Reading is not just reading. It is a very different experience for a child to read silently to him/herself as opposed to reading aloud to someone. When reading aloud your child gets to practice reading with expression and with a pace that makes sense. Teachers are charged these days to incorporate a balance of time for students to practice reading to self, reading aloud with a partner, and then the teacher reading aloud to students providing some quality modeling.
I was talking with a friend recently and she brought up something I had never thought about before. Be There Bedtime Stories gives your child a great opportunity to read aloud and then be able to keep that snapshot of time forever. Wouldn’t it be cool to be able to look back and see your now grown child reading as a first or fifth grader? Your child would also get a kick out of seeing themselves as a young reader the older they get.
As a former teacher and librarian, I read aloud to all age groups. Little kids love the experience, and so do big kids. When big kids read to younger students, the younger students aspire to read so they can be like big kids. I think another avenue for Be There Bedtime Stories is to have older kids read to younger ones, especially siblings who may be away at camp or elsewhere and little kids can appreciate the experience of listening to an older brother or sister who is currently away from home.
I love this idea, Nancy! I just finished a Focus Group of mommies, and some of them didn’t have family members with webcams, so they received stories from their kid’s girlfriends – roughly ages 6-8. They LOVED watching their friends reading and, of course, wanted to read a story back! So there is also a peer to peer exchange that works.
Whether the multi-media of Be There Bedtime Stories is the motivator or connecting with family, the activity is still reading aloud. Win, win for the child!