In the second episode of the "Love of Learning" podcast, hosts Elizabeth and Julia discuss the benefits and opportunities of reading aloud to your child. These include cultivating a love of reading, exposure to concepts about print and new vocabulary, and practicing phonological awareness.
Listen to the episode here.
Some Highlights from the Episode:
What are the benefits of reading aloud?
Reading aloud to your child cultivates a love for books and reading. They will associate reading books with that wonderful time together. I love this quote from children's author Mem Fox. She says, "When I say to a parent, 'Read to a child,' I don't want it to sound like medicine. I wanted to sound like chocolate." It should really be an enjoyable time when you can cuddle, giggle, and laugh.
Reading rhyming books presents and excellent opportunity to teach about rhyming in context, because then the words will rhyme and it will also make sense conceptually. Some good books for this are the Llama Llama books and Summer Days and Nights, which is a rhyming book and has beautiful vivid language for vocabulary enrichment as well.
What books should we read aloud?
I think that my biggest piece of advice would be to follow your child and give them choice. You should read books that you like and books that they like. I think that there can be some unfortunate snobbery about book selection. An adult might say, "Read Tuck Everlasting and not Captain Underpants. (I do love Tuck Everlasting.) Sometimes children want to read Dog Man or graphic novels. That is valuable that is reading and it shouldn't be diminished just because it's a little bit silly or funny.
In the podcast, we reference the following books or series: