When was the last time you heard a story? Hearing a story read aloud is a different experience than reading it to yourself. A wonderful part of my position is reading, listening and reviewing children’s books for volunteers to utilize in the Oasis Tutoring program.
In our office, we occasionally have “read aloud meetings” or as one of my colleagues like to say, “Story hour with Mary.” I am excited about sharing the book because of the story, the illustrations and lessons. My colleagues gather in my office and I read a few titles. Depending on the story, these read aloud meetings can promote rich discussions about why or why not the book should become part of the Oasis Tutoring curriculum provided to partnering school districts. They also bring laughter and joy to the day! (I think everyone could use a little more laughter and joy.)
Sometimes, Oasis Tutoring Facilitators ask me to participate in their tutor enrichment meetings and I read aloud to Oasis Tutors. Other times, school district staff introduces books to tutors and me by reading them aloud. It is obvious Oasis Tutors enjoy this experience as much as I do.
Here is a short list of books I’ve heard or read aloud and enjoyed recently:
- “Hanks’ Big Day, the story of a bug” by Evan Kuhlman & Chuck Groenink
- “CeCe Loves Science” by Kimberly Derting and Shlli R. Johannes
- “Where Oliver Fits” by Cole Atkinson
- “I Am Human” by Susan Verde
- “I Just Want to Say Good Night” by Rachel Isadora
- “Saturday” by Oge Mora
- “What Do You Do With An Idea?” by Kobi Yamada
- “If Kids Ran the World” by Leo & Diane Dillion
When Oasis Tutors read aloud to their students, the student hears new vocabulary, adds new concepts to their memories, understands sentence structure and gathers information about life experiences.
The more we read loud, the more fluent and expressive story tellers we become, making the story come alive. The fluency, inflection and expression demonstrated by the reader generates excitement and joy in reading for students. Although the students Oasis Tutors work with probably do not realize it, hearing a book read aloud to them is a priceless gift.
Celebrate World Read Aloud Day with me. All you need to do is select a book, find a friend and start reading. I have already selected one of my favorite books to celebrate the day!
#WorldReadAloudDay
As a 4th grade teacher, even MY students get excited about our read aloud time during the day. The experience of hearing a book read to you is something entirely different than reading a book on your own. I couldn’t agree more with the fact that students learn just as many new skills and important fluency and comprehension strategies when given the opportunity to hear a book from someone else! Students should gain these skills and see them modeled by a teacher or tutor and then be able to go and apply those skills to their own reading time! Great blog post!
On behalf of the Oasis Intergenerational Tutoring Team, thank you for reading and responding to our blog post. We are grateful for all the dedicated teachers in schools across the country and their commitment to reading aloud to their students.
Reading aloud is one of my students favorite part of the day. In a Special Education classroom it might look a little bit different than in a Regular Education classroom but it still serves the same purpose. My students always get a kick out of the funny stories that I will read or how the story will relate to their life. This time often comes to a little time to talk and mr to get to know my students a little more. Read aloud time in my classroom is just as important for me as it is for my students. I will continue read aloud time as long as I am a teacher.
I remember story time waaay back when I was in the 1st grade. My teacher was Mrs. McBurney. We would all gather around her with our eyes glued to her as she read the story. Watching body language and facial expressions. As she read the story we became merged in the story, as our imaginations filled in the rest of the background.
Looking back on those moments proved to be a valuable life long experience. It helped create positive imagination, and eventually helped us WANT to learn how to read.
My Mother would also read, bedtime stories when I was in 1st and 2nd grade, I always looked forward to going to bed because it was a wonderful bonding moment.
Reading out loud had a profound positive effect on me, it must have, I’m over 50 and still remember it.
Reading to a child is one of the best gifts you can give to a child! I began reading aloud to our sons before they were even born. No matter the age, I don’t think a person ever out grows a good read aloud. I am almost 50 years old and some of my favorite books are still labeled as children’s books. They provide a firm foundation to new concepts as well as build the mind and its experiences. They teach and inspire in so many ways. My teacher bag is always full of books to share with my elementary students each day that I am with them. I love seeing their interest and hearing their responses to a new story. It should always be an important part of their day at school and hopefully carries over to time at home. Happy Read-Aloud Day!!
Kids of all ages enjoy being read to. I mean, who doesn’t like getting into a good book? And sharing a good book with someone special is even better! OASIS tutoring is such a great opportunity for both the tutor and the student to come together and share their love of stories. So glad to hear people all over the world are devoting some extra special time today to read with someone they love.
Read aloud is my favorite time of the day, and my students anxiously await this time daily. One of my favorites for upper elementary is “Save Me a Seat.” Such good lessons to learn and the students get drawn in to another world to which they can relate.