The other day I was reading Ralph S. Mouse by Beverly Cleary to the class. In the story, the kids were putting away their parkas in their cubbies. I asked, "what is a parka?" Somebody guessed glue, and other guesses were other supplies. No one knew what a parka was. I cleared that up and went on with the story. The kids probably would have figured it out for themselves eventually because Ralph was going to hide in the pocket of some kid's parka, but ...
I guess this is why research says that although reading aloud to children is important to their achievement, talking with them during the read aloud is just as important!
By the way, there are probably not many kids in the room who could not figure out how to say "parka" but it would not help them get the picture of Ralph in that parka. They would have been picturing a mouse in a bottle of glue!!!
Mary Ann
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