This month has been all about planning.

Before Thanksgiving arrives, I will have given three presentations, begun teaching a parent-child literacy class and made significant progress toward deciding this year’s choice in the Cybil awards. While I may be struggling to find time to blog through all my planning, I do continue to read to my girls and thank goodness.

Last night, I was reminded why reading aloud is the most powerful thing we can do for our children. Because I have been reading so many new titles, I truly do not remember which book Katherine and I were reading last night when there was talk of toasting an animal. Of course, the animal was being toasted in celebration over a drink with friends but my little one immediately imagined pictures of the poor soul in the toaster. “Why are they toasting him!?”, she shouted in horror.

And there was a vocabulary lesson handed to me on a silver platter. We built background knowledge, discussed words with multiple meanings and realized the importance of asking for clarification when things seem confusing.

So let’s all say a toast and raise our glasses to reading aloud!