Road Builders by B. G. Hennessy

Road Builders follows a crew as it uses a variety of trucks to build a road.

• Read the title of the book from the cover, pointing to the words Road Builders as you say them. Repeat the title with your child.
• Point to the truck on the cover. Tell your child that this is a big dump truck. Ask: Have you ever seen a big truck like this? What kind of a noise do you think a truck like this makes?

Reading the Story for the First Time

• Read the story, moving your finger under the words as you read. Give your child plenty of time to look at the pictures.
• After reading, ask: What truck do you like best? What job does the truck do? Ask your child to find the truck he or she likes best.

Reading the Book Again and Again

• Each time you read Road Builders, leave more of the "reading" or retelling to the child. Give open-ended prompts on each page. For example, ask: What is happening in this picture? What do you think these people are going to do?
• Give prompts about objects or activities in the pictures. For example, ask: What is Buddy the boss looking at? (He is looking at a map.) Use your finger to point to what you are asking about. Evaluate the child's response. Expand it by giving more information. Ask the child to repeat the answer. If he or she needs help in answering a question, ask that question again the next time you read the book. Good words to ask about are listed in the vocabulary section below. Be sure to talk about objects and actions the child brings up, too. Some children may want to learn the names of the trucks. Others may be interested in the jobs the trucks do.
• You may wish to discuss the prompts shown below.

Building Literacy

• Look for trucks when you go out with your child. Use words to describe what each truck does or looks like. Name the trucks if you can.
• Use toy trucks and have the child name the jobs the trucks do. Encourage the child to use words such as scooping, digging, dumping, and so on.

Excerpted from Read Together, Talk Together, the Pearson Early Childhood research-based program that makes reading aloud even more effective!