Interactive Read-Aloud
As you scroll down on this page, you will view the following sections:
What is a Repeated Interactive Read-Aloud?
What does the research say?
Lesson Plan
Aligning Resource Support
Post Lesson Comments
References and Readings
Lesson Plan (printable version)
What is an interactive read-aloud?
What is a repeated interactive read aloud?
It is a whole-group instructional practice
Scaffolds children's understanding of the book through repeated readings
The teacher reads aloud a text pausing for conversation
Students are listening and viewing illustrations
Students think about, talk about and respond to the text as a whole group or in pairs or small groups.
Text-based discussions help children construct meaning
Goals of a read aloud:
to introduce students to new vocabulary
to build (background) knowledge
to expose children to complex sentence structures and text structures
to provide joyful experiences with books
to model strategies (step by step) of the skills students need to acquire
to think-aloud exposing students to the skills that good readers use.
Tips and tricks:
Ask quality open-ended questions. Think of Bloom's Taxonomy (describe, explain, compare, connect, evaluate, etc.)
Use wait time for responses
Teach and use turn and talk routines
Texts should be beyond the instructional reading level of most students
Considering connecting science and social studies content to your read-aloud
Read-alouds may be organized by text set so that students can make connections between books.
Preview text for interesting and unfamiliar vocabulary
Words are important to understand the text.
Words for future use.
If students supply an appropriate answer to a vocabulary prompt:
repeat their answer, correcting sentence structure (as needed)
add a word to the student's sentence, whenever possible (expand)
continue reading
If they cannot supply a brief definition, provide one and continue reading.
Source: Burkins & Yates, 2021
Source: Fountas and Pinnell website
What does the research say?
"When it comes to language development, read-aloud is one of your most powerful tools" (Layne 2015, McCarthy 2020 as cited in Burkins and Yates, 2021 p. 28).
Lesson Plan
Appropriate grade level: Cycle One-Cycle Three
Teacher: Classroom or Remedial
Number of sessions: This lesson plan includes 4x15 minute lessons
Book or YouTube video: Stellaluna read by Pamela Reed
Note: See Lesson 3 (Using Interesting Words) for text set options.
Stellaluna Reading #1
Purpose:
Start to explore how bats and birds are different and alike.
Pleasure
Explain the concepts of different and alike.
Read the book straight through, stopping to explain only when necessary.
Stellaluna Reading #2
Time: 10-15 minutes
Notes:
There are no page numbers. I started where the story starts.
This is a long story. I reduced the number of prompts and spread them out over the readings.
Preparation:
Have an item that you can demonstrate “right-side up” and “upside down” with. I used a doll to demonstrate this concept that comes up on p. 27-28. I did this lesson in Gr. 1.
Have the students show you how they turn and talk.
Purpose for reading: to identify some of the similarities between birds and bats. This will help students’ comprehension of the story.
Before reading:
Using the front page…
What do you know about birds and bats?
How are they alike and different? (define alike and different)
If you are using text sets to learn about birds and bats, you may want to keep a record of the answers on chart paper and correct any misinformation as you learn more.
p.1-2: What does clutched mean?
students may act out clutched, hugging themselves
p. 3-4: Show swooped as an arm action. Have the students “swoop” with their arm.
p. 7-8: What happened on this page?
Turn and talk with a partner
Teacher listens to a group
One student explains what happened or to save time the teacher revoices an answer heard during the turn and talk.
p. 9-10: Why didn’t Stellaluna want to eat what Mama Bird was bringing to her babies? Why did she give in?
Turn and talk with a partner
Teacher listens to a group
One student explains what happened or to save time the teacher revoices an answer heard during the turn and talk.
p. 13-14: What does clambered mean?
p. 15-16 What is happening in this picture?
Turn and talk with a partner
Teacher listens to a group
One student explains what happened or to save time the teacher revoices an answer heard during the turn and talk.
p. 25-26: Show me your thumbs.
p. 27-28: Show an item (doll). Demonstrate upside down and right side up.
p. 35-36 Point to the mango as you read.
p. 39-40 Show limb/branch with your finger as you read.
Stellaluna Reading #3
Time: 10-15 minutes
Purpose for reading: to provide multiple opportunities to encounter vocabulary words.
p. 3-4: What does below mean? (Review from lesson 1)
p.5-6: What does clutched mean? (review)
students may act out clutched, hugging themselves
p. 7-8: What does clambered mean? (review)
p. 27-32: What happened in this part of the story? Review the illustrations
As a whole group try to summarize the key ideas in this part.
First, Stellaluna gets woken up by an adult bat
Next, the adult bats asks questions
Then, they realize they were mother bat and Stellaluna
Finally, they will live together again. They are reunited.
p. 39-40 What does swooped mean? (review)
Prompt students to show you with an arm action and describe with words.
Stellaluna Reading #4
Time: 10-15 minutes
Purpose for reading: As this is the 4th reading, focus the interactions on big ideas in the story.
p. 3-4: Why did Stellaluna fall into the forest?
Turn and talk with a partner
Teacher listens to a group
One student explains what happened or to save time the teacher revoices an answer heard during the turn and talk.
p. 11-12: Compare birds and bats from this illustration. (differences and similarities)
Turn and talk with a partner
Teacher listens to a group
One student explains what happened or to save time the teacher revoices an answer heard during the turn and talk.
p. 25-26: Explain what you notice in this picture.
Turn and talk with a partner
Teacher listens to a group
Students provide noticings
p. 41-42 How can we be so different and feel so much alike? Have you ever felt different from someone but felt alike at the same time? Listen for the author’s message in answers.
Turn and talk with a partner
Teacher listens to a group
One student explains what happened or to save time the teacher revoices an answer heard during the turn and talk.
Aligning Resource Support
*Strong oral language skills are linked to later reading comprehension proficiency. The focus of this section is to support oral language skills to prevent comprehension difficulties. You may notice other reading comprehension issues, please address them as you identify them.
Target oral language instruction if:
The student uses the same words over and over again in talking and/or writing.
The student expresses that they do not like to read on their own because they don’t understand the words in the book
Unable to retell an event in a way that makes sense.
The student misuses common words.
The student has questions about a lot of word meanings in a grade appropriate text.
The student seems to have a weak vocabulary.
The student is not able to make connections among words across texts and/or contexts..
Adapted from Reading Rockets
Increase the number of opportunities to help build oral language skills through:
-dialogic reading (see lesson plan 1)
-dialogic conversations
-storytelling opportunities
-interactive read-alouds (use this lesson as a model)
General Guidelines for support:
A smaller group/individual instruction will provide multiple opportunities for the child to exchange or interact orally.
Provide instruction about the important, useful, and difficult words before and during the reading of a text. Teach students strategies to find meanings within the text, whenever possible.
Explicitly teach the meaning of common prefixes, roots, and suffixes.
Offer students many opportunities to encounter target words beyond the context in which they are taught.
Adapted from Reading Rockets
If Background Knowledge seems to be the problem, then:
Prior to the activity, activate the students’ prior knowledge.
Use text sets (including videos, magazines, etc.) to build up knowledge and vocabulary over multiple readings.
As a remedial teacher, be sure to also explicitly teach strategies so that the students can gain transferable skills to acquire knowledge from reading.
This list is not an exhaustive list.
Post lesson comments:
Post lesson teacher comments:
Coming soon!
References and Readings:
Jan Burkins, & Kari Yates. (2021). Shifting the Balance : 6
Ways to Bring the Science of Reading Into the Balanced Literacy Classroom. Stenhouse Publishers.
Inspired by: Sadlier School Interactive Read-alouds