Beauty and the Beast Read-Aloud

In anticipation of the new movie coming out in March, I've been reading Beauty and the Beast to my students. My school-bestie picked this up for me from the book fair a few weeks ago (I don't know how I could've possibly over-looked it!) and I actually had no intention of sharing it with them, but one of my kiddos noticed it on my desk and asked if that would be our next read aloud. Scholastic recommended Grades 3-7 (ages 8-12), but since I'm reading it to them and there was a high-interest level (we voted), I decided to go for it.

Here are my thoughts on reading a higher-level book to younger readers:

1. Because of their age level in regards to the book, we watched the classic Disney cartoon on the Friday afternoon before we started the read-aloud. We discussed "painting a picture in your head" as we read, and I wanted my students to have a good idea of what was happening.

2. We also talked about how a movie plot sometimes diverge's from a book's storyline, so we make a point to stop every time that happens and discuss the differences. (For example, in the book Maurice makes music boxes, in the movie he was an inventor.)

3. I'm reading the book slow and steady. Usually I try to read a novel in a week, but since this is a 16-chapter somewhat heavy-reader, we are taking our time and reading one chapter a day.

4. We vote and make charts quite frequently in my classroom, so it was no surprise to them that each day I pose a question (sometimes from the story, sometimes a 'what would you do?', etc.) for each child to give their thoughts on. Below is an example of a picture graph we created yesterday. I think it's important that kids feel connected to the text, and if they know I'll be asking questions they'll have an even better reason to listen along.