10/4/08

Read Aloud Inspiration

Reading to your child is the best place to start fostering a love of learning. The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease is a wonderful resource for parents who want to share books with their children. It provides great motivation and encouragement by explaining why reading aloud to children is so important. There have been many studies on the benefits of reading aloud to children and the findings are really amazing and are included in this book. In addition, "The Read Aloud Handbook" provides a list of excellent book recommendations for different age groups.

I highly recommend this book because it really encouraged me to know the reasons why parents should make a habit of reading to their children. We all know how tedious it can be to read a child's favorite story for maybe the tenth, fiftieth, or even hundredth time. "The Read Aloud Handbook" shares the scientific reasons why young children want to hear their favorite stories over and over and just exactly how that benefits them. I know I used to find it quite a chore reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar to my son every single day but once I found out just how much this benefited him I was able to look at story time as a daily accomplishment I could be proud of. I might still have crumbs under the kitchen table at the end of the day but I had read my son his favorite story which was helping to promote his vocabulary acquisition, pre-reading skills, and cognitive development.

In addition to being inspiring, "The Read Aloud Handbook" provides lists of good books which are especially helpful when you go to purchase books that may be read over and over again or when you go to pick out books at the library. You certainly want the books you buy or borrow to be stories you and your child will both enjoy. This makes reading aloud much more enjoyable for all.

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