Reading aloud to children is one of life’s more precious things we can offer. Not only is reading aloud great for quality time with children, but children who have been read to aloud more quickly and easily grasp their language.
I am a HUGE Mem Fox fan. She is a children’s author and is the author of the book “Reading Magic: Why Reading Aloud to our Children Will Change Their Lives Forever” I first had to read the book for a literacy and language development class. I have read it two more times I have recommended it to every parent I know. She writes about the magic of print, the magic of language and the magic of general knowledge and how these show when we read aloud. She also discusses the importance of beginning to read aloud when the child is very young, like two days old (or something like that)
Reading aloud to children also keeps their interest in reading high. It also helps build their vocabulary. There are many words that we do not use in everyday language, but may appear in a book. This is a perfect opportunity to explain to your child what that word means.
Reading aloud also builds listening skills, which based on what I have been reading here, is something we feel a lot of people lack! From personal experience I knowlistening skills really come into play when reading interactive books. There are many more benefits, but I have links to those.
I personally know people who feel that reading aloud is rubbish, that it promotes laziness for that child not to want to read for themselves. Well, poo I say! When a child is younger you and that child are side by side reading TOGETHER. They may not be able to read the words yet, but they want to and you will be helping them.
If you currently have young children and are looking to read to them I would recommend any of the Pigeon books by Mo Willems. He is a child literary genius and his books are extremely interactive.
I know that I did not do the topic of reading aloud justice, but I encourage parents, educators and just everyone to read Reading Magic by Mem Fox.
References:
http://www.drspock.com/article/0,1510,5140,00.html - Reading Aloud with School-Age Children by Robert Needlman, M.D., F.A.A.P.
http://www.memfox.com/welcome.html - Mem Fox Website
Direct links to certain parts of Mem Fox’s website
http://www.memfox.com/reading-magic-and-do-it-like-this/ - how to read aloud (with audio)
http://www.memfox.net/ten-read-aloud-commandments.html - 10 read aloud commandments
http://www.memfox.net/flashing-screens-or-turning-pages.html - Flashing screens and turning pages
http://www.mowillems.com/ - Mo Willems Website
My mom read aloud to me from the time I was very young (probably days or weeks). As a result, I decided I wanted to learn to read and write when I was two. By the time I was three I was able to write well enough to write my own short stories (at two, I knew the alphabet and could spell my own name). This has helped me tremendously in life... especially since I grew up in Israel (where English was taught very, very poorly, and only from the third grade), and I dropped out of high school when I was fourteen. I think the main reason I able to get good grades on the SATs, write good essays, and get into a US college despite this was because my mom always read to me and encouraged reading, which has led to me becoming an excellent reader and writer, especially considering my total lack of English education.
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My momma read to me all the time. We didn't have a TV and needed to pass the time somehow. I cannot express how much my imagination was able to develop through this. I allowed myself to envision the charactars, girls with short ponytails, a dimple, schoolgirl socks, boys with mischievious grins, short cropped hair....imagination is a powerful tool, and i think TV has a lot to do with many kids having poor imaginations. They are unable to come up with anything of their own, but always borrowing from things they see on TV.
Many good points in this blog!! I liked it (=
Livin Ma life like its GOLDEN!
The benefits of reading to children are endless. I try to read to my kids whenever I can. My daughter is starting to pick up on reading, and I really think it is because I read to her a lot.
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