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[Music] Welcome to Read-Alouds
Across the Curriculum.

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My name is Christine Carriere.

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I teach first and second grade at Carl Von 
Linné Elementary School in Chicago, Illinois.

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The read-alouds are a great way 
to support and develop student reading

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comprehension at any age level 
but particularly at such a young age.

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So the students in my classroom range right now,

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their age range is between six and eight.

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Talking about text helps the students
develop their reading comprehension

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in a variety of different ways.

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So with little kids it gives the
students an opportunity to talk

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and think and discuss text or ideas
that they wouldn't ordinarily have

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access to by being able to read independently,
because we can read and talk about books

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that might be at a higher level than 
what they are reading on their own.

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It also offers a way to develop comprehension

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because they don't have to do all
of the thinking for themselves.

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I picked this book called "Tell Me,
Tree," by Gail Gibbons,

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which is a nonfiction book about trees,
and I picked that one from the wide range

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of nonfiction books because I also wanted 
to connect to learning about fall

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and changing seasons and autumn,
and we have been talking

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about what happens to trees
as the seasons change.

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With the nonfiction book, or with the 
topic, and with this particular group

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of students, they have a lot of 
questions, so I don't have

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to generate that many questions for them.

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And usually what I like to do there 
is instead of answering their questions

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for them I give the question back to them.

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So for example, if they asked, "Why do 
the leaves fall off of the tree?"

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then I would ask them, "Well, does 
someone have an idea why leaves

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might fall off the tree" or "What do 
you think might be the answer for that?"

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I try to actively listen
to what they are telling me,

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so if we are having a discussion
about a story or a text,

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instead of just kind of nodding my 
head and saying, "Uh-huh, uh-huh,"

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and letting things sort 
of roll off my back,

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I try to really pay attention
and think carefully

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about what they are talking about
and what they are thinking and asking.

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And I try to give them a lot
of positive feedback all the time

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and with really simple things like
"That's really interesting,"

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or "That must have been exciting,"
or "Can you tell me more about that?"

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"That sounds great. 
I would love to hear that."

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In the second-grade program they are
currently working on a unit

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about sorting and organizing data,
and the data that they are sorting

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and organizing is a variety
of different buttons.

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So just to get them thinking
about different ways that you might sort

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or organize or categorize the buttons, I 
read them the book called "The Button Box,"

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and it's about a little boy who goes
to his grandmother's house,

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and she has a big collection of 
buttons in this box and he

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sorts them out all different ways.

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So that was basically used to kind
of give them a little bit of background,

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to give them some ideas of different ways

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that they might sort buttons
that they hadn't thought of.

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I focused on asking them questions about 
how the little boy was sorting the buttons.

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For example, he sorts the buttons by size, 
shape, but then he also sorts them by color.

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He talks about how there are some
buttons covered with fabric,

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some buttons have different kinds
of holes in them.

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So instead of me in this lesson 
generating questions about what

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was happening in the book, it was 
really more of the students responding

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to what was going on in the book.

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And they sort of led the discussion more
than I did in the situation,

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because they just started picking
out the buttons and, like, "Oh,

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here's one like this,"
or "This one is the same as the one

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that he has in the picture."

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I do encourage the students to talk
to each other.

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I think that that is really important,
and I think that too often the

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conversations in the classroom become
one-way between one student and the teacher.

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So I try to have them talk to each other 
a couple of different ways.

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What I do when we are sitting
in a whole group like we did

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with the lessons for today,
I will give them opportunities

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where they can turn and talk to 
each other,

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and then I will give them a minute
to talk and then I will bring them back

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as a whole group, say, "Okay,
we are going to listen to two

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or three people who have something
that they want to share."

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I will direct them to talk to 
the original student who first

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raised the issue or the question 
as opposed to directing the answer

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to me so that they get more in the 
habit of talking back and forth

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to each other like a regular conversation.

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I believe really strongly that learning 
is a really social activity, especially

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when you are talking about text
or new ideas or thinking about stories.

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You might have one idea, but another 
student or a couple of other students

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might have a completely different perspective
on something, or a different idea on something.

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And by talking with each other,
the kids can share their knowledge

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and their ideas and learn
from each other.

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[Music] To learn more about Read-Alouds
Across the Curriculum,

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please explore the additional resources
on the Doing What Works website.