Read Aloud Plan and Reflection

I went to Hasting's and looked around at their books. There were so many choices, so I have course bought 3 instead of just one. I planned to read "My Mouth is a Volcano" by Julia Cook. It was a really cute book about a little boy that ALWAYS interrupted everyone. However, when others begin to interrupt the little boy, Louise, he learned how to respectfully wait for his turn to talk.

I read to a small group of 3rd graders at my after school day care program. I think the interrupting problem is a universal problem for children, and I have noticed this with my experience working with children. I have never really attempted to sit down and read a book to them, because most of the children just get books and read to themselves. I was interested to see if the group would sit down and listen.

I asked prediction questions throughout the story, and all of them were very interested in it. Eventually, more children from my day care sat down and listened to me read the book. While reading the story, I asked a question and three of the children blurted out their thoughts (just like Louise in the story), and I commented that their “volcanoes were erupting”. They all laughed and actually raised their hand to speak. I guess the book served its’ purpose.

I had brought the other books I bought at Hasting’s with me and one of my fifth graders wanted to read to the 3rd graders “Salt in His Shoes”, which was a book about Michael Jordan. So that was exciting that the 5th grader wanted to read, and he even asked questions just like I did.
This experience really opened my eyes to how much I could affect children’s interest in books. In my Foundations of Reading Instructions course, my professor constantly talks about read a-louds and how important prediction questions are with a small group of children. Reading this book out loud to a group of children really did show me this. For example, I could tell as soon as I asked questions about what was going to happen or what they thought the title meant, they were so excited to answer. I could even see their eyes light up when they had an idea. I can really see now how questions capture children into the story and help them be part of it, instead of me just reading a book and showing them the pictures.

Cook, Julia. My Mouth is a Volcano. Illus. Carrie Hartman. Warrenton, VA: Courage to Change Publishing, 2005.