Thursday, July 8, 2010

Audio Books and Literacy

The road to becoming a reader begins with hearing stories and books read aloud. Research shows that when children listen to reading that it fosters the process of phonemic awareness and provides a model for fluent reading. It also provides an opportunity for the reader to be exposed to new vocabulary. Audio books can be a fantastic tool for developing literacy.
Today I cataloged and bagged over 40 new audio books for the library. These will be available for checkout when school begins. I know that the students will love being able to listen to reading and to read along with these terrific books. They'll be a perfect way to spend some of that driving and waiting time in the car.
Members of the Screen Actors Guild read books aloud to children at Storyline Online. You'll want to explore this site.
Our subscription to Tumblebooks is also being well used! Already, almost 800 books have been listened to or read! If you've missed seeing and checking out this resource, click here to go directly to the site:
http://www.tumblebooks.com/library/asp/home_tumblebooks.asp

User name: parishreads
Password: tumble