Ring in the New Year with Words: Reclaiming the Power of Read Alouds in 2026
Today marks a new year, a time when many of us reset and create goals to make ourselves healthier, happier, and stronger. Even though we are in the midst of our current school year, this can be a time to refocus and start fresh… a time to reflect and set crystal clear goals. As we navigate our intentions for the remainder of the school year, we can find ourselves in a quandary: What is most important? Where does our time and attention actually belong?
Engage in Reflective Practice
In recent years, the literacy world has called our attention to the science of reading, often interpreted simply as phonics. Yes – it was absolutely necessary for us to strengthen this area, especially for our beginning readers. But just like when the common core arrived on the scene, we now have programs, curricula, articles, blogs, and professional books slapped with the label Science of Reading (cue the bright lights and neon letters). It puts in mind the onslaught of weight loss posts, ads, and products that arrive in our mailbox each January.
But in this reflective time of year, I’ve begun to wonder if, in our haste to make up for our previous weak practices in phonics, we have overlooked (or minimized) the other part of Scarborough’s Rope – the Language Comprehension strands. As with the decoding strands, the research is clear on the importance of vocabulary, background knowledge, language structure, and verbal reasoning. But somehow, read aloud is disappearing from our classrooms – the very thing that helps build these important strands.
Maximize the Power of Read Aloud
If I could wave a magic wand for this new year, it would be to bring back all that daily interactive read aloud brings to our literacy blocks: background knowledge, vocabulary, syntax awareness, fluency models, comprehension work, and JOY! With just 15–20 minutes per day, our read alouds can also touch on the SEL themes of social emotional learning and restorative justice. Every child – even jaded middle schoolers – love to be read to. Let the power of story work its magic in 2026.
Ring in the New Year Right
Are you ready to begin but don’t know where to start? Start with our Launch Books - books that establish Word Consciousness: the awareness and interest in words and their meanings. Create a word conscious classroom or home. Gone will be the drudgery of ineffective word card flashing or boring cute worksheets. Try also playing word games. These games use semantic and/or phonological skills - the exact same skills that children need for learning words with the added benefit of being joyful for all!
Start your new year right, by bringing joy and language to the darkness of winter.
Happy New Year!
