Having been given a book / CD set for Christmas (One Snowy Night - by Nick Butterworth - a really lovely story for younger children), we have been reading the book and listening to the story on CD as well when in the car. I had not appreciated how much of a hit this would be with DD aged 33 months! She absolutely loves listening to the story and also wants to read it again during the day. This seems to be developing a very different set of skills to purely reading - there are no visual cues or words so it means she needs to concentrate when listening and also use her imagination. I’m wondering about other people’s views on this - it will obviously not teach reading but I’m hoping it might encourage concentration, story telling, imagination, memory etc. I’m considering buying a whole heap of other books on CD too - having one story on constant playback in the car is not quite so much fun for the driver!
I think you’re on to something here. When I was a third grader, the teacher did read aloud for the class. I think the reasoning was all the reasons you just cited. My wife is an educator, and I’ve asked her about books on tape, and she says they’re good to use with children. It’s not the same as reading, but it can help - learn intonation, rhythm, imagination… just like you mentioned. Also, some parents on BK have mentioned a few times that a book that a child doesn’t seem up for when mommy or daddy read it seems like the greatest thing ever when some actor reads it. In other words, sometimes a child will respond to the recorded version while not really responding to the read version.
I’ve been using the library, but if you’re planning on listening a whole bunch to the same one, then perhaps purchasing is better.
I think listening to audio books is fantastic as part of an overall reading plan. It is wonderful for helping children to develop a love of literature as they hear the flow of the words. It also helps with narrative and story-telling skills. And they are excellent for in the car!
I was looking for some old time radio stories, but I’m not really sure they’re out there for young ages. The closest really good radio show that I found was a 1950 Lux Theatre recording of Wizard of Oz and another Miracle on 34th. Anyway, if you can find some good stories or your child is old enough, there might be some nuggets that are great to go with the actual book.
you can also try http://www.kiddierecords.com/ but I haven’t spent too much time listening to the various records; some may be better than others… but at least it’s free!
I think it is excellent to listen to books on tape and it should help reading skills as far as comprehension goes which is the most important. There are also a lot of children’s stories on http://www.audible.com/. I am looking forward to my son being old enough for that sort of thing.
Thanks for all these ideas!
I just started by buying a cd boxset of The Gruffalo, Room on the Broom and 4-5 other stories all by Julia Donaldson which DD loves. Quite looking forward to our next car journey!