Friday, November 17, 2006

Reading Aloud

How often do you read aloud? I'm reading aloud more and more.

Karen and I go to Starbucks to read several times a week. This is when I'll do my "homework" or non-fiction reading. Many times, I'll want to share something I've read with Karen. As I begin to read aloud from my book, I'll sometimes stumble over the words. I think this is due to the fact that I'm a fast reader. I think my eyes are jumping ahead in the material or skimming over the words rather than really reading them. Here: let me show you what I mean. This is a test from author Harlan Coben.

Read this sentence:

FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY COMBINED WITH THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS.

Now count the F"s in that sentence.



I did it and ended up with four. The real answer is six. My eyes just skip over some of those ofs.

Reading aloud slows me down so that I can really see what I'm saying. These days, I'm enjoying reading aloud to our neighbors' 4 month-old boy, Ethan. I'll read his board books to him slowly with lots of enthusiasm in my voice and I'll pause to gauge his reaction. Reading aloud and smiling with him is such fun.

I'm really looking forward to reading aloud to our own child. Karen and I have such a love for reading; we hope our child will too. We're already collecting books for the Biscuit's library.

By the way, I'm currently reading "The Read-Aloud Handbook" by Jim Trelease. I heartily recommend it. This book has an inspiring message and wonderful anecdotes as well as the latest research on reading aloud to your children and which books to choose.

-Wendy
[16,4d]

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Since you have a love for books, here's something to consider for your baby shower. I just finished my invitations and included this on the inside of the invite:

As Karen & Wendy’s due date is coming near,
We're inviting friends and family dear.
To choose a children’s story or fairy tale
That you’d like little Biscuit to hear.
Instead of a card, please let us look
At your very special choice of a book,
And then to the baby we will joyfully read
With all the love a newborn will need.
With a personal touch, please choose a book
And inside your name and note do put.
It need not cost more than a card
Just pick a favorite, it won’t be hard!

Wendy and Karen said...

This is lovely. Thanks for sharing this.

Stacey said...

I had to go over that sentence a few times--I just couldn't see the 2 missing F's. Duh. LOL

I love reading to kids and doing the voices in the stories. I miss doing that and can't wait to read to our little one. :)