Charlotte’s Web: Read Aloud
Charlotte’s Web
Charlotte’s Web is a classic book with strong themes and lessons on Friendship, Love, Kindness, Innocence, and Adapting with Change. The book is also filled with opportunities to take a pause and workshop all sorts of exercises such as comprehension and vocabulary strategies, developing emotional intelligence and general reflection. Most importantly, the book is a fun read for children and the following exercises can be tuned to suit the different age groups.
Reading out loud
Reading aloud is an incredibly valuable activity to do with children to improve their listening skills, vocabulary, and comprehension. It is a great way to motivate children to read and get them to involve and interact. It encourages a child’s imagination, increases their attention span and their ability to focus. Among the benefits of reading aloud, it improves memories and strengthens the emotional bond as the child learns how to make use of language to make sense of the world.
Here are some strategies for reading out loud
Describe the pictures and make predictions.
Ask open ended questions. (“What do you think will happen next?”) Children may not be sure of how to answer an open-ended question. Reframe the question by making your own predictions and descriptions of the pictures.
Ask for an explanation (“What’s this?” and point to a picture.)
Follow the child’s answer with another question. (“What is Charlotte doing?”)
Repeat the answer and expand on it. (“I think you’re right. Charlotte is nursing Wilbur.”)
Help the child as needed.
It’s okay to stop in the middle of a book if the group seems uninterested. Be willing to answer any questions they have while reading.
Don’t overcorrect or interrupt the child.
If the reading is too difficult, offer to take turns reading or echo read.
Be creative and have fun.
o Try reading in character, acting out parts of the book, or other techniques to engage the child in the story.
o Record interesting words or phrases during the read and discuss them and the story after the reading. See the Read Aloud Worksheet below
Be patient. Praise and encourage often.
