Resource: Mrs. McNosh Hangs Up Her Wash

Print Background Essay

Mrs. McNosh Hangs Up Her Wash tells a funny rhyming story of a woman who hangs up more than just her wash. As Cleo reads the story and the Lions ask questions, they model reading aloud and how children can learn through their interactions with books.

Reading aloud is the single most important thing parents and caregivers can do to prepare children for success in school. From birth to age six, the brain is in a critical period of language development. Hearing language as a story is read aloud helps the brain organize itself to learn language, strengthening the language connections in the brain and making it more receptive to oral and book learning. Research shows that the amount of time children spend being read to in the preschool years strongly predicts their readiness for kindergarten and even their performance at the end of the sixth grade.

This read-aloud begins at the Lions' clothesline, to show a context for selecting the story. When Cleo chooses the book Mrs. McNosh Hangs Up Her Wash, she connects a common experience—hanging laundry—to a new storybook. Before Cleo begins reading, she asks Leona to predict what the story is about by looking at the cover illustration. Asking children to make predictions engages them personally in the activity, and it also lets them know that their thoughts and ideas are valued. Later, they can compare their predictions to what really happened, a good exercise in critical thinking.

Cleo introduces the book by reading the title and naming the author and illustrator, and then she begins the story. When Leona repeats the rhyming words and Lionel interrupts the story to ask a question, they illustrate an important element of an effective read-aloud: interacting with the ideas in the text. Asking questions and sharing reactions may seem like an interruption, but in fact they lead to important conversations that help children develop language skills and motivate them to learn more.

When Lionel notes a humorous phrase and asks if Mrs. McNosh really washes and wrings out the newspaper, Theo takes a moment to explain the familiar sounding but unfamiliar word, "wring." Because "wring" is a homophone (with "ring"), children need to know what it means in order to understand the sentence, "She wrings out the paper and hangs up the news." Asking or talking about unfamiliar words promotes a general word awareness that helps children build their vocabulary and make sense of new words in different contexts.

At the end of the story, Cleo delays reading the word "chair," the last word in the rhyme, encouraging her listeners to fill in the word. After a couple of tries, Leona figures out the rhyming word. Chiming in is also known as emergent reading, an important early step in the process of learning to read.