You must have javascript enabled to utilize the functionality of this website. If you have set your security settings to high, please reduce to medium

Home

About Us

Learn More

Your Account

Your Cart

Browse Our Catalog

Products & Services Activity Guides Ordering Info Behind the Scenes Interviews

Activity Guides

Click on a title below to view a pdf of the activity guide.

These activity guides have been developed with a focus on literacy, reading and media standards to use with children as an aid in encouraging effective reading and language arts skills. Before using the readalong with a child or group of children, the adult should first:
a) read the book while listening to the cassette or CD
b) read this guide, adding to or deleting any of the suggested activities according to the needs of the child or group

The following sequence is suggested:
a) Hold up and introduce the book (see "Introducing the Story")
b) Pass out the books
c) Explain to the children that they are to read silently along with the narrator
d) Play the cassette or CD (see notes below)
e) Proceed with activities

Playing the Cassette or CD:
The recording has two sound tracks: one with a page turn signal (the actual sound of a page being turned), the other without. Both are marked on the cassette shell or CD. The page turn signal is introduced by the narrator after the title is read. This track should be used with young readers who require help in maintaining their reading pace. The second track is not signaled and is suitable for use with more advanced readers.

Live Oak Media Readalongs weave together narrative reading, art, and music to bring an enhanced listening and reading experience to children. Each readalong is more than a reading of the book - it is a full performance, with the words and art telling the story, the music creating the emotionality, and the sound effects reinforcing the action. The end result is a medium that is entertaining, imaginative and artistically developed, as well as educational.

Why use readalongs?

Readalongs have been established as effective resources that help students learn how to read and develop language skills. When students see a word and hear it at the same time, it creates a double imprint and impression in their minds. This allows them to more effectively retain words in their memory and make associations between the visual and auditory nature of words.

The readalong format can be seen as an extension of the early learning process, which is a multi-sensory and associative experience. Parents place children in the world and they use all their senses to explore the object they come in contact with. Then, parents name the object for them and through repetition children learn to associate the sound of the word with the object.

The illustrations in a picture book are representative of the physical world from which the child gathers information and learns things.The illustrations help the beginning reader understand and decipher the text and are integral to the telling of the story.

The readalong format represents the naming process that goes on between adult and child, but instead of making the associations between the sound of the word and the object, the child learns to make the association between the sound of the word and the printed word. Thus, hearing and seeing the word at the same time is an effective way of learning it.

Picture book readalongs expand upon a learning process that the child is already familiar and comfortable with. They also serve as a bridge to the reading experience of the preteen or young adult and serve as the foundation that enables children to create their own images when reading.

Who uses our readalongs?
CHILDREN, PARENTS, PUBLIC LIBRARIANS, SCHOOL LIBRARIANS, ELEMENTARY CLASSROOM TEACHERS, ESL BILINGUAL TEACHERS, READING AND REMEDIAL READING TEACHERS, SPECIAL EDUCATION, ELEMENTARY ENGLISH TEACHERS AND MUSIC TEACHERS, AMONG OTHERS.

Librarians use them to help their teachers: with reading, math and history lessons, with dyslexic students, with bilingual students
Librarians and teachers send home books, tapes, and tape players (or CDs and CD players) in "Literature to Go" programs so that children and their parents can share the listening experience.
ESL students use readalongs to learn English - children can see the words and hear the correct pronunciation; if the students are able to take the books and tapes home along with tape recorders the entire family listens and learns right along with them
English-speaking students use Spanish readalongs in dual language programs to learn to speak Spanish (even at the middle and high school levels)
Parents use readalongs when traveling with children - in the car as travel kits, but also when they arrive at their destinations for a quiet story time
Classroom teachers use them as a supplement after reading a story to the class -- use a listening center with the same book and an audio tape to reinforce the story.
Preschool students listen to readalongs and at the end of their listening session draw a picture of their favorite part of the story.
Parents use readalongs to help with bedtime - while putting the baby to bed, they put a read-along story on for the older child, who can turn the pages at the beeps.

Live Oak Media PO Box 652 Pine Plains, NY 12567-0652
Toll Free: (800)788-1121 Fax: (866)398-1070