Madeline Northrop

Early on in the semester my co-teacher and I noticed are student’s love for bugs. We decided quickly that we wanted to continue this exploration. One way to encourage our student's interest in bugs was to read The Very Hungry Caterpillar. My students were more inspired by this reading than I originally thought. We seemed to be reading this book daily. Later in the summer, I caught some of the pretending to read this book on their own and using language from the book itself while they turned through each page. I considered the read aloud a success after noticing how it impacted the students. It inspired many other projects we took on including creating our own butterflies, searching for bugs outside, and pretending to be bugs. I created my reading lesson based on what I wanted my students to learn from it. Harvey and Goudvis said, “During an interactive read-aloud, we co-construct charts incorporating points we want to teach as well as the children’s comments and insights.” (Harvey & Goudvis) I set out to have my students consider their own lives during the read aloud with prompts I used, and they constantly impressed me with the connections they made to the story. While reflecting on my read aloud, I was amazed at how relatable my students were able to make the picture book. The all exceeded my expectations and I continued to ask students to reflect on their own experiences during future read alouds. These interactive read alouds extend a student’s knowledge and enhance their comprehension of the text.  

Harvey, S., & Goudvis, A. (2007). Strategies that work: Teaching

comprehension for understanding and engagement. Portland, Me: Stenhouse Publishers.