Yesterday, Mr. Hughes told you all about his awesome new Read-Aloud Round-Up over at his blog. I want to share some of my favorite read-alouds that my third graders love. Read-aloud time is absolutely, positively, without-a-doubt my favorite time of the school day. It is something that my students and I both look forward to each and every day. I love that it gives us a rich, shared literary experience - and levels the fluency playing field. My lowest and highest readers all have the opportunity to share in rich discussions of a high-level text.
Every year, I try a few new read-alouds, but I have a few standbys. I want to share those with you here.
1) Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar
My first read aloud of the year is ALWAYS Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar. I start reading this on the first day of school, and it's my absolute favorite. I read this first for a few reasons. 1) It was one of those books that I could read over and over and over as a kid. It just never stopped being funny. 2) It's HIIIIIIIIILARIOUS. Kids are literally ROFL. Even the kids who don't think they like to read suddenly get it - "Whoa. Some books are funny! I better find some of these funny ones the next time I'm at the library!" 3) I am a performer at heart, and this book really allows me to showcase all my voices. :) I do a pretty awesome Mrs. Gorf if I do say so myself.
2) Matilda by Roald Dahl
Another personal childhood favorite. Reasons this book is awesome: 1) It's hilarious. Laugh out loud funny. 2) It opens the door for me to say things like, "Hey, you may not be happy with me right now for taking your recess away, but think of it this way - at least I'm not the TRUNCHBULL!" 3) Speaking of the Trunchbull, my Trunchbull voice is pretty on point. I'm realizing that most of my read aloud choices are dependent on whether I can do funny voices, but hey - engage the teacher, engage the kids, right!? :)
3) Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Peterson
Reasons I read this story: 1) It's a truly beautiful story of friendship, imagination, love, and loss. It's heartwarming and touching, and painful at times. It's a lot like real life. 2) It's leads to such rich discussions of friendship and family, as well as of author's purpose. Why would an author make the choice to let a character die? 3) There's a lot of rich vocabulary in this story.
Thanks for reading about a few of my faves! If you are a fellow blogger, make sure to link up some of your own favorite read-alouds over at Mr. Hughes's blog!
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