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742 © 2007 International Reading Association (pp. 742–751) doi:10.1598/RT.60.8.4 LEA M. MCGEE JUDITH A. SCHICKEDANZ Repeated interactive read-alouds in preschool and kindergarten The repeated interactive read-aloud technique is a research-based approach to comprehension and vocabulary development in preschool and kindergarten. R esearch is mixed on the value of reading aloud to children aged 3 to 6. On one hand, researchers have validated that reading aloud affects vocabulary development (Robbins & Ehri, 1994; Whitehurst et al., 1999), acquisition of literary syntax and vocabulary (Purcell-Gates, McIntyre, & Freppon, 1995), story recall (Morrow & Smith, 1990), and sensitivity to the linguistic and organizational structures of narrative and informa- tional text (Duke & Kays, 1998). Studies have shown that preschoolers make gains in expressive language even when the duration of story reading interventions are short (e.g., Hargrave & Sénéchal, 2000). In contrast, researchers have found only a modest relationship between the frequency and quality of parent–child read-alouds during pre- school and later first-grade reading achievement (Scarborough & Dobrich, 1994). Researchers have also found a negative relationship between the amount of time teachers spend reading aloud in kindergarten and children’s decoding skills (Meyer, Wardrop, Stahl, & Linn, 1994). These studies sug- gest that merely reading books aloud is not suffi- cient for accelerating children’s oral vocabulary development and listening comprehension. Instead, the way books are shared with children matters. Effective read-aloud techniques Research has demonstrated that the most effec- tive read-alouds are those in which children are ac- tively involved asking and answering questions and making predictions rather than passively listening (Dickinson, 2001). These read-alouds are called in- teractive or dialogic and result in gains in vocabu- lary (Hargrave & Sénéchal, 2000), comprehension strategies and story schema (Van den Broek, 2001), and concept development (Wasik & Bond, 2001). Merely inviting children to talk during interactive read-alouds, however, is not sufficient to accelerate their literacy development. Instead, growth is re- lated to how frequently they engage in analytic talk (Dickinson & Smith, 1994). Analytic talk involves making predictions or inferences that explain a character’s motivation or connect events from dif- ferent parts of the story. Teachers prompt children to engage in analytical thinking by making com- ments that model such thinking and then asking thoughtful questions. Other activities boost the value of reading aloud to young children. For example, research has demonstrated that the following activities increase comprehension and language development: inviting preschoolers and kindergartners to retell or drama- tize stories (Cornell, Sénéchal, & Brodo, 1988; Pellegrini & Galda, 1982); reading several books on a similar topic and inviting children to play with objects related to the concepts or characters intro- duced in these books (Rowe, 1998; Wasik & Bond, 2001); reading a book repeatedly (Crago & Crago, 1976); inserting short definitions for some words while reading aloud (Collins, 2004; Elley, 1989); and encouraging children to use these same words when they answer questions, discuss book events, (Hargrave & Sénéchal, 2000; Robbins & Ehri, 1994), or describe illustrations (Reese & Cox, 1999). Thus, effective interactive read-alouds include a sys- tematic approach that incorporates teachers’ model- ing of higher-level thinking, asking thoughtful

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Page 1: Repeated interactive read-alouds in preschool and kindergartenpreschoolcore.wikispaces.com/file/view/Read+alouds.pdf · Repeated interactive read-alouds in preschool and kindergarten

742 © 2007 International Reading Association (pp. 742–751) doi:10.1598/RT.60.8.4

LEA M. MCGEEJUDITH A . SCHICKEDANZ

Repeated interactive read-alouds in preschool and kindergarten

The repeated interactive read-aloud

technique is a research-based approach to

comprehension and vocabulary

development in preschool and kindergarten.

Research is mixed on the value of readingaloud to children aged 3 to 6. On one hand,researchers have validated that reading

aloud affects vocabulary development (Robbins &Ehri, 1994; Whitehurst et al., 1999), acquisition ofliterary syntax and vocabulary (Purcell-Gates,McIntyre, & Freppon, 1995), story recall (Morrow& Smith, 1990), and sensitivity to the linguistic andorganizational structures of narrative and informa-tional text (Duke & Kays, 1998). Studies haveshown that preschoolers make gains in expressivelanguage even when the duration of story readinginterventions are short (e.g., Hargrave & Sénéchal,2000). In contrast, researchers have found only amodest relationship between the frequency andquality of parent–child read-alouds during pre-school and later first-grade reading achievement(Scarborough & Dobrich, 1994). Researchers havealso found a negative relationship between theamount of time teachers spend reading aloud inkindergarten and children’s decoding skills (Meyer,Wardrop, Stahl, & Linn, 1994). These studies sug-gest that merely reading books aloud is not suffi-cient for accelerating children’s oral vocabularydevelopment and listening comprehension. Instead,the way books are shared with children matters.

Effective read-aloud techniquesResearch has demonstrated that the most effec-

tive read-alouds are those in which children are ac-

tively involved asking and answering questions andmaking predictions rather than passively listening(Dickinson, 2001). These read-alouds are called in-teractive or dialogic and result in gains in vocabu-lary (Hargrave & Sénéchal, 2000), comprehensionstrategies and story schema (Van den Broek, 2001),and concept development (Wasik & Bond, 2001).Merely inviting children to talk during interactiveread-alouds, however, is not sufficient to acceleratetheir literacy development. Instead, growth is re-lated to how frequently they engage in analytic talk(Dickinson & Smith, 1994). Analytic talk involvesmaking predictions or inferences that explain acharacter’s motivation or connect events from dif-ferent parts of the story. Teachers prompt childrento engage in analytical thinking by making com-ments that model such thinking and then askingthoughtful questions.

Other activities boost the value of reading aloudto young children. For example, research hasdemonstrated that the following activities increasecomprehension and language development: invitingpreschoolers and kindergartners to retell or drama-tize stories (Cornell, Sénéchal, & Brodo, 1988;Pellegrini & Galda, 1982); reading several bookson a similar topic and inviting children to play withobjects related to the concepts or characters intro-duced in these books (Rowe, 1998; Wasik & Bond,2001); reading a book repeatedly (Crago & Crago,1976); inserting short definitions for some wordswhile reading aloud (Collins, 2004; Elley, 1989);and encouraging children to use these same wordswhen they answer questions, discuss book events,(Hargrave & Sénéchal, 2000; Robbins & Ehri,1994), or describe illustrations (Reese & Cox, 1999).Thus, effective interactive read-alouds include a sys-tematic approach that incorporates teachers’ model-ing of higher-level thinking, asking thoughtful

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Repeated interactive read-alouds in preschool and kindergarten 743

questions calling for analytic talk, prompting chil-dren to recall a story in some way within a reason-able time frame, reading a single book repeatedly,and reading books related by topic. It also involvesa systematic approach to developing children’s un-derstanding of vocabulary, such as inserting shortdefinitions of words and phrases during reading.

Two recent methods for reading aloud to chil-dren aged 3 to 6 include many of these research-based techniques. Klesius and Griffith (1996)described a technique for reading aloud to smallgroups of at-risk kindergartners that they claimedextended children’s talk about books. Using inter-active read-alouds, teachers point to details in il-lustrations and ask questions about vocabularywords as they read. They extend children’s re-sponses by asking them to clarify and explain.After reading, children recall a portion of, or theentire, story. Beck and McKeown (2001) developeda similar technique, called Text Talk, to helpkindergarten and primary-grade children expandvocabulary. As teachers read, they draw attention toa few vocabulary words by inserting short defini-tions. They also ask open-ended questions in whichchildren must provide explanations rather than one-or two-word responses. After reading, teachers dis-cuss vocabulary words in the context of the storyand in other contexts.

Our experiences with effective read-aloud practices

As researchers and practitioners of early liter-acy development, we have demonstrated and ob-served teachers reading aloud in hundreds ofpreschool and kindergarten classrooms over thelast three decades. Despite the wealth of researchon effective read-alouds and practical models forsuch approaches, we have noticed that fewer teach-ers seem to be attempting to read what we consid-er sophisticated stories and nonfiction books inpreschool and kindergarten in favor of reading eas-ier, predictable, and concept books (often in BigBook format), especially in classrooms with highpercentages of at-risk children. Sophisticated pic-ture books include, for example, stories in whichreaders must infer characters’ motivations andthoughts and connect them to actions (i.e., causesand effects). These books have a rich repertoire of

vocabulary. Examples include Henny Penny(Galdone, 1968), Oonga Boonga (Wishinsky,2001), and Owl Moon (Yolen, 1987). These bookscan be contrasted with predictable books in whichreaders do not need to infer character motivation,feelings, or thoughts in order to enjoy the repeatedwords and actions. Examples include Brown Bear,Brown Bear, What Do You See? (Martin, l967) orOver in the Meadow (Wadsworth, 1992). Whilepredictable books have a role in preschool andkindergarten literacy programs, sophisticated pic-ture books play an additional role of expanding vo-cabulary and enhancing oral comprehension.

Because we were aware that fewer teachersseemed to be reading sophisticated picture books asa daily part of their early literacy programs, we wor-ried that many children were not engaging in ana-lytic talk. As we wondered how we could helpteachers systematically promote this kind of talk, weconsidered Cochran-Smith’s (1984) argument thateffective teachers model the role of ideal reader asthey read aloud. An ideal reader is one who intu-itively and unconsciously makes appropriate infer-ences and predictions and constantly rethinkscurrent events in a story in relation to past events.Thus, effective teachers model what ideal readersdo by explicitly talking aloud as they read, makingchildren aware that they are predicting, making aninference, or changing their ideas about what is hap-pening in a story. While thinking aloud is a fre-quently used technique to help children interpretliterature in the elementary grades (e.g., Keene &Zimmerman, 1997; Miller, 2002), we wanted toadapt this technique for much younger children. Wewanted teachers to model making comments thatwould reveal implicit information that preschool andkindergarten children would not likely be able toproduce on their own. Therefore, we crafted an ap-proach to reading aloud to reflect insights drawnfrom current research and theories of an ideal read-er as well as our own experiences. The purpose ofthis article is to describe what we call repeated in-teractive read-alouds using sophisticated storybooks.

Repeated interactive read-alouds:First reading of a picture storybook

The first read-aloud includes four components:book introduction, vocabulary support techniques,

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The Reading Teacher Vol. 60, No. 8 May 2007744

analytical comments and questions, and an after-reading “why” question. These techniques havebeen carefully selected to help children build astronger first understanding of the story, includingsome of its vocabulary.

Book introductionsResearch has shown that effective readers

quickly begin to infer story problems and use theirtentative ideas about problems to process story in-formation (Van den Broek, 2001). However, prob-lems present challenges for young children: Theyare often not directly stated in the text (Paris &Paris, 2003; Stein & Glenn, 1979), and young chil-dren are relatively insensitive to problems andgoals compared to characters and actions (Benson,1997; Stein & Glenn). Because young children arenot likely to focus on the story problem, we craftbook introductions to make the problem explicit.

For example, Henny Penny (Galdone, 1968) isabout a hen who mistakenly believes that a piece ofsky has fallen on her head. She is so upset by thisevent that she acts foolishly and rushes to tell theking about this occurrence. She does not recognizethe danger posed by the fox when he invites herand her friends to take a short cut right into his cave(the actual problem of the story, which only readersand not the characters realize). In order to constructa three- or four-sentence introduction we either ex-plicitly state or strongly imply the main problemof the story. For example, to introduce HennyPenny we might say,

In this story you are going to meet a silly, foolish henwho makes a big mistake. She thinks a catastrophe,a really bad disaster, is about to happen and runs totell the king about it. A lot of her friends believe hermistake, and they all get in trouble because they areso silly.

As we give the book introduction, we show thefront cover and sometimes the back cover or endpapers and the title page (rather than all the illus-trations as is done in a picture walk). For example,the front cover of Henny Penny illustrates the maincharacter and the end papers depict Henny Pennyrunning up a hill toward a castle. As we show thesepages we complete the book introduction:

Here is Henny Penny running to tell the king about thecatastrophe. But I have to warn you, she never makes

it to the castle. Let’s find out what happens to her onthe way to tell the king about the catastrophe.

We do not recommend that, during a first read,teachers have children identify book parts such asthe front and back cover or top and bottom of thepage, tell what the author or illustrator does, or dis-cuss the dedication page. We have found that theseactivities divert children’s attention away from themain goal of a first read-aloud—to enjoy a goodstory by focusing on its meaning. As we read a bookduring a first read, we use expression, gestures anddramatic pauses, variations in the pace of reading,and plenty of eye contact. We have found thesetechniques highly effective at capturing and main-taining children’s interest and enjoyment, evenwhen reading longer and more sophisticated books.

Inserting vocabulary supportBefore reading the book aloud, we select 5 to

10 vocabulary words or phrases from the book thatwe will highlight or define during reading. Thesewords are critical to understanding the story andare likely to be encountered in other books or use-ful in nonbook contexts (Beck, McKeown, &Kucan, 2002). Sometimes the book does not in-clude specific vocabulary that ideal readers woulduse in their analytical thinking about this particu-lar book, so we insert these additional vocabularywords into the book introduction and our com-ments as we read aloud. For example, we would in-sert the words mistake, catastrophe, disaster, andfoolish while reading Henny Penny because thesewords are critical for analyzing the problem in re-lationship to the main character’s motivations andtraits. Once we select vocabulary words and phras-es, we highlight the words or enhance word andphrase meanings in one or more of five ways:

1. We insert a short phrase or sentence that de-fines or explains a word, such as saying“Feast, that’s a really big dinner.”

2. We point to salient parts of the illustrationthat help clarify a word or phrase meaning,such as pointing to the illustration of anacorn as we read the word in the text.

3. We use dramatic gestures, such as demon-strating the meaning of shrugged by shrug-ging our shoulders as we read.

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4. We use voice, such as making clear the fox’ssly intentions by reading the text with a drollvoice.

5. We vary the pacing with which we readwords or phrases, such as reading morequickly what Henny Penny says to demon-strate her foolish rush.

It only takes a few moments to plan how tosupport children’s understanding of each word, butthe most effective read-alouds are ones in which weactually decide which of the vocabulary enhancerswe will use for each vocabulary word. For wordsthat are to be clarified verbally, we plan short ex-planations that are “slipped” into the story readingso the definitions are part of the actual story with-out interrupting the flow of reading.

Comments and questions to support and extend comprehension

During reading we make comments thatdemonstrate analytic thinking at three or four junc-tures in which ideal readers would make inferencesabout a character’s thoughts, feelings, or motiva-tions, or we predict upcoming events. When wecomment about the story, we often use language tosignal our mental activity by using the phrase “I’mthinking.” For example, in the scene where HennyPenny exclaims, “The sky is falling. I must go andtell the king” (unpaged), we may comment, “I’mthinking this is where the hen is doing somethingreally foolish. She isn’t even looking down to tryand find out what really hit her. I think she is look-ing up instead of down.” Then we would go on toask, “Why does the hen think a piece of the skyhas fallen on her head?” We have found that chil-dren’s answers to questions following our analyti-cal comments are more likely to be related to thestory. This teaching sequence provides a deliber-ate and systematic approach toward expandingchildren’s comprehension. We have noticed thatmost young children are not yet capable of engag-ing in analytic thinking and talking without teachermodeling or questioning.

After-reading questionsAfter reading the entire book, we ask a “why”

question requiring children to make inferencesabout and explain several story events. Then we use

follow-up probing questions to support children’sability to answer broader explanation questions.For example, after a first reading of Henny Penny,we might ask the explanation question “Why didn’tFoxy Loxy just jump up and eat those silly birds?Why did he lead them into his cave?” In order tohelp children answer this question we might com-ment, “I’m thinking that even though the fox isstrong and has big teeth, there are a lot of birds.How many friends were with Henny Penny?”Recalling the number of birds will help children in-fer that the fox may have only been able to catchand eat one of the birds and the others might haveescaped. We also help children consider this ques-tion by using illustrations to support their think-ing. In this version of the story, the last illustrationshows Foxy Loxy and Mrs. Loxy and their sevenchildren peering out from the cave. We turn to thisillustration and say, “You know I’m rememberingthis illustration right here. This might give me ahint about why the fox led the birds into the cave.What is the hint?” This comment might help chil-dren infer that Foxy led the birds into the cave sothat his children would also have a dinner, and hiswife could help catch the birds.

Second interactive read-aloudSecond read-alouds occur a day or two after

first reads. The purpose is to enrich children’s com-prehension of the story and provide further oppor-tunities for children to engage in analytic talk.During second book introductions, we remind chil-dren that they have read this book before and thatthey will remember some things from the book;for example, we might say,

We read this book yesterday, and you probably re-member that it is about a hen who misinterprets some-thing that happened to her. Who can remember whatshe thought happened to her? What was the catastro-phe, and what did she decide to do about it?

We continue to highlight the same vocabulary;however, in a second read we verbally define morewords. For example, during a first read of OwlMoon, in which a father and a child go owling inthe woods late one night, we might simply drama-tize how the owl pumped his wings. During thesecond read, we would dramatize pumped and

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insert a verbal explanation (e.g., “That means heflapped his wings up and down very hard”).

During the second read, we continue model-ing analytic comments, but we ask more frequentquestions that help children make additional infer-ences. In the first read, our comments focus on get-ting children to infer what the main character isthinking and feeling or to connect main events withtheir causes. Thus, our comments and questionsduring the second read might focus on the othercharacters’motivations or thoughts. Just as in a firstread, we prepare children to answer analyticalquestions by first modeling analytic comments thatmake explicit some, but not all, of the informationneeded to adequately answer the question. For ex-ample, in Henny Penny, after Cocky Locky asks tojoin Henny Penny on her way to tell the king thatthe sky is falling, we might comment, “I’m think-ing that Cocky Locky believes that a piece of thesky really did fall on Henny Penny’s head.” Later,when Ducky Lucky joins Henny Penny and CockyLocky, we comment, “Henny Penny has now con-vinced two other birds that the sky is falling.” Thenwe could ask, “If they had been with Henny Pennywhen the acorn fell on her head, what do you thinkthey would have said when she shouted, ‘Oh, my,the sky is falling, we must go and tell the king’?”

Like first reads, we end second reads by askinganother explanation question. Sometimes we askchildren about something that might happen be-yond the story. For example, we might ask, “Whatdo you think the king would have done if HennyPenny had managed to get to the castle and toldhim the sky was falling?”

Third interactive read-aloudThird reads occur a few days after the second

read when the story is still fresh in children’s mindsbut when they must remember information acrosssome time. This close repetition is also important forreinforcing vocabulary carefully developed duringthe first and second read. Third interactive read-alouds differ from first and second read-alouds be-cause they integrate a guided reconstruction of thestory with the teacher’s reading of some of the storytext. Reconstructions are retellings of story eventsalong with explanations about what caused thoseevents and what characters are thinking during the

events. Therefore, guided reconstructions are moreeffective than mere retellings because children useanalytical talk to explain why events occurred.

In third read-aloud book introductions, weagain acknowledge that children are familiar withthe book and its content and ask questions aboutthe title or characters, such as “We’ve read thisbook two times before, so I know you know its ti-tle. What is it?” We usually allow children to re-spond together to this easily answered question. Wemight continue to prompt children to reconstructinformation by asking, “What other details do wesee on the cover that we know are important forthe story?” (e.g., prompting children to notice theacorn on the front cover of Henny Penny). We con-tinue to focus on the story problem by asking, “Weall remember Henny Penny’s problem, don’t we?Who would like to share that with us?” We are verycareful with the number of questions we ask bothduring book introductions and during guided re-construction. We have found that third read-aloudscan become deadly when teachers overwhelm stu-dents with a barrage of questions.

We use two general prompts in guiding recon-struction of texts. Before reading some pages of thestory, we point to the illustration and ask, “What’shappening here?” We use this prompt as we showa double-spread illustration. Sometimes we use thesecond question “Do you remember what will hap-pen next?” before turning to the next illustration.We only use this question when the next event iscausally related to the event the children have justrecalled. For example, in Owl Moon after recon-structing the event in which the characters hear theowl hoot in response to the dad’s call, we mightask, “Do you remember what happens next?” be-cause this scene provides a connection to the nextevent: seeing the owl.

After children reconstruct the events on onedouble spread, we might read the text. On longerbooks, we reread many pages of the text and havechildren reconstruct only a few pages; on shorterbooks, we allow children to reconstruct more of thestory and read only a few pages of the text. Thelength of the book and children’s responses guideour decisions of whether to read more or engagechildren in more reconstruction.

In third reads, teachers continue to insert verbalexplanations of words, point to illustrations, andmake dramatic motions. To further emphasize vo-

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cabulary in a third read, teachers extend some wordmeanings to a familiar context but not one includedin the story. For example, to extend children’s un-derstanding of the word pumped in Owl Moon, wemight say,

Sometimes, when you are on the swings outside andwant help we tell you to “pump your legs,” and youmove them back and forth to make yourself go up andback on the swing. The owl was moving his wings—pumping them up and down to fly through the sky.

Thus, each day of the repeated interactive read-aloud systematically builds and extends children’sawareness and understanding of vocabulary. Table1 presents an overview of the components for thethree days of repeated interactive read-alouds.

Repeated interactive read-alouds in action

Across three days of reading the same book,the strategies used in repeated interactive read-alouds provide children with an opportunity to en-gage more actively in the reading experience.During a first read, teachers take a more active roleby reading the text and making comments; childrenare actively listening and sometimes comment oranswer questions. During a second read, childrenparticipate more verbally by answering questionsand commenting more frequently. In the third read-aloud, children take a highly active role as they re-construct the story with teacher guidance. Thefollowing excerpts are taken from book introduc-tions in a first, second, and third read of a story.

Repeated interactive read-alouds in preschool and kindergarten 747

TABLE 1Components of repeated interactive read-aloud

Third read-aloud:First read-aloud Second read-aloud Guided reconstruction

Book introduction

Book reading

After-reading discussion

Give a few sentencesintroducing the maincharacter and centralproblem. Use illustrationson the book cover, back,and title page as needed.

Insert vocabularyenhancements for 5–10vocabulary words bypointing to illustrations,gesturing dramatically, orinserting a few definitions.Make comments thatreveal what the maincharacter is thinking orfeeling. Ask a few follow-up analytical questionsbased on your comments.

Ask a “why” question thatcalls for explanation. Usefollow-up questions toprompt answers.Demonstrate how toanswer the question bysaying, “I’m thinking....”

Remind children that theyknow the characters andsome things the characterdoes. Ask questions aboutthe characters andproblem.

Insert vocabularyenhancements for thesame vocabulary,including more verbaldefinitions. Makecomments that revealwhat other characters arethinking or feeling. Askmore analytical follow-upquestions.

Ask another “why”question or ask, “Whatwould have happenedif...?” Use follow-upquestions to promptchildren’s thinking.

Invite children to identifythe problem and describethe solution. Have childrenrecall the title of the book.

Before reading a doublepage, show the illustrationand ask, “What is happeninghere?” Follow up children’scomments by extendingcomments or asking forclarification. Read some ofthe pages of text. Whenappropriate, before turningto the next page, ask, “Whoremembers what willhappen next?” Callattention to somevocabulary in differentcontexts.

Ask another “why”question or ask, “Whatwould have happenedif...?”

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They demonstrate how children’s participationchanges across time.

First read-aloud: Book introductionIn the story Oonga Boonga, no one can quiet

Baby Louise who is crying so loudly that picturesfall off walls, neighborhood animals flee, andneighbors come calling to help. Despite attempts byevery family member, only Louise’s brother Danielcan soothe her. We read this book three times to agroup of 4-year-olds in a Head Start center.

Teacher: Today I’m going to read you a book calledOonga Boonga, and this story is about BabyLouise (points to front cover with illustrationof Baby Louise and Daniel smiling at one an-other, then turns to the back cover and pointsto illustration of Baby Louise crying). BabyLouise is unhappy. She’s crying and crying,and no one can stop her. I know one reasonwhy babies cry; they cry because they’re hun-gry. They cry when they’re bored and want tosee something funny. We’re going to find outwhy Baby Louise is crying and what will helpher stop crying. (Turns back to front cover)Here is Baby Louise and she’s not crying isshe? This might give us a hint about whatstops her from crying.

In this book introduction, Lea (first author)provided reasons why babies might cry and hintedstrongly at what would make Baby Louise stopcrying by showing the front illustration of Danieland Louise. She did all the talking while the chil-dren were actively listening.

Second read-aloud: Book introductionThe following day Lea read the book a second

time to the children. She prompted the children totake a more active role in constructing the book introduction.

Teacher: (Holds book up)

Children: (Overlapping responses) Oonga boonga,oonga boonga, that baby was crying, herbrother came back, he say oonga boonga.

Teacher: That’s right, yes (making eye contact withmany different children to affirm their com-ments about the story). Now, in this storyBaby Louise has a big problem.

Child: She crying.

Teacher: She is crying. She is very upset. Now thefront of this book (pointing) shows us the so-lution to the problem.

Child: She happy.

Teacher: She is happy. What is the solution to theproblem of Baby Louise crying? (Flips toback cover)

Several children: Oonga boonga.

Teacher: (Flips to front cover) Yes, Daniel (points tohim on the cover) says, “oonga boonga” andmakes her feel good. We’re going to read thestory again today and watch and see what allthe other people do to try and soothe BabyLouise. Baby Louise is very upset. She’swailing and crying. Nobody could make herstop.

Several children: Oonga boonga.

The second book introduction was jointly con-structed by Lea and the children. Lea allowed andencouraged spontaneous comments and promptedthe children to recall what they knew about the story.

Third read-aloud: Guided reconstructionbook introduction

In the book introduction for the third read, Leaagain prompted children’s active engagement byasking them to reconstruct more of the story. Thechildren remembered much of the discussion theyhad during the second read-aloud and includedspeculations of what might have happened ifDaniel had tried alternative ways to quiet BabyLouise.

Teacher: I know you remember the title of this book.

Several children: Oonga Boonga.

Teacher: Yes, Oonga Boonga. And who can remem-ber the problem in the story?

Children: (Overlapping responses) Crying, brotherDaniel stopped the crying, oonga boonga.

Teacher: Yes the baby is crying and crying. Can moth-er stop the baby crying?

Many children: No, no.

Teacher: Can father stop her?

Many children: No, no, her brother.

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Teacher: Yes, Daniel stopped the baby from crying,and he stops her crying in two ways. Thefirst way....

Several children: Oonga boonga.

Teacher: Yes, he says, “Oonga boonga.” The secondway he stops her crying? Do you remember?

Child: Tickles her tummy.

Teacher: Yes, we did talk that he might have tickledher tummy when we read this two days ago.

Child: Sings a song.

Teacher: Yes, we did talk about that he might havesung a lullaby. But he actually whisperedsomething else.

Many children: Bonka wonka.

Teacher: Yes, he said another silly thing: Bonkawonka.

Thus, across these three introductions, it isclear that the children are building a richer, moredetailed understanding of the story. By the thirdread, the children are clearly using analytic talk tomove beyond what actually happened in the storyto what might have happened.

Analytic talk in first and third read“why” questions

In the next section, we show how children’sability to use analytic talk increases from a first to athird interactive read-aloud. Here is their responseto a “why” question during the first read:

Teacher: Why was Louise crying all the time?

Child: ’Cause her brother was, her brother wasgone.

Teacher: Her brother wasn’t there, and why wasLouise crying?

Child: ’Cause she was crying.

Teacher: But why was she crying?

Child: She wanted her brother to say, “oongaboonga.”

Teacher: She did want her brother. Did she want thewords “oonga boonga” or did she want herbrother?

Child: Her brother.

Teacher: Yes, she just wanted her brother.

The children were able to make explicit thatBaby Louise was crying because she wanted herbrother. They were beginning to grasp that the sil-ly words her brother said had nothing to do withLouise stopping crying; it was her brother shewanted. Lea continued to explore this inference inboth the second and third read with different “why”questions. By the third read, most children engagedin a more extended analytic discussion.

Teacher: Now, let’s think about this. Remember I saidyesterday, “What if Daniel had tickled herbelly instead of saying ‘Bonka wonka.’”Would Louise have stopped crying?

Children: (Overlapping responses) No, no. He whis-pered in her ear. Yes.

Teacher: I think she would have stopped crying.

Child: He whistled in her ear.

Teacher: You know, maybe if he would’ve whistled inher ear and tickled the baby, I think shewould have stopped crying. Because he washer brother, and he, well, let me ask you this:What if her brother took her in his arms likethis (turns to picture of the mother rockingbaby) and rocked her and sang her a lullaby.Do you think she would’ve stopped crying?

Children: (Overlapping responses) Yes, yes, no.

Teacher: (Looks at one child) I do, too. I think shewould have stopped crying. What if Danielhad taken her in his arms like this (shows il-lustration of grandfather) and made a funnyface at her. Do you think she would havestopped crying?

Children: (Overlapping responses) Yes, yes, no.

Teacher: I think so. If Daniel played the harmonica,would it work for him?

Child: It did.

Teacher: I think it would work. What if Daniel gave thebaby a bottle? Do you think it would’vestopped her crying?

Child: Yes.

Teacher: She really liked it when Daniel said sillywords, but I think she just likes her brother.

Child: She don’t care about oonga boona. She careabout her brother.

While Lea’s original “why” question seemedbeyond the children’s understanding, turning tospecific illustrations and posing alternative ques-tions allowed children to be more successful inboth understanding the questions and making the

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inferences needed to answer them. Most childrenrealized that Daniel, not the silly words, was thekey to getting Baby Louise to stop crying.

As shown in the excerpts from the three re-peated readings of Oonga Boonga, our experiencessuggest it is a powerful technique for extendingchildren’s vocabulary, their use of comprehensionstrategies, and their engagement with literature. Weare consultants and directors of several EarlyReading First grants currently using a repeated in-teractive read-aloud approach. While repeated in-teractive story reading is certainly not the onlystrategy used to enhance vocabulary and compre-hension in these programs, it is the most systemat-ic approach.

The repeated interactive read-aloud approachrequires that teachers study closely each book theyread. They must craft effective comments and ques-tions and be able to respond on the spot to children’sanswers, which often indicate misinterpretationsand misunderstandings. However, it is critical thatteachers use these strategies so that children engagein analytical thinking. We recommend that teach-ers read aloud a sophisticated picture book daily,along with many other kinds of books, includingpredictable books. Teachers with whom we haveworked include repeated interactive read-alouds ofa sophisticated storybook or nonfiction as a part oftheir daily whole-group literacy instruction.

Final thoughtsWe have shown that the repeated interactive

read-aloud technique is a research-based approachto comprehension and vocabulary development inpreschool and kindergarten. We developed this ap-proach to help teachers share picture books withyoung children, especially children with few homeliterary experiences, in ways that will allow them toenjoy our most sophisticated literature. It chal-lenges both teachers and children to extend theirthinking and their literary understanding in analyt-ic discussions.

McGee teaches at The Ohio State University(Ramseyer Hall, 29 W. Woodruff Avenue,Columbus, OH 43210, USA). [email protected]. Schickedanz teaches atBoston University in Massachusetts.

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