
3 Read-Aloud Websites for Kids
Why are these read-aloud websites my personal lifesaver? Well, as an elementary librarian, I wear many hats. I am the purchaser and processor of all materials for the library, I check in and out 500+ books biweekly, I curate educational websites for students and teachers, I organize the library club, I support teachers by finding specific texts, I coordinate author visits and assemblies, I run three book fairs a year, all while teaching a full of load of classes to almost 600 kids a week. I am, in short, the absolute luckiest person alive.
While Makerspace and technology skills are a huge and vital part of the curriculum I share with my students, my personal mission in the library is to develop a love of reading. This means I am constantly working to stay up to date on new titles, carefully monitoring which books are most often checked out, talking with students about their interests, and fighting to keep empty space reserved for nothing but free reading. It’s the most important thing I do.
With students as young as 5, I have to work to find developmentally appropriate ways to make free reading successful. Book bins, author studies, and image-heavy texts have helped, but I also use a small selection of websites to give students autonomy and choice in their free reading. These three read-aloud websites are valuable across a range of ages, abilities, and native languages, plus they are fun!