Young children, also known as pre-alphabetic readers according to Ehri’s Phases, are typically introduced to the world of literacy when stories are read at home or in their first school environment. Through this early exposure to books, pre-readers develop 'concepts of print' or 'print awareness' while also laying the foundation for a love of stories. To get the most out of these interactive reading experiences with young children, follow these four essential steps before, during, and after reading to develop early print awareness and some essential habits of good readers:
Before Reading:
Tip #1: Point out the front cover.
Whether you pick the book or the child picks from a selection of books, take time to explore the front cover. Draw attention to the book title, the author, and the illustrator. Doing so sets the stage that stories are told through words (author) and pictures (illustrator). When you read the title to the child and look at the cover illustrations, ask questions that activate their background knowledge and connections. Sample questions might include:
- What do you notice about the character(s) on the cover?
- Based on the title, what might this story be about?
During Reading:
Tip #2: Model directionality of print.
As you read aloud the words on the page, model turning the page and how print is read from left to right as you drag your finger under each line of text. Build excitement and interest as you apply different characters' voices based on the punctuation provided. Examples might include:
- Can you turn to the page for me? Which side should I start reading?
- Did you notice this exclamation point? That is why I raised my voice to show excitement.
- See these marks? These are called quotation marks and signal that a character is speaking, so I changed the tone of my voice to sound like the character that is speaking.
Tip #3: Model the thinking that good readers engage in when reading.
Through an interactive think-aloud, children come to learn the types of questions and connections that skilled readers are constantly striving to make as they engage with a text. Connections can be made to characters, the setting, the events, etc. Think-aloud examples might include:
- What may happen next?
- If I were this character, that would make me feel ___. How would you feel if you were them?
- I have/have not yet been (insert setting) before. (Proceed to describe what it was like through your lived experience or what you would imagine it is like.) Have you been there? (or) Do you think you would like to go there?
After Reading:
Tip #4: Practice speaking in complete sentences through reflection or retelling.
Young children may focus on one event initially that led to them liking or disliking a story. Over time, you can teach children the significance of the words first, next, and last to retell the story's beginning, middle, and end. Examples might include:
- Did you like this story? Encourage speaking in complete sentences by saying “I want you to respond: I liked it when… or I did not like when…”
- Now we're going to do our best to remember the beginning, middle, and end of the story. When we talk about the beginning we can say ‘first’ because the event is one of the first things that happens. When we get to the middle, we can say ‘next’ to tell the next event that happens in the story. And finally to tell the end of the story we can say ‘last’ to share the ending event.
- To further scaffold this, the adult can start off by sharing the ‘first’ event, then the child can share the ‘next’ event, and back to the adult for the ‘last’ event. look at the pictures and take turns remembering what happened in this story.
- The adult or child can draw a quick sketch to represent the first, next, and last event, and then use a complete sentence to share what is reflected in the pictures.
- If the child is stuck and does not remember, we can revisit the illustrations to support comprehension and memory for the events. If the child is a reader, they can re-read the sentences and notice how the illustrator demonstrates that idea through a picture.
Whether you already read to children daily or are looking to start early with your pre-readers, these four tips are sure to make the interaction as meaningful as possible!
Stay tuned for the additional early childhood blogs that will be released throughout November!
Check out an exemplar sample video from our AIM Pathways course resources below.
