5 Essential Tips for Teaching with Read Alouds

Read alouds can do so much for our students. They can listen to fluent reading, learn about new authors, hear our thinking about vocabulary, character development, plot, and more. So which books make the best read alouds and how can we use them effectively? Today, I am going to share ten titles I love and how I use them.

Create a Culture of Reading with Read Alouds

Read alouds can build interest when used for modeling. Students love hearing their teacher read aloud. If the teacher chooses to share just part of a book periodically, it can be a teaser to entice the kids to finish it. Teachers can also highlight specific authors. If authors who have published a long list of books are chosen, some books can be left for independent reading. I’ve done this with several author studies, and I’ve always enjoyed hearing the kids comments as they find other titles.

Who Should Read Aloud?

So who should read aloud?  Everyone…teachers, parents, and kids!  Why? Well, there are some books that are just meant to be heard orally. One of my favorite memories of read alouds with my own children was with Trumpet of the Swan by EB White. We took a long road trip, and listened to the audiobook in the car. The kids just loved it, and so did my husband and I. We’ve since enjoyed lots of audiobooks on similar trips, and truly, it’s a great way to enjoy the stories AND pass the time. 

Benefits of Read Alouds

Use Read Alouds to Work on Fluency

First of all, we model fluent reading when we read aloud.  It gives our students an opportunity to hear what good reading sounds like.  When you’re reading read alouds, we should talk about the importance of phrasing, expression, and rate (we slow down for important parts and speed up for less important parts).

Mentor Text Lessons

Another benefit of using read alouds is to model comprehension skills.  Some books lend themselves well to specific skills.  If you search reading comprehension or mentor texts on my site, you can find a listing of recommended books and the skills I’ve taught with them.

Read Alouds Build Schema

In addition to comprehension skills, read alouds provide an opportunity for stretching our students thinking. For students who haven’t traveled or experienced going to a farm say, we can share books to show them. This builds schema and prepares the students to read books that are currently too hard.

Read Alouds Extend Learning

Another benefit is to expand your content area units with read alouds. Sharing nonfiction books  can provide another exposure to information students may be studying in science and social studies.  Read alouds should be just above what your students can read with support as this expands vocabulary too.

Use Mentor Texts for Writing

Finally, read alouds or mentor texts showcase writing traits that we want our students to imitate. For recommended read alouds by writing trait, search my site for the six writing traits for a detailed list of titles.

Reading Alouds I Love

First Grade

For first grade, I recently came across Brian Lies’ Bat series including Bats at the Beach, Bats at the Library, and Bats at the Ballgame.  I love the playful language Lies uses.  Children at this age love rhyme, and they’re curious about bats.  I love pairing fiction and nonfiction, so you could share these and move into researching bats with nonfiction titles.

Second Grade

Since many of the books these authors write are within the range of a second grader, it works well to choose one or two books by the author as a read aloud for modeling strategies,  and then use the rest for skill practice in guided reading groups. The authors I have done materials for can be accessed by clicking the author names above which will take you to the materials.

Third through Fifth Grade

Students in third through fifth are becoming more independent in their reading.  They’re able to read silently, and oral fluency is really picking up speed.  From the reading perspective, the read alouds help polish phrasing and expression.  Again, the goal with read alouds can be to extend content area information, expose the students to authors whose books they should consider reading, for skill modeling, and for writer’s craft. Here are a few ideas for each grade.

Jan Brett:

Patricia Polacco:

Other Favorite Picture Book Authors:

If you need other options in the upper grades, be sure to check out books by William Steig, Patricia Maclachlan, Gail Gibbons, Chris VanAllsburg, Kadir Nelson, Aaron Reynolds, Pam Munoz Ryan, and Tomie dePaola too. Plus, I’ve done many mentor text links ups where we’ve highlighted wonderful title. I’ll share a few of those links below.

Chapter Book Authors:

For chapter book read aloud, I’m a huge fan of Kate diCamillo. I love Because of Winn Dixie and the Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.  Roald Dahl is another that fully captures readers.  James and the Giant Peach includes amazing vocabulary and is the perfect choice to highlight word choice and writer’s craft.  The Brian Series (Hatchet, Brian’s Winter, Brian’s Return) certainly are page-turners whether the reader is a boy or a girl.  Gary Paulsen is also very interesting to research.  Katherine Patterson, Katherine Applegate, and Sharon Creech are quite popular for upper elementary. Finally, I’ll add Rick Riordan, Eoin Colfer, Suzanne Collins, and Kwame Alexander.

Other Posts You Should Read:

• Using Interactive Read Alouds for More than Story Time
• Teaching Question-Answer Relationship with Miss Rumphius
• How to Model Character Change with The Hula Hoopin Queen
• Teaching Inferences with Just a Dream

Wow, there are just too many to highlight! What are your favorites?  Share your comments below.

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