Family Sharing: Hank the Cowdog has been a favorite series for many families.
Whether used as a read-aloud in their homes or used as an audio on the road, this series
brings strong characterization and delightfully humorous situations.
- Discuss: “Which books have we shared as a family read aloud did you like the best?” *Invite everyone to share.
- Skill Discussion: A family read-aloud (including audio story time) fosters cherished memories with an all-new adventure. Nurturing and raising up a life-long learner entails moments in which the joy of sharing book discussions engages individual inquiry skills (predictions; clarifications; personal connections; sensory/emotional processing). Reading fluency is modeled with the “wonder and art” of weaving a story that provides engaging word choice, multi-faceted characteristics, life decisions (benefits/consequences), and thoughtful questioning.
- Before the book sharing begins: Ask: “What do you think this book will be about?”
- Opening of the family read-aloud: Invite discussions: [Before reading] “What do we hope to discover?” [Begin with] “Let’s read!”
- During the sharing: Ask “I Wonder” questions: “I wonder, who….?”, “I wonder how…”, “Do you think…”, “Wow, that’s not what I thought…Did you?” *Throughout the reading discuss the characteristics of the main character/supporting characters. Stop and share your thoughts when there are sensory word-choice phrases, use those words as a way to engage (help them to see, hear, smell, and feel the story).
- Stopping for the day: Always… find a place in the story when… there is… something going to happen! Hooking them for the next read-aloud is the “joy” of reading. Ask: “What do you think is going to happen next?”, “Who liked…?”, “What did you think when…?”
- Extension: Listeners could create a “Story Picture.” Before or after reading, designate someone as the “Story Illustrator for the day.” They choose what picture to draw after the read-aloud. Later that evening or early the next morning, designate someone to be the “Caption Writer,” they add one or two sentences, as the story’s caption, on the story picture. By the end of the book… your family has created their own “version” of the read-aloud.
