Hi, everyone. Welcome to the Read Aloud Classroom. You know that moment when you’re standing in front of your classroom library five minutes before your students arrive, desperately searching for the perfect book? I’ve been there. In fact, I remember one morning when I grabbed the book You Matter by Christian Robinson, thinking it would be perfect for my lesson that day.
I was teaching a lesson on story elements. I got halfway through the book and realized There aren’t actually any story elements to teach in this book. It’s a great book, a great read aloud, but did not fit the lesson that I was trying to teach that day. Here’s the thing. Between lesson planning, grading, meetings, documenting everything, managing behaviors, and trying to fit in all our required curriculum, it’s no wonder our read alouds sometimes feel scattered.
I hear from teachers all the time who are trying to squeeze read alouds into their already packed schedules, feeling guilty about not making them more meaningful or worried that they’re not doing them right. Maybe you’ve had days where you get to the end of a book and realize you completely forgot to teach the lesson you planned.
Or times when you stop so often for questions that your students lose the flow of the story. Or maybe you’re just feeling overwhelmed trying to choose the right books while juggling everything else on your plate. I want you to know something important. These struggles, they’re completely normal. In fact, I made all these mistakes in my own classroom.
But here’s the good news. Once I identified these five common mistakes and found simple ways to fix them, everything changed. My read alouds became more meaningful, my students were more engaged, and I actually felt confident about my teaching. So in today’s episode, I’m sharing the five biggest read aloud mistakes that I made and exactly how I fixed them, because I want you to know that you’re not alone in this.
Yes, and there are practical ways to make read alouds work, even with a packed schedule. So, grab your favorite planning notebook and let’s dive in.
Let’s start with mistake number one, not planning ahead. Oh my goodness, I was the queen of this one. I can’t tell you how many times I’d be frantically searching through my classroom library minutes before my students walked in, trying to find the perfect book. Or I’d choose a great book, but then completely wing it during the reading, forgetting all those amazing questions I meant to ask.
Sound familiar? Here’s the thing. When we don’t plan ahead, we miss so many beautiful teaching moments. But there is a simple fix, and it’s my absolute favorite teaching hack. Sticky notes. Simple, isn’t it? I started writing my questions and teaching points on bright sticky notes and putting them right in the book.
Game changer. No more forgetting what I wanted to ask or where I wanted to stop. Plus, I could keep them in the book for next year. The future you will thank you when you do that.
The second mistake, going back to my story from the beginning of the episode, choosing the wrong book. We’ve all been there. You pick a book thinking it’s going to be perfect and then it’s way too long or too short or just doesn’t quite fit what you’re trying to teach. I remember trying to read a complex picture book biography to my wiggly second graders right after lunch.
Let’s just say it didn’t go as planned. But here’s what I learned. Start with your teaching goal first, then find the book that fits. Think about your specific students. What interests them? What’s their attention span like? What background knowledge do they have? It’s okay to preview a book and decide it’s not the right fit.
Actually, it’s better than pushing through with something that isn’t working.
The third mistake is one I made constantly, forgetting to teach during the read aloud. You know what I mean. You get so caught up in the story that you forget to do any actual teaching, or you’re so focused on classroom management that the teaching points just disappear. The fix? Pick one clear teaching goal for each read aloud.
Just one. Write it at the top of your lesson plan, put it on a sticky note, whatever works for you. Then, choose two to three specific places in the book where you’ll address that goal. That’s it. You don’t need to turn every page into a teaching moment.
Speaking of teaching moments, let’s talk about mistake number four. Stopping too often during reading. This was my downfall when I first started doing interactive read alouds. I thought more stopping meant more teaching. But what really happened was my students lost interest, we never finished books, and the story magic just disappeared.
So instead, try choosing just two to three key moments to stop. Use those turn and talk strategically. They’re great for giving everyone a chance to share without breaking the flow of the story. And remember, you can always save some discussion for after the book. The story, it needs a little room to breathe.
And finally, mistake number five. Not reading for pure enjoyment. This one hits close to home.
With all the pressure to tie everything to standards and document every teaching moment, sometimes we forget that reading can just be fun. And here’s the secret. Those joy filled reading moments are actually incredibly powerful teaching tools. So try scheduling just a few minutes of dedicated enjoyment reading time.
Maybe it’s Friday afternoons, or right after lunch, or first thing in the morning. Create special reading traditions in your classroom. Trust that when students see you genuinely enjoying books, they’re learning something valuable about being readers.
And actually, if you go back to episode number five, where I talked about using read alouds in those small moments of time, I shared quite a few tips about adding in reading for enjoyment during the day, and some ways that you can do that.
But let me wrap this up by saying something important. These mistakes, they’re all part of the journey. Every teacher makes them. The goal isn’t to have perfect read alouds, it’s to keep growing and learning together with your students. So think about implementing just one change this week. Maybe it’s adding sticky notes to your favourite read aloud, or scheduling dedicated joy reading time.
Small changes can make a big difference in your classroom.
And if you’re ready to really transform your read alouds from stressful to successful, I want to invite you to join us inside our membership, the Colorful Apple Book Club, where I help you solve each of these challenges. You’ll find the link in the show notes. But before we go, let’s talk about our books of the week.
This week we’re going to be celebrating Ramadan because that is coming up on February 28th. The first book that I have is Moon’s Ramadan by Natasha Khan Qazi. This book captures the magic and meaning of the holiday. It blends different countries celebrations. It really makes this holiday accessible to all readers and it also includes quite a bit of back matter on the holiday so that you can share that with your students as well.
Next, we have Ramadan Kareem by M. O. Yukso. In this book, you’ll experience those sacred traditions of Ramadan with families all across the globe. So, from waking up early for suhoor and fasting from dawn to dusk, to praying and preparing an iftar meal to be shared,
Ramadan is a time of increased spirituality, gratitude, charity, and empathy for all. This book also includes easy to understand back matter as well as some fun interactive elements too.
Another book is The Gift of Ramadan by Rabiah York Lombard. This book, Sophia wants to fast for Ramadan this year. Her grandma tells her that fasting helps make a person sparkly and Sophia loves sparkles. When her attempt at fasting fails, Sophia must find another way to participate. So this multi generational family story really explores the many ways to take part in the Ramadan holiday.
Another one is Lila’s Lunchbox by Reem Faroukkai. Lila is in a new school, in a new country, thousands of miles from her old home and she’s really missing her old friends. But when Ramadan begins, she’s excited that she’s finally old enough to participate in the fasting. But she’s worried that her classmates won’t understand why she doesn’t join them in the lunchroom.
But Lila solves her problem with help from the school librarian and her teacher. And in doing so, she learns that she can make new friends who respect her beliefs. And the last one that I have is one that just came out this month. We talked about it in our February book, new book releases. This is Ramadan on Rama Road by Rezina Omar Gouda.
So in this book, in the houses of Rama Road are people from all over the world. Some are fasting for Ramadan and some are not, but the annual potluck iftar is something that they all attend. And each house is planning on bringing something to share. So readers will travel from house to house on Rama Road to see what everyone is making.
Thank you so much for spending this time with me today. Remember, you’re doing important work and those read aloud moments, even the imperfect ones, matter more than you know. Until next time, happy reading!
