You have the ability to offer your child more of a reading experience even if you’re like my husband who had little experience in reading to kids. Every picture book is different so there is no step-by-step process. Instead you use a bank of utensils at various points during the read aloud. Sometimes you’ll use the utensils just once and other times you’ll use the tool multiple times throughout.
Think of a drawer full of silverware, but instead of calling it the silverware drawer, we’ll call it the “Slow Down Drawer”. Let me explain in more depth what I mean. I’ve given it a silly name so you’ll remember it better.
For children to think critically, they need time to think. Imagine a friend orally telling you a recipe and then asking you to make the dish in the same order with the exact amount of ingredients. It wouldn’t be easy, right? Well it’s the same for kids; but sometimes harder because they don’t always have the background knowledge to support their thinking or to tie concepts together. As a parent, you have to supply that during those times.
Slowing down is probably the most useful and vital thing you can do when reading aloud to your child. Any time you use one of the utensils, remember you have to stop and slow down. This step is critical for it to become a learning experience.
One place you will always slow down, no matter the book, is the title page. Reading the title page and immediately flipping the page to begin reading is stripping away the potential for delightful conversations. These conversations will enable you to see what your child already knows about a certain subject. It will also allow you to share some of your connections. This in turn gives prerequisite knowledge for the subject coming their way.
Let’s say you’re reading a nonfiction book titled Tractors. Start by asking your child if he/she has ever seen a tractor? Where did they see it? If they have no connections, then you share your experiences. It might sound something like this, “When I was young my parents would take me to a pumpkin farm every year. The farm had a great big tractor for kids to sit on. I remember trying to climb up its massive wheels so I could sit on the seat.”
This strategy works as well for fiction as nonfiction. If the title you’re reading is Nina Loses Her Shoes, ask the child if he/she ever lost their shoes. Ask them to tell more about the situation and how they solved their problem.
Slowing down and spending two or three minutes talking about the concept of the book before you get started will make the comprehension piece more effortless. Now that you understand the larger category of slowing down, you are ready to learn about each of the utensils.
First Utensil: Pause at the beginning of each page.
So you get to the first page. Now what? Before you begin reading, count to seven slowly in your head. Why? This gives children the opportunity to look at the pictures. This gives them time to make predictions based on the pictures. It also gives them time to get the “picture looking” mostly out of the way. Pictures are interesting to kids which tends to take over the text and it can be a war you won’t win. So, give them a few seconds to study it so their brain is open to what you are reading. They’ll still look at the pictures when you’re reading but they’ll be hearing more of what you’re saying at the same time.
Second Utensil: Pause at the end of each page.
This is like the first utensil, but you do it at the end of each page. Do not turn the page before counting slowly to seven in your head. This gives children time to ask questions, make predictions and form meaning from the words you just said. For young children, ages 3-5, this is especially a golden time for them. During your wait time, you will often find their face full of concentration. Their wheels are turning. They are making sense of what they just heard.
Third Utensil: Broadway Voice
You don’t need to sing to use this utensil, but you do need to be a living, thriving, human being. Use intonation and expression, especially if you’re using the voice of a character. Kids become especially excited and interested if you take on the voice of the big bad wolf or the sweet, oblivious granny. These small changes with your voice go a long way. Not only are children going to comprehend the story better, but you are modeling fluent reading. Kids need to hear what good reading sounds like and this will help them with their own emergence in reading. And guess what, fluency is highly connected to...you got it, comprehension.
Fourth Utensil: Teach kids to use context clues. Often when I’m teaching kids how to read, I teach them how to use context clues to figure out an unknown word. I’ll have the student look at all the words in the sentence they know and have them substitute the unknown word with the word it could be. Then I have them look at the word again closely and about 80% of the time they are able to read the unknown word. This tool works great when teaching kids to read by themselves but it can also be swapped around when you are reading to a child. Often, especially in children’s picture books, there will be words children don’t understand. Sometimes they might ask during that wait time before you turn the page, but often they won’t ask. By gliding right over, it you are losing a teachable moment. So, after you read a full sentence that includes the word you think your child might be confused about, ask them what they think the meaning of the word is and what clues they used to find it.
And that’s it. Remembering to slow down first and foremost, as well as using the four utensils, will make the book-reading experience more engaging for all of you. My administrator once said to me, “If I see a teacher finish a picture book in ten minutes, then I’m worried.” What she was getting at is that each book can take 20-40 minutes for an adult to read if it is “read” authentically. So scale back on the quick reading and it will be a more enjoyable experience for all!