{"id":322,"date":"2024-05-30T05:00:06","date_gmt":"2024-05-30T09:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.readbrightly.com\/?p=322"},"modified":"2024-05-31T11:11:46","modified_gmt":"2024-05-31T15:11:46","slug":"importance-of-reading-aloud-to-big-kids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.readbrightly.com\/importance-of-reading-aloud-to-big-kids\/","title":{"rendered":"The Importance of Reading Aloud to Big Kids"},"content":{"rendered":"

Only 17% of parents of kids ages 9\u201311 read aloud to their children. Yet 83% of kids ages 6\u201317 say being read to is something they either loved or liked a lot. (Scholastic\u2019s “Kids & Family Reading ReportTM<\/sup>\u201d)<\/a><\/p>\n

Mom Andrea Chisholm, echoes this sentiment, \u201cEven though my older one can easily read books himself, he still loves to be read to at night.\u201d<\/p>\n

For many kids, being read to by their parents is a cherished ritual. But it\u2019s also much more than that. Reading aloud to kids helps expand their literacy skills, love of reading, worldview, and more. Here are some key reasons it\u2019s important to read aloud to your older kids:<\/p>\n

Lets Them Experience the Joy of Story<\/strong>
\nThe goal is to love the story. That\u2019s the point of reading, unless you\u2019re reading for meaning. When my oldest daughter didn\u2019t \u201ctake\u201d to reading as I\u2019d hoped, I let her listen to hours of audiobooks and read aloud to her multiple times a day. I wanted her to get hooked on the stories in the chapter books, without the frustration of reading them. Like her, all readers \u2014\u00a0and especially struggling readers \u2014\u00a0learn to love stories by hearing stories.<\/p>\n

Models Fluent Reading<\/strong>
\nWhen you read to kids, you\u2019re modeling how to read language. You pause at commas and periods. Your voice inflection changes when you read questions or exclamations. And you can show what you, a fluent reader, do when you come to a word you don\u2019t know. (Even if you\u2019re faking that you don\u2019t know it.)<\/p>\n

Helps Expand Their Vocabulary<\/strong>
\nKids\u2019 auditory comprehension is higher than their reading comprehension. When you pick a challenging book that your kids can\u2019t read on their own, you are exposing them to a wealth of new vocabulary words. This stretches a child\u2019s language development, particularly if you stop to talk about the meaning of these harder words.<\/p>\n

Exposes Kids to New Authors, Texts, and Genres<\/strong>
\nReading aloud can get kids hooked on a new author or series of books. Once a child falls in love with the story or author, it\u2019s hard to hold them back from reading it on their own.<\/p>\n

Plus, reading aloud gives kids a chance to explore genres and texts they wouldn\u2019t normally select.<\/p>\n

\u201cI often read the first chapter or two of a new book to my daughter to pull her into a book that she might not have chosen otherwise,\u201d says Natalie Figge of\u00a0Planet Smarty Pants.<\/p>\n

There are so many amazing books that kids don\u2019t pick to read on their own. These books make great read alouds \u2014\u00a0in what I call the \u201cjust give this book a chance\u201d category.<\/p>\n

Builds Awareness and Empathy<\/strong>
\nLiterature is one of the best ways to help kids understand something without experiencing it for themselves. And books do this with all sorts of subjects and concepts, building our children\u2019s understanding of humanity and the world around them.<\/p>\n

Improves Kids\u2019 Long-Term Reading Success<\/strong>
\nFinally, you probably know that decades of research shows that reading aloud to a child daily is one of the most important activities for her reading success. That goes for older kids, too. Kids who are read to have good vocabularies, write well, and do well overall in school (Hiebert, Scott, & Wilkinson, 1985 U. S. Department of Education meta-study of 10,000 studies). They\u2019re also\u00a0more likely to keep reading on their own.<\/p>\n

yes yes Awesome Read-Alouds for Big Kids <\/p>\n

Looking for some great books to read aloud to your big kid tonight? Check out\u00a0some of our favorites!<\/p>\n

9780440228592 Holes <\/i> by Louis Sachar 9780142410318 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory<\/i> by Roald Dahl, illustrated by Quentin Blake 9780142406632 The Rangers Apprentice <\/i> by John Flanagan 9780440420477 The Penderwicks<\/i> by Jeanne Birdsall 9781524715663 The Science of Breakable Things<\/i> by Tae Keller 9781101994849 Wolf Hollow <\/i> by Lauren Wolk 9780375869020 Wonder <\/i> by R.J. Palacio 9780147510488 The War That Saved My Life<\/i> by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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