World Read-Aloud Day: Tips on Reading Aloud to Young Children
When children love books and reading, they do better in school and live happier lives.
One of the best ways to accomplish this goal is to read aloud to infants, toddlers and preschoolers.
Parents can read anything aloud to their little ones…but some books are better than others.
Author and educator Susan Marx wrote a practical guide for reading aloud to young children.
Help Me Get Ready To Read is chockfull of great picture book suggestions and parenting tips.
Susan wrote a poem that uses the titles of the stories that are recommended in her book…just in time for World Read Aloud Day.
The name of the poem is Bedtime Rhyme and the titles of favorite read-aloud books for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers are shown in italics.
Information about the books as well as parenting strategies and reading strategies to read aloud effectively are provided in “Help Me Get Ready To Read: The Practical Guide For Reading Aloud To Children During Their First Five Years” by Susan Marx and Barbara Kasok. (www.readaloudguide.com)
Bedtime Rhyme
by Susan Marx
Let’s read a book Together to settle you down,
Time for Bed in your cozy jammies or nightgown.
Sleep time for you and Dino-Pets that watch you grow,
Count along with me Ten, Nine, Eight and Off We Go!
Little one you might ask Where to Sleep?
For sure not with those Sheep in a Jeep.
Duck! Rabbit! Here’s a Kiss Kiss from Little Mo,
Stop your Dancing Feet, be still From Head To Toe.
Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed go Bumpety Bump on the floor,
OH! The Runaway Bunny calls for help from Sammy and the Dinosaur.
Chicken Bedtime is Really Early honks Blue Goose,
Mommies Say Shhh! to the Mother Goose on the Loose.
Here Comes the Night so quietly listen as Bear Snores On,
No more coloring for Harold and the Purple Crayon.
Good night to the dog in Whistle for Willie,
And good neigh to the horse in Silly Tilly.
Time To Say Goodnight to Corduroy, Miss Mary Mack, and Maisy,
Goodnight Moon, Noisy Nora, Olivia, and Titch and Daisy.
Good-night Owl and Good Night Gorilla in the Firehouse,
Sweet dreams to the teeny weeny Busy, Busy Mouse.
Hush Little Baby soon the sun will say Hello Day,
That’s the time when your book buddy Millie Wants to Play!
Soon Milton the Early Riser will head Down By the Bay,
Carrying his Umbrella on a Soggy Saturday.
Look up and down Brown Bear, Bear Brown, What Do You See?
Close Your Eyes to find A Rainbow All Around Me.
It’s Time To go to sleep as I sing a Lucky Song,
All the World will wait patiently for you all night long.
Thanks so much, Susan, for sharing this with us.
To find out more about Susan Marx and her wonderful read-aloud programs, you can visit her here:
Website: http://www.readaloudguide.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com
BEDTIME IS A WONDERFUL TIME TO READ ALOUD TO CHILDREN…BUT IT’S NOT THE ONLY TIME.
1. ON CAR RIDES
2. AT THE DOCTOR’S OFFICE
3. WAITING ON LINE AT THE GROCERY STORE
4. AT THE LIBRARY
5. ON A PICNIC
WHEN DO YOU READ ALOUD TO YOUR KIDS?
Need more picture book read aloud suggestions Please check out my book on Amazon
Related articles
- Best Bedtime Books to Read Aloud (pragmaticmom.com)
- Pam Allyn: World Read Aloud Day: Building a Worldwide Literacy Community (huffingtonpost.com)
- 8 Great Reasons to Read Aloud (faithfulprovisions.com)
- How Dogs Can Boost Children’s Reading Skills (everydayhealth.com)
- Sighs and settees: recovering the lost history of reading aloud in the eighteenth century (ihrprojects.wordpress.com)
- In praise of reading aloud (and some tips for the fearful) (weeklyblogclub.wordpress.com)
- http://www.readalouddad.com/2011/03/reading-aloud-wont-make-you-thinner-but.html
Posted on March 6, 2013, in World Read-Aloud Day and tagged Books, parenting strategies, Read aloud tips, Show Me How! Build Your Child's Self-Esteem Through Reading, Susan Marx, World Read Aloud Day. Bookmark the permalink. 13 Comments.
Great poem, with lots of good book ideas in there! Evening storytime is the best, but anytime the kids want to read books during the day and we don’t have anything more important to do, I’m always for it.
You are so right, Milka…sometimes little windows of a few minutes open up…perfect for a little read-aloud!
Love the poem! Always read in the evening and made bedtime a special time. Sometimes my daughter liked me to make up a story about her that I’d have to repeat over and over again. She’s an adult now and still remembers her favorite stories.
That is beautiful, Pat…thank you so much for sharing this. Kids love stories about themselves…some marketing genius came up with the personalized books that are so popular these days..but you and I and many other parents were doing that a long time ago.:)
Well done…very clever! I’m still reading to my teens…
Jarm…I agree…I think it is a mistake to stop reading aloud, just because the kids grow up. Back in the day when they didn’t have TV (or computers), the family gathered in the living room or kitchen and mom or dad would read aloud…and kids expanded their vocabularies and there was a bond created.:)
My grandchildren now read aloud to us at bedtime, but the amazing thing is that I’m beginning again, this time reading aloud to my mother. At 94, dementia hasn’t stopped her from responding to hearing young children’s stories with the same smiles her great-grandchildren showed when the stories were read to them. Bedtime stories are good for all ages!
Oh yes, Marylin…so true! I’d love to start a program of reading picture books and doing simple arts and crafts with nursing home residents who have dementia or Alzheimers…I think the stories would be soothing and enjoyable and perhaps evoke a memory from the past. What are your thoughts on that?
And along with the simple arts and crafts and stories, if we included music and sing-along songs, it would be a wonderful adventure for them. Even now, my mother responds to songs and music much more than anything else.
Yes…music is very powerful…and the songs and rhymes we first learned in childhood are probably the last things we forget.:)
I enjoyed reading the poem. Rainy days and bed times where the best times to snuggle up and read to my kids.
Those are great times to read with kids, Tracy!
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