Children's Picture Book Read-Alouds

Every elementary homeschool program must contain a unit that discusses how to teach writing, and hopefully it inspires the young child to want to learn how to write well. Many children don’t realize how important writing skills are; they view writing as an assignment verses a life skill that will be used on a daily basis. One way to remove the perceived drudgery of writing assignments is to move the concepts of writing from abstract to concrete. Young children have a difficult time comprehending abstract concepts and will often disregard them entirely because they are confused. Children’s picture books are a great resource to use when discussing important writing topics such as setting, plot, character and story organization (beginning, middle and end). Children can listen and observe as a picture book is read-aloud; simultaneously the child can be processing the concrete writing steps of story creation. As you begin your writing unit, be sure to have a variety of different books that explore and explain the different aspects of story creation. If you are unsure what to use, ask a librarian for suggestions. Her list will get you started and then you can supplement your choices with favorite books from home or purchase those you want to keep in your homeschool library.