Reading to children benefits them in so many ways – it improves their language and listening skills, expands their vocabulary and helps them develop a lifelong love of reading. And those benefits aren’t just for our youngest children. Older children also benefit from someone reading aloud to them.

Tara Tuttle, a kindergarten teacher at Pine Bush Elementary School, knows the importance of regular reading to our youngest students. During report card conferences, she learned that some parents work nights and find it difficult to read to their children at home. So she came up with an idea.

“I thought it would be a good idea if I recorded myself reading to them,” said Mrs. Tuttle. “I had heard of another district that did something similar to reach out to families.”

She first reached out to fifth-grade teacher Jessica Herb and together they decided it would be great to approach the entire PBE staff and see if they would like to participate too. Her idea took off with her colleagues

Mrs. Tuttle and Mrs. Herb put together a Google site page with read-alouds for the kids. There, students will find some of their favorite PBE teachers reading some wonderful books, like “The Biggest Snowball Ever” read by Mrs. Tuttle, “Giraffes Can’t Dance” read by Mr. Richardson, and “Too Much Glue” read by Mrs. Butler.

There are different grade level books on the site and the list is growing. Mrs. Tuttle hopes to expand it to include as many teachers as want to participate, district-wide.

“Life gets busy for everyone,” said Mrs. Tuttle. “We want our students to get read to even if their parents can’t do it. They can bookmark the page and the students can choose the book they want.”

And she loves the comments she’s received from students.

“It’s just cool when one of the kids comes in and says ‘I heard Mr. Richardson read a book last night’,” said Mrs. Tuttle. “I love it.”

Check out the PBE Google read-aloud site here.