Three of our Very Favorite Read-Alouds

Some favorites from my daughter's younger years were pulled recently for bedtime read-alouds.


What my seven year old son enjoys now, my almost eleven year old daughter loves to hear again as well. 


Isn't this what makes a good story? ~ that we WANT to hear it again and again?  




You need to muster up a good Italian accent to read these books aloud!  

Strega Nona is one of our all time favorites!  When I read it this week, my daughter wondered if this story was related to The Sorcerer's Apprentice.... good question.  (I'll have to Google that one.)

Once you meet Big Anthony, Strega Nona's trusted assistant, you will want to learn more about him.  Big Anthony, His Story must be the next book you read.  Big Anthony is a lovable, well-intentioned boy who tries to get things right, but it never quite works out for him!  

Finally, Strega Nona Meets Her Match is a good way to round out this threesome.   




We fell in love with Tomie dePaola long ago.... but last year we really enjoyed the 26 Fairmount Avenue series... we read the entire series in just a couple of weeks.   I have to thank Amy for recommending them on her blog.


These three stories are filled with little bits of Italian and pieces of history and geography.  As always, the pictures are marvelous and there are lots of giggles as I read each book. 


  

"Reading is important because if you can read you can learn anything about everything and everything about anything." 

~Tomie dePaola

I hope you can take a minute to watch this clip of Tomie dePaola talking about the importance of reading... it reinforces to me the importance of my role as a MOTHER who READS to her children!

   

Science and History Inspired Reading

We have been doing a lot of reading in our house.  

I haven't been reading aloud as much this week because it has been causing bad headaches for me.   I have an appointment for an eye exam - I've worn contacts for YEARS.  I am nearsighted.  I think, however, that since 40 came knocking at my door my close up vision is getting worse. (I can remember my dad having to take off his glasses to read, or hold things far away -- that's me now!)  I'm hoping an adjusted prescription will help!

Last week we went off on a tangent to learn about Louis Pasteur.   To make it seem less tangental, I purchased a unit study and we are continuing our study this week.  The study centers around Pasteur's Fight Against Microbes, which we are enjoying so far.  

History is always so interesting for the kids... and the recommendation from Story of The World to read St. George and The Dragon was PERFECT.    I haven't read a picture book this beautiful to the children in quite some time. 


We finished our chapter in SOTW about Knights and Samurais (GMan read Sam Samurai - which he LOVED... I just discovered these books at the library and there are so many to choose from!!)


If you are studying Medieval times and chivalry, you want to include St. George and The Dragon.  This version, retold by Margaret Hodges, is a Caldecott Award winner, and for good reason.   The illustrations on each page are mesmerizing, and they go along with an equally enchanting story.   I'm so glad I added this book to our library.  


Moving ahead in history just a bit we have Who Was Marco Polo? and The Adventures of Robin Hood  to be devoured next.    I am thankful for Susan Wise Bauer and her thoughtful suggestions in The Story of The World Activity Guide.   The books suggested never disappoint us.  





Miss B has taken her own detour into WWII history and read Hitler's Daughter and Number the Stars already this week.  I'm not sure what spurred this interest, but I'm trying to provide her with as many books as possible. 


My sister-in-law, a middle grades science teacher also got her started on this Everest series by Gordon Korman.  I had to find the rest of the books in the series from the library.  She told me today, "You can't just read the first book and STOP... you have to find the rest... PLEASE!"  


I am happy to oblige.  




I've been feeling a bit jealous lately of all the time my children have to READ.   I need to carve out some more time for me to read things that interest me... I need a good work of fiction to just lose myself in --- any recommendations??


I'm linking with Amy for Read-Aloud Thursday:  

Keeping Little Hands {and Big Hands!} Busy During Read-Alouds

I am a HUGE advocate of reading aloud to your children.  I have posted often about this topic.  


Many days go by where our biggest accomplishment is reading aloud.    


That's OK with me.   

I know that if my husband and I raise readers and seekers of knowledge we will be equipping them to be life long learners.   If my children experience the great joys of learning alongside their parents they will pass this along to their children.   

Reading aloud to your children will
 last for GENERATIONS!  

I know, however, that sometimes reading aloud falls into "last place" in some homeschools.  There are math workbooks to complete, grammar lessons to finish, and spelling words to learn.


I've also heard moms say that it just takes too much TIME to read aloud, and why should they read aloud when their children are independent readers?  


This makes me sad.


I love learning WITH my children! I am modeling good reading when I read aloud.


I have witnessed my children's vocabularies SOAR because of read-alouds.  They have a frame of reference for SO MANY things in history, science, and life in general.   They are turning into wonderful writers (I'm not trying to brag -- well, yes I am - brag about the benefits of reading aloud!) and speakers because of the examples they hear in GOOD BOOKS.


The biggest question I get is this:   "How do your children listen for so long when you read aloud?"   I'm going to try to answer that question today.

Five Ways to Keep Little Hands {and Big Hands!} 

Busy During Read-Alouds

Geometric Coloring

1.  Make the environment cozy.  We have two big fleece throws in our family room and lots of comfy pillows.   Everyone now has their own SPOT for when I read aloud!  I have a good light for me and have a couple of "mood lights" to relax everyone else. 

2.  Coordinate read-aloud time with snack or meal time.   A huge bowl of grapes or other healthy snack keeps little ones busy and quiet!   My daughter (who is 10) loves to make herself a cup of tea.   Many times I will also read-aloud at lunch time - I have a captive audience for 15-20 minutes; why not capitalize on that? 

Viking Mask

3.  Give those little hands something to do.   Here are some of our favorites:

Legos

Blocks
Puzzles

Knitting/handicrafts

Coloring (check out these COOL geometric coloring sheets we've been using!)

Crafts - my kids made Viking Masks while I was reading aloud to them about The Vikings.  

4. Keep notebooks for your children to work in while you read.  We use Story of The World for history and my children keep a notebook.   We just finished learning about Charlemagne.   I challenged my kids to draw something pertaining to the story while we read and then we added it to their notebook.  You can also search for free notebooking pages for whatever subject you are working on.   

5.  Choose interesting and fun read-alouds and BE ANIMATED while you read them.  I learn about read-alouds from blogs (Amy @ Hope is the Word is my #1 resource) and just talking to other moms in our co-op.    I also love Read for the Heart by Sarah Clarkson and Jim Trelease's Read-Aloud Handbook.  I try to choose books based on the period of history we are studying, or just based on interest. My daughter has listened to many baseball greats read-alouds, and my son has listened (with great interest) to Caddie Woodlawn.   I love that they share each other's passion for certain subjects!  

I am always on the lookout for good books at used book sales.   I have one bookshelf downstairs that is full of treasuries and books that we want to read-aloud. Notice the Childhood of Famous Americans Walt Disney book -- we are reading this now... and my kids have NO IDEA they will be going to Disney World in three weeks!  

There are SO MANY POSSIBILITIES with reading aloud.  I am so thankful we embrace this lifestyle of reading.  I will miss reading aloud to children when my have grown and left the nest!

Do you have any read-aloud tips you'd like to share?

Linking today with Amy... click her button to see what others are reading aloud this week!