HappyLady Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 You'll have to excuse me for my ignorance, but when you say you do read alouds, what exactly are you doing? Does it just consist of you reading a story to your child? Or do you ask questions and discuss it as you go? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KristenR Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 I just read aloud to my children and try not to make it too much like a lesson. Some days my dd5 asks to read the book (she is a strong reader and started early) so I may let her take the reigns. But generally I really try to make sure I am the designated reader for large portions of our read aloud. I want my girls to pick up the nuances of reading out loud: changing voices and reading with real emotion. My dd5 is just getting to the point where she can do this fairly comfortably and accurately but I want to make "Mommy-reading" a staple of our day. During the day we do picture books and board books to keep the attention of my younger two kids. At night before bed we do one more picture book and follow that with a chapter book for my older daughter. I do not stop and ask questions unless I feel some plot of the story got confusing. For example, my dh was dying to introduce the girls to Tolkien so he read them the Hobbit this year. He did half a chapter a night. We would summarize together at the end of the reading because that book was a bit of a stretch for them... but we never try to make it feel "school-y" or like a pop quiz. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 I just read, unless my children need some discussion (or if they ask a question). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KAM Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 Same here. We just read, and if they bring up discussion, we discuss, otherwise we just move on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jillian Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 Right now dd is 4 and we are reading some higher level stuff but I just read to her and let her enjoy her stories right now. WE are reading Percy Jackson and she loves it. I just ask the next night if she remembers what we read the night before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jillian Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 I just read aloud to my children and try not to make it too much like a lesson. Some days my dd5 asks to read the book (she is a strong reader and started early) so I may let her take the reigns. But generally I really try to make sure I am the designated reader for large portions of our read aloud. I want my girls to pick up the nuances of reading out loud: changing voices and reading with real emotion. My dd5 is just getting to the point where she can do this fairly comfortably and accurately but I want to make "Mommy-reading" a staple of our day. During the day we do picture books and board books to keep the attention of my younger two kids. At night before bed we do one more picture book and follow that with a chapter book for my older daughter. I do not stop and ask questions unless I feel some plot of the story got confusing. For example, my dh was dying to introduce the girls to Tolkien so he read them the Hobbit this year. He did half a chapter a night. We would summarize together at the end of the reading because that book was a bit of a stretch for them... but we never try to make it feel "school-y" or like a pop quiz. Did she like the Hobbit? I want to do it with dd who is a very very mature 4 year old Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NanceXToo Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 It consists of either me reading to the kids, or sometimes my 11 y/o and I taking turns reading aloud to each other. We only stop to discuss if one of the kids has a question or comment. I don't ever ask them questions about it and disrupt the flow of the story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blondeviolin Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 It depends on the kid. If I'm just reading to my oldest, then I just typically read unless there is a question she has. With Emmett, I stop and make sure he is comprehending or ask questions because he seems to need those things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 In the evening, we just read - usually longer books for pleasure. During school, we read subject related books and sometimes we discuss or do a narration or the like. It depends. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 Depends on the book, and the kids. Sometimes I do stop to explain something, or to summarize a lengthy and confusing paragraph. I think it's good for them to hear language and sentence structure that is above their own reading levels, but I also don't want them to be confused. Sometimes it can be a little frustrating, but it's worth it. (DH spent a lot of time stopping to explain The Hobbit to then-4yo DS1, but in return, DS1 loved it and did indeed understand the story.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ladydusk Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 We often stop and discuss our read alouds. We're trying to model interaction and thinking with a book. Our evening book is generally a stretch for the children (purposefully) and my husband and I will discuss difficult vocabulary, plot points, emphasize word choice and phrasing, whatever we think is interesting about the book, how it is written, or the content. But, that's how I read on my own, often annotating even novels and interacting with the author. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcconnellboys Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 The older mine have gotten, the more we discuss as we go.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In the Rain Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 When dh does a read aloud, he just reads. If the kids ask a question, he'll answer it. When I do a read aloud, I'll stop to discuss something I find interesting. 7yo dd will often ask me to stop so she can make predictions. 10yo dd prefers to discuss a book after it has been completed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frugalmama Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 We primarily use my kindle for read alouds, with it's text-to-speech option. I turn it on and we both just listen unless I pause it to explain something or to answer DD's question. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmoira Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 I just read, unless my children need some discussion (or if they ask a question).This. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KristenR Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 Did she like the Hobbit? I want to do it with dd who is a very very mature 4 year old My dd LOVED it. I blogged about it here because she went on to draw pictures of it during the day. She really seemed to enjoy it. When I tried filling in for daddy one night and reading it to her she got a bit annoyed at my lack of vocal ability. My Gollum was sadly lacking. :001_smile: DH made a point to summarize at the beginning of a reading (to recap last night). I do believe that the ending caught her a bit off guard with some of the main characters' deaths. It's really one of the first stories we read where that has happened so we talked about it and she seemed fine. The book was way over my dd3's head but she stayed in the room with them the whole time. She would generally fall asleep before my dh finished but she obviously caught some of it because when we were going on her alphabet the other day the Letter E popped up with a picture of an elf. She got all excited and said "OH like the elves on the Hobbit!" We just watched the 70's cartoon and my dd5 and dd3 LOVED it. I was surprised because I thought it had some dark scenes. If your child has a decent attention span I would give it a try! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
extrafor6 Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 We use the same idea for read alouds as with books our children read on their own...some books are below level for fun. All my dc love to listen to me read to our 2 year old. Books like Going On a Bear Hunt, Madeline and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom are favorites. Then I read aloud books that are on level for most of them and that they will understand without much explanation. For us, this would be along the lines of Charlotte's Web, Stories From Grandma's Attic or a missionary biography. Lastly, we read aloud challenging books which require explanation along the way. Currently, this would be Understood Betsy for us. For clarification, we don't read the on level or above level at the same time. And with either, I almost always ask questions or for a short narration just to make sure they aren't lost in the story. This also helps the younger ones understand some things they might have missed when the older ones retell. HTH and happy reading! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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