Easy Read-Aloud Ideas!

Do you love read-alouds as much as I do?  Each week we dive into a new book.  We read it, discuss it, and write all about it.

Here are some easy ideas to use with any book you are using!

Groundhog Gets a Say (Focusing on New Learning)

We loved this book!  If you haven't ever read it, you MUST!  It's a cute story about the day after Groundhog's Day, but it has LOTS and LOTS of facts you might have never heard about the groundhog.

We started out on Monday in small groups.  Each group wrote a sticky with one fact they all knew about the groundhog.  Then each day after we read the story, the same group got together and agreed on a new facts they learned in the book.  By the end of the week, we had a huge list of new learning that they used to write a paragraph to inform.

Here is a picture from Tuesday.  This was a great way for us to work together and discuss the book. Nothing but chart paper and a few sticky notes.  You could do this with so many different books!

Oddly enough the kids loved this chart so much that when we started a new chapter book on Abe Lincoln and they wanted to do it again.  So I quickly made one and without me saying a word they got into groups and brought me sticky notes!  This proved to be a great resource for the kids to use when we were writing about Lincoln last week.

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day and Alexander Who Used to be Rich on Sunday (Compare and Contrast)

This is a great pair to compare and contrast with.  Just draw a giant Venn Diagram and let the kids use sticky notes to write their ideas.

Comparing and contrasting two books by the same author is so much fun!  One of my groups of kids decided to compare and contrast Alexander as a character in the two books.  I've also done this with Ezra Jack Keats as an author study.  After we read several of his books I let the kids pick two of their favorites to compare and contrast.  We will be doing this next month, so I will be sure to get some good pictures to share.

The Plump and Perky Turkey (Sequencing)

Ok, I know not the right season, but this idea was a keeper!  After we read the book several times, we worked as a class to come up with important events in the story.  I took those events and wrote each one on a large piece of construction paper.  Each pair of kids worked to illustrate their event.  After we finished, the class had to use non-verbal communication to get all of the pieces to the story in the right order.  Not only is using non-verbal communication SUPER hard for second graders, getting all the events in the right order wasn't easy either.

This is another one that works with any book!  All you need is paper!

I hope you can use some of these easy ideas to add more fun to your weekly read-alouds!