Because read alouds matter.
Explore this page for grade level reading recommendations, author videos, blog posts, and educator’s guides to kick off your next classroom read aloud.
Grade Level Book Recommendations
Grades K-2
Choose books with short chapters that can be read individually or in clusters as appropriate for students’ attention spans. Books that are the beginnings of series that kids can go on to read themselves are a great way to build voracious readers. Picking books with illustrations helps with vocabulary development and keeping students engaged throughout the story.
Grades 3-4
As students become more confident in their independent decoding skills, read alouds provide a critical opportunity to expand vocabulary and build comprehension strategies. Choose books that are slightly above students’ independent reading levels and feature complex plots, interesting story structures, and figurative writing.
Grades 5-6
When students begin switching classrooms, it can become more challenging to incorporate classroom read alouds. There is still significant value to reading aloud to older students, including building critical thinking skills and modeling how to read and discuss books for fun.
Grades 7-8
Middle school is a uniquely challenging time in students’ lives. Everything feels like it’s changing so quickly. They struggle with feeling caught between their familiar childhood routines and the adult independence they crave. Building a read aloud routine can give them much needed stability as well as a safe space in which to explore and discuss more mature themes. Giving the kids ownership over the book choice through nominations and voting is a great way to get them invested in the activity.
High School
By high school, reading aloud usually becomes nothing but a fond memory for students, but that doesn’t need to be the case! Whether you choose to use short stories or poems, or read excerpts of novels, there are plenty of amazing texts to use to keep teens engaged in reading aloud.
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Best Classroom Read Alouds: Wombat Waiting by Katherine Applegate
Katherine Applegate is the beloved and best-selling author of the One and Only series, including the Newbery Honor winner The One and Only Ivan. Her latest, Wombat Waiting, is not to be missed and apparently plenty of others agree since it debuted as a #1 New York Times bestseller! With it’s free-verse text, adorable protagonist,…
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Best Classroom Read Alouds: The Second Life of Snap by Erin Entrada Kelly
Two-time Newbery medal winner Erin Entrada Kelly has penned another fabulous middle grade novel. Set in a dystopian future, the story follows Zuzu and her ragtag group of friends known as the Valley Cats as they befriend a reprogrammed guardian robot with a life limited by its battery life. This engrossing and page-turning read has…
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Best Classroom Read Alouds: High School
By high school, reading aloud usually becomes nothing but a fond memory for students, but that doesn’t need to be the case! Whether you choose to use short stories or poems, or read excerpts of novels, there are plenty of amazing texts to use to keep teens engaged in reading aloud. You can browse our…
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Best Classroom Read Alouds: Third and Fourth Grade
As students become more confident in their independent decoding skills in third and fourth grade, read alouds provide a critical opportunity to expand vocabulary and build comprehension strategies. Choose books that are slightly above students’ independent reading levels and feature complex plots, interesting story structures, and figurative writing.
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Best Classroom Read Alouds: Grades Five and Six
When students begin switching classes in fifth and sixth grades, it can become more challenging to incorporate classroom read alouds. There is still significant value to reading aloud to older students, including building critical thinking skills and modeling how to read and discuss books for fun.