Regardless of a child's experience with or exposure to books when he or she enters elementary school, teachers can greatly extend a child's literacy development through interactive classroom read-alouds. Reading a story aloud presents endless opportunities for related activities such as classroom discussions, role plays, shared readings, group writings, arts and crafts, and songs. This book explores read-alouds in both home and school settings and encourages the use of read-alouds as a starting point for further learning in several curricular areas. The book finds that read-alouds provide many types of literacy support for children: children learn about literacy through an adult who provides a model of reading; form an understanding of how print functions and how it is used; develop a knowledge and understanding of letters and letter-sound relationships; learn new words, new sentences, and discourse patterns; learn about the structure of stories; and develop a positive attitude toward books. Following an introduction, the book is divided into these chapters: (1) Interactive Read-Alouds; (2) The Importance of Narrative and Quality Books; (3) Read-Alouds and Print Features; (4) Activities Based on the Read-Aloud; (5) Interactive Reading Activities; (6) Interactive Writing Activities; and (7) Interactive Math, Science, and Social Studies Activities. (Contains an afterword, 105 references, and 30 children's literature references.) (NKA)