Read aloud lessons are one of the most magical moments in a classroom. They allow teachers to model fluency, introduce new vocabulary, and model the pure joy of reading rich stories. However, keeping little learners engaged during read alouds can sometimes feel like herding cats, especially in this tech world with instant gratification. By using a few intentional strategies, you can create interactive and meaningful experiences that leave your students excited about being read a book. Here are four easy-to-implement read aloud strategies to energize your lessons and foster a love for books.
At first glance, you may think this is only for advanced writers, but it doesn’t have to be! This strategy is perfect for helping students process their thoughts and engage with the text. During the read aloud, pause at the spots you have pre-planned and ask your students to jot down a quick response.
For younger learners, this can be a drawing or a few words. For students who can write sentences, let them. This is easily differentiated in your classroom.
Students can stop and jot:
You can also collect their responses and place them on an anchor chart. This will help you gain insights into their comprehension!
One of students’ favorite read aloud strategies is to act it out! This strategy really brings to life their level of comprehension. You can coach them through things as they act it out and provide scaffolding as needed. Bring the story to life by encouraging your students to act out parts of the book!
For example, you can assign students to groups of four. Within each group, two people can be in charge of addressing the problem, and the other two can be in charge of addressing the solution. Another idea is to have students infer the feelings of a character by acting out how they feel in a particular part of the story. Or act how they feel at the beginning and then at the end to compare and contrast how a character changes.
This strategy is a surefire way to get wiggles out while keeping students focused. Acting out scenes builds engagement and boosts comprehension.
If you want a fun way to do this, grab this set of FREE Fairytale Retell Hat templates. Simply print and add sentence strips!
One of the best read aloud strategies to build communication skills is to use a turn and talk. With this read aloud strategy, students pair up and discuss a specific question or prompt related to the story. This is one of the most common strategies we tend to use and that’s because it’s impactful. Students are able to express their own thinking and listen to their peer’s thinking. It promotes active listening!
Questions like, “What would you do if you were the main character?” or “What do you think the author wants us to learn from this?” can spark rich conversations that help deepen comprehension. Choose questions that focus on the reading strategy you are targeting as you are reading aloud. It could be questioning, predicting, making connections, synthesizing, determining importance, or inferring!
One of the most effective and important read alouds strategies to help guide comprehension skills is to model your thinking. Modeling your own thought process during a read aloud helps kids see that there is MORE than just the author’s words. We are thinkers, too!
As you read, pause to share what you’re thinking: “I’m wondering why the character made that choice…” or “This reminds me of another story we read.” This strategy helps students understand how to ask questions, make predictions, infer, make connections, synthesize, determine importance and sort through information, and so much more! Your enthusiasm and curiosity will inspire your students to think deeply about texts.
Looking for even more ways to elevate your teaching of read aloud strategies? Grab this free resource filled with open-ended questions designed to spark conversations and critical thinking during read alouds. Grab your free resource here!
By incorporating these four read aloud strategies into your read aloud lessons, you can create a joyful and interactive experience for your students. Not only will they stay engaged, but they’ll also develop the needed literacy skills along the way as they become skilled readers. Try these strategies today and watch your classroom come alive with the magic of stories!
Want to use the latest research to boost your readers during small groups? This FREE guide is packed with engaging ideas to help them grow!
I’m a K-1 teacher who is passionate about making lessons your students love and that are easy to implement for teachers. Helping teachers like you navigate their way through their literacy block brings me great joy. I am a lifelong learner who loves staying on top of current literacy learning and practices. Here, you’ll find the tools you need to move your K-2 students forward!
