Revitalizing Read Alouds

How can educators and other professionals caring for children extend the learning potential of read alouds? This book is designed to help teachers, special education specialists, and speech-language pathologists achieve two objectives: 1) how to interact with children around books in ways that are instructive in nature but also responsive to children’s verbal contributions; and 2) how to use literature, informational texts, and poetry to achieve the goals of the Common Core State Standards. The authors provide specific recommendations for structuring read aloud routines in the early childhood classroom, making the read aloud interactive, using instructional strategies that enhance children’s vocabulary and content knowledge, and supporting and extending children’s verbal contributions through scaffolding during the activity. This practitioner‐friendly text also includes methods for supporting children with special needs, as well as English language learners.

Book Features:

• Recommendations for how to choose quality books in each of the three genres— informational, literature, and poetry.
• The most useful interactive‐instructional strategies.
• The types of visual supports and props that can augment the read aloud.
• Methods for extended learning opportunities.
• Examples and excerpts from actual read alouds to illustrate the methods.
• Read aloud activities that align with the Common Core State Standards.
• The benefits and challenges of using digital texts

Lisa Hammett Price is professor in the speech-language pathology program in the Department of Communication Disorders, Special Education, and Disability Services at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Barbara A. Bradley is associate professor in the Department of Curriculum and Teaching at the University of Kansas.

"This book is a great read, filled with raise-the-bar opportunities for teaching and learning with literature, information text, poetry, and ebooks. If you choose to teach like this, children won’t say they didn’t learn anything in school today."
—From the Foreword by Sharon Walpole, University of Delaware

"Price and Bradley offer exceptionally comprehensive and clear guidance about developing young children's oral language and thinking through conversations during read alouds. The book is jam-packed with information, explanations, and wonderful examples of teacher-child interactions, instructional tools, and literature resources, while also conveying abundant confidence in teachers as instructional decisionmakers."
—Judith A. Schickedanz, School of Education (emerita), Boston University

"Revitalizing Read Alouds is a teacher-friendly text and addresses important issues for improving oral language and comprehension development through a read aloud context. The teaching examples, particularly for supporting children’s thinking, will be useful for new and seasoned teachers alike!"
—Tanya Christ, associate professor, Department of Reading and Language Arts, Oakland University