the process of reading comprehension. These reading comprehension processes would include (a) the parsing of sentences into their constituent components; (b) the drawing of inferences to make the relations within and between sentences sufficiently explicit and thereby facilitate the integration of information; and (c) the identification of underlying text structure, such as the propositions within a text (micro structure), and the global gist of a text (2010)." After reading the article by Verhoeven, et. al., and reflecting on my own experiences working with struggling readers, I believe the implications are that deficits in language and linguistics often appear in the form of phonological difficulties. If a student is struggling in that area we must build that background knowledge students may be lacking in order to promote cognitive growth.



Some critical issues in reading and writing assessment are correctly identifying students who are at-risk, the validity and reliability of the assessment(s), and ongoing progress monitoring of students. The first issue depends on the accuracy of the assessment. Is it grade-level appropriate? Does the assessment cover various reading skills? Is it too long? Is it too short to even give an accurate depiction of that student's skills? These are questions I ask myself about making sure the identification process is as accurate as possible.


This goes hand-in-hand with validity and reliability when using an assessment tool. What is the data collection process like? How accurate is it? According to the Reading Rockets (2012) web site: "Assessments should represent clearly the content domain they purport to measure. For example, if the intention is to learn more about a student's ability to read content area textbooks, then it is critical that the text passages used for assessment be structured similarly."


Progress monitoring should be short and happen once a week or at least every other week. This is to make sure interventions are most meaningful and effective.




References



International Reading Association. (2012). A critical analysis of eight informal reading inventories. Accessed on January 16, 2013

from: http://www.readingrockets.org/article/23373/ .





Verhoeven, L., Reitsma, P. & Siegel, L. (2010). Cognitive and linguistic factors in reading acquisition. Accessed on January 16, 2013 from:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3058530/ .

Sight word treeeee, oh, sight word tree!

Make a sight word tree!! You can adapt this for older students by making a vocabulary word tree or a poetry tree!!! Click HERE for the download from Jolie Bee Kinder!

Cool comprehension strategies and other things...

What a whirlwind of activity the past two weeks have been for us in the Winkle household. My son and I took a homeschool field trip to the Wichita Mountains and Medicine Park here in Oklahoma. It is so beautiful and wild there. I badly want to go back and even more I would love to move someplace like that someday. Here are pics from our day of adventuring~ 

You so won't see a pic of me when I fell on our hike. Yep, athletically-inclined me tore a hole in my jeans. On the bottom. And my shirt did not cover it. So I walked with my hand over it for the rest of the trip! 

And Fall is here so I start to spend some time in the kitchen (yes, me!) baking. Here is a delicious apple pie I made for my family. I don't spend time making my pies cutesy. I like the folksy, mile high pie look! 

And I've been working on refurbishing/re-doing furniture. 

A jewelry box

Two wooden chairs

My Ikea coffee table top

A little outdoor bistro set

This is why I've been a little lax in the blogging department lately!

Thanksgiving has been on mind...

So let's get to those comprehension strategies, shall we? 

Before Reading Strategies

-These strategies could include previewing headings, surveying pictures, reading introductions and summaries, creating a pre-reading outline (make use of graphic organizers!), creating questions that might need to be answered, making predictions that need to be confirmed, etc. 

-The primary question for a teacher here is: "What steps (observable and those not observable) should I teach students to do regularly and automatically that will prepare them in advance to get the most out of a reading selection that needs to be read more thoroughly?" 

During Reading Strategies

-The During Reading Strategies that help a student understand during reading include questioning, predicting, visualizing, paraphrasing, elaborating (i.e., comparing what is read to what is known), changing reading rate, rereading, etc. 

-The primary question for a teacher is: "What steps (again those observable and not observable) should I teach students to do so that they will regularly and automatically figure out the intended meaning of the text and how it connects to what they already know?" 

After Reading Strategies

-These strategies are used to help the student "look back" and think about the message of the text and determine the intended or possible meanings that might be important. These strategies are used to follow up and confirm what was learned (e.g., answer questions or confirm predictions) from the use of before and during reading strategies. They also help the reader to focus on determining what the big, critical, or overall idea of the author's message was and how it might be used before moving on to performance tasks or other learning tasks. Make sure to also review those graphic organizers/anchor charts or predictions made from the Pre-Reading and During Reading  practices.

 

-The primary question for a teacher is: "What steps should I teach students to do so that they will regularly and automatically stop when they are finished reading a text selection and try to figure out the intended meaning of the text to determine what is most important and how they will use it?" 

Remember, to be successful teaching reading: