Today's guest post comes from our wonderful World Read Aloud Day Partner, SNAP! Learning. Read on for read aloud tips and exciting details about a free book giveaway!
Another international event, another great excuse to snuggle down with a book! Snap Learning is thrilled to partner with LitWorld and help readers everywhere celebrate World Read Aloud Day.
As publishers of leveled readers, we know that reading aloud (and along) can have a profound impact on a young reader’s literacy skills.
To encourage readers both young and old to read aloud, we’ve listed out our favorite tips for making reading aloud an unforgettable event.
1. Sing aloud! Take your favorite poem, verse or child’s book and read it to a tune you already know. It won’t take more than a few tries to find to the right tune to fit your new words, and it can be remarkably exciting when it does.
2. Give a speech. Find a famous speech - new or old, politician or pop-star - and read it aloud for your friends, class or family. Extra points if you dress up.
3. Embrace a good love story. Sometimes we shy away from truly expressing ourselves. Don't be afraid to show your children what it means to get emotional about reading, and to make character's own emotions come to life by channeling your inner Meryl Streep. Things that work well: dramatic pauses, long sighs, a soulful face, arm gestures, and facial expressions. Don't be shy about moving around.
4. It's all about the voices. Y'all ever eyeball a para or two that looks like English, but just ain’t? Time to become the character! Learn the accent and then see if you can give that dialogue a whirl. Don't worry about sounding silly, in fact the only way you can go wrong is if you aren't silly enough.
5. Sound or act out a special word: Scan the material you are going to read and then choose a frequently occurring word or person in that passage. For example, in a text that features elephants, there's no better choice than "elephant." Decide what action you will make to accompany the word. The elephants (trumpet like an elephant) walked slowly across the dusty plains. Most of the elephants (trumpeting noise) would stay together till they reached the watering hole, but Josey the elephant (trumpeting noise) was different. Your audience will begin to anticipate the next occurence of the word and will hopefully join in!
We hope you have a great World Read Aloud Day, and to help you spread the reading fun, we will be sharing a published Snap Learning Fiction Book on March 5th. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook or Pinterest to get your free book on the day.