The Roles of Read Aloud

The Roles of Read-Aloud in the Classroom:
Why are Read Alouds are important in an Elementary LA classroom?

Read Alouds are familiar in every Elementary school classroom. They
help guide students through strengthening their reading skills, making
connections while they read, and learning to enjoy their reading material. In
all the examples below, one would find several examples of how read alouds
allow students to grow academically and enrich their
reading/speaking/writing skills. According to Jan Miller Burkins (2010), the
main purpose of guided reading in the classroom is to slowly build readers to
understand how to read with purpose and to read actively until they no
longer think about these strategies. Once they have been built up and have
exercised these strategies, they simply continue without knowing and they
become successful independent readers.
Burkins, J.M., & Croft, M.M. (2010). Preventing misguided reading: New strategies
for guided reading teachers. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
A list of ten strategies to be used during read-aloud in the

classroom, and examples of books to exemplify these strategies.
1. Make Connections
It is important for students to make connections before, during, and after the
reading of books. Students should be making relations to previous knowledge
or making connections to their lives. The book could be connected to a book
they know of, a movie they saw, or of something happening somewhere else
in the world. The book below, would be a good example of students making a
connection to their real life because everyone has had a bad day, and the
kids could make several connections throughout the reading. They could
make the connection before the reading that this character is going to have a
bad day and they could make a connection at the end of the book what will
happen next for Alexander.
2. Making Predictions
When students are making predictions they are accessing their previous
knowledge to guess and predict what they believe will come next. In the
book below, students could make predictions about what they believe the
animals will be able to do that is special. They would be thinking about what
they already know about an animal to make an educated guess. Their
predictions would be confirmed throughout the book and becomes a great
learning process by their trial and error. Also, it makes for an interactive
activity to have the students making predictions/guesses to go along with
silly books.
3. Making Mental Images

Students would be using their five senses to create mental images to guide
their reading and aide in building an imagination to enjoy reading. Books that
are descriptive that would make it easy for students to imagine everything
around them and create a realistic image in their mind which would make
reading more enjoyable and more like a movie in their mind. The book below
is very descriptive and would make kids laugh at how the character is acting
because they can imagine doing the acts themselves.
4. Ask Questions
It is important for students to be encouraged to ask questions while they are
reading. It ensures they are actively reading and paying attention. They
would stay engaged by asking why a character is doing something, or why
they arent. They stay interested because they want to understand the
character and they want their questions asked. The book below is a great
example because all the characters want to know where this womans
wisdom comes from, but one girl who is always asking questions and
lingering around figures out her secret. This keeps kids invested in the
reading because they want to know the womans secret and they need to
keep reading and pay attention to find out.
5. Clear Problem and Solution

The character or characters have a clear problem and the readers become
interested in the outcome. By choosing books with this type of story line,
students become invested and interested in the characters and their issues,
and want to keep reading to figure out how the issues were resolved.
Readers want to keep reading to watch the characters do well and succeed.
A classic book that exemplifies this is The Little Engine That Could.
6. Compare and Contrast

By choosing books that compare and contrasts ideas, characters, or events
in the book, students are able to enhance their vocabulary and knowledge of
these things in order to see the differences. They are thinking of the
differences and the similarities and once again, making connections
throughout the reading which keeps them interested and engaged. The
teacher could ask several questions throughout the novel comparing things
and keeping the students engaged by looking for answers and asking
questions themselves. In a story like The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs,
students are comparing the houses in the story and why some fail and why
some dont. They are comparing the age-old classic story with this new
comical version and making comparisons throughout the story.
7. Summarizing
Teaching a strategy like summarizing is extremely beneficial because in their
upper years of school they will need to read longer texts and be asked to
summarize what they read. They should understand how to take apart what
is and is not important. The informative book below, features several facts
about skin and students should be able to show what the essential ideas and
details were throughout the story. By being asked to summarize, they are
reading actively to determine what is and is not important.
8. Partner Reading
This is a great reading strategy because when students are encouraged to
read to their partners they are more careful how they read, they are more
aware, and their peers are more likely to help them. If there are words they
do not understand or cannot pronounce, their friend might be able to help
them along. It would also give them the chance to give feedback and
encouragement to one another about their reading which would give them
more confidence in their reading skills. This would also allow the teacher to
take a step back during the lesson and watch how the students are and
monitor their progress. The book below features several short stories that
would be fun to read to a friend, which would give them more practice and
enjoyment out of reading.
9. Alphabet Matching
Targeted towards the younger readers, alphabet matching would help kids
learn the sounds letters make. This would allow them to understand the
alphabetic principle and practice breaking words down. In a book like Eating
the Alphabet, students would see examples of words starting with different
letters of the alphabet and make connections while they read and write.
Students eat through the alphabet and learn all the foods that begin with
each letter. This would also force them to practice all the different sounds in
each and every food word.
10.
Rhyming Games
Using books with rhyming games and practicing this strategy while reading
promotes and develops phonological awareness in young readers. This would
be targeted towards young readers who do not quite understand how to
break down words and sound them out. This strategy would help students
make relations to all the phonemes in their language. This is the foundation
to spelling and speaking, and has a huge part in teaching students how to
read when they are in the younger grades. The book below features many
funny rhymes that would allow students to sound out and manipulate the
words to understand the rhyme and how to sound out the word. It would help
them break it down and connect the words to how they are written and how
they sound.
Resources:
H. (2016, March 14). 25 Reading Strategies That Work In Every Content Area.
Retrieved October 20, 2016, from
http://teachthought.com/pedagogy/literacy/25-reading-strategies-that-workin-every-content-area/
Thisreadingmama.com I used this website to guide books I might be
interested in reading/researching for the book examples. There was not one
particular page I was interested in, but the entire website. I highly
recommend this as a tool for teachers to look for ideas for guided reading.

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The Roles of Read-Aloud in the Classroom:

Why are Read Alouds are important in an Elementary LA classroom?

A list of ten strategies to be used during read-aloud in the

3. Making Mental Images

5. Clear Problem and Solution

6. Compare and Contrast

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