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52
Young Children • March 2003
TEACHING AND LEARNING ABOUT EARLY LITERACY
T
he cumulative and growing
research on literacy devel-
opment in young children is rapidly
becoming a body of knowledge
that can serve as the basis for the
everyday practice of early literacy
education (IRA & NAEYC 1998;
National Research Council 1998;
Yaden, Rowe, & MacGillivary 2000;
Neuman & Dickinson 2001; NAEYC &
NAECS/SDE 2002). Although prelimi-
nary, the knowledge base outlines
children’s developmental patterns in
critical areas, such as phonological
and print awareness. It serves as a
resource for designing early literacy
programs and specific instructional
practices. In addition, it offers reli-
able and valid observational data
for grounding approaches to early
reading assessment.
Kathleen A. Roskos, Ph.D., is the director of the Ohio Literacy Initiative at the Ohio
Department of Education and is a professor at John Carroll University in Cleveland.
She coordinated Bridges and Links, one of the first public preschools in Ohio, and is
instrumental in the development of content guidelines in early literacy. Kathleen studies
early literacy development, teacher cognition, and the design of professional education
for teachers.
James F. Christie, Ph.D., is a professor of curriculum and instruction at Arizona State
University in Tempe, where he teaches courses in language, literacy, and early child-
hood education. His research interests include children’s play and early literacy develop-
ment. James is the president of the Association for the Study of Play.
Donald J. Richgels, Ph.D., is a professor in the literacy education department at North-
ern Illinois University in DeKalb, where he teaches graduate and undergraduate courses
in language development, reading, and language arts.
Beyond the Journal. This article also appears on NAEYC’s Website: www.naeyc.org.
Illustrations © Diane Greenseid.
That we know more about literacy
development and acquisition, how-
ever, does not let us escape a central
issue of all early education: What
should young children be learning
and doing before they go to kinder-
garten? What early literacy instruc-
tion should children receive? What
should it emphasize—head (cogni-
tion) or heart (motivation) or both?
Real-life answers to these ques-
tions rarely point directly to this
or that, but rather they are some-
where in the middle, including both
empirical evidence and professional
wisdom. While we will continue
Kathleen A. Roskos, James F. Christie, and Donald J. Richgels
e Essentials of
Early Literacy Instruction
I struggled through the
alphabet as if it had been
a bramble-bush; getting
considerably worried and
scratched by every letter.
— Charles Dickens
Great Expectations
to wrestle with these complicated
questions, we must take practical
action so that our growing under-
standing in early literacy supports
the young child as a wholesome,
developing person.
What then are the essentials of
early literacy instruction? What con-
tent should be included, and how
should it be taught in early educa-
tion settings? Our first response
to these complex questions is
described below in a skeletal frame-
work for action. We briefly define
early literacy, so as to identify what
young children need to know and
be able to do if they are to enjoy the
fruits of literacy, including valuable
dispositions that strengthen their
literacy interactions. Then we de-
scribe two examples of instruction
that support children’s reading and
writing learning before they enter
the primary grades.
With the imagery of Pip’s remark
from Great Expectations in mind, we
hope to show that well-considered
early literacy instruction is cer-
tainly not a bramble-bush for our
very young children, but rather a
welcoming environment in which to
learn to read and write.
Young Children • March 2003
53
Essential Early Literacy
Teaching Strategies
Effective early literacy instruction provides preschool children
with developmentally appropriate settings, materials, experi-
ences, and social support that encourage early forms of reading
and writing to flourish and develop into conventional literacy.
These basics can be broken down into eight specific strategies
with strong research links to early literacy skills and, in some
cases, with later elementary-grade reading achievement. Note
that play has a prominent role in strategies 5, 6, and 8. Link-
ing literacy and play is one of the most effective ways to make
literacy activities meaningful and enjoyable for children.
1. Rich teacher talk
Engage children in
rich conversations in
large group, small group,
and one-to-one set-
tings. When talking with
children,
• use rare words—words
that children are unlikely
to encounter in everyday
conversations;
• extend children’s comments into more descriptive, grammati-
cally mature statements;
• discuss cognitively challenging content—topics that are not
immediately present, that involve knowledge about the world, or
that encourage children to reflect on language as an object;
• listen and respond to what children have to say.
2. Storybook reading
Read aloud to your
class once or twice a
day, exposing children
to numerous enjoyable
stories, poems, and in-
formation books. Provide
supportive conversations
and activities before,
during, and after read-
ing. Repeated reading
of favorite books builds
familiarity, increasing the likelihood that children will attempt to
read those books on their own.
The learning domain
Today a variety of terms are used to refer
to the preschool phase of literacy develop-
ment—emerging literacy, emergent reading,
emergent writing, early reading, symbolic
tools, and so on. We have adopted the term
early literacy as the most comprehensive yet
concise description of the knowledge, skills,
and dispositions that precede learning to
read and write in the primary grades (K–3).
We chose this term because, in the earliest
phases of literacy development, forming
reading and writing concepts and skills is a
dynamic process (National Research Council
1998, 2000).
Young children’s grasp of print as a tool for
making meaning and as a way to communi-
cate combines both oral and written lan-
guage. Children draw and scribble and “read”
their marks by attributing meaning to them
through their talk and action. They listen to
stories read aloud and learn how to orient
their bodies and minds to the technicalities
of books and print.
When adults say, “Here, help me hold the
book and turn the pages,” they teach children
basic conventions of book handling and the
left-to-right, top-to-bottom orientation of Eng-
lish. When they guide children’s small hands
and eyes to printed words on the page, they
show them that this is the source of the read-
ing and that the marks have meaning. When
they explain, “This says ‘goldfish’. Do you
remember our goldfish? We named it Baby
Flipper. We put its name on the fishbowl,”
they help children understand the connec-
tion between printed words, speech, and real
experience.
Children’s early reading and writing learn-
ing, in other words, is embedded in a larger
developing system of oral communication.
Early literacy is an emerging set of relation-
ships between reading and writing. These
(Continued on p. 54)
53
What early literacy in-
struction should children
receive? What should it empha-
size—head (cognition) or heart
(motivation) or both?
© BmPorter/Don Franklin
Bill Geiger
54
Young Children • March 2003
TEACHING AND LEARNING ABOUT EARLY LITERACY
relationships are situated in a
broader communication network
of speaking and listening, whose
components work together to help
the learner negotiate the world and
make sense of experience (Thelen
& Smith 1995; Lewis 2000; Siegler
2000). Young children need writing
to help them learn about reading,
they need reading to help them
learn about writing; and they need
oral language to help them learn
about both.
Necessary content and
dispositions in early literacy
Early literacy holds much that
young children might learn. Yet we
cannot teach everything and must
make choices about what content
to teach and which dispositions to
encourage. High-quality research
provides our best evidence for set-
ting priorities for what to address
and how.
Recent reviews of research indi-
cate at least three critical content
categories in early literacy: oral
language comprehension, phono-
logical awareness, and print knowl-
edge. They also identify at least one
important disposition, print motiva-
tion—the frequency of requests for
shared reading and engagement in
print-related activities, such as pre-
tend writing (Senechal et al. 2001;
Layzer 2002; Neuman 2002; Lonigan
& White-hurst in press).
Essential Early Literacy
Teaching Strategies
(cont’d on p. 55)
3. Phonological awareness activities
Provide activities that increase children’s
awareness of the sounds of language. These
activities include playing games and listening to
stories, poems, and songs that involve
rhyme—identifying words that end with the same
sound (e.g., Jack and Jill went up the hill);
alliteration—recognizing when several words
begin with the same sound (e.g., Peter Piper
picked a peck of pickled peppers);
sound matching—deciding which of several words
begins with a specific sound (e.g., show a child
pictures of a bird, a dog, and a cat and ask
which one starts with the /d/ sound).
Try to make these activities fun and enjoyable.
4. Alphabet activities
Engage children with materials that promote iden-
tification of the letters of the alphabet, including
• ABC books
• magnetic letters
• alphabet blocks and puzzles
• alphabet charts
Use direct instruction to teach letter names that
have personal meaning to children (“Look, Jen-
nifer’s and Joey’s names both start with the same
letter. What is the letter’s name? That’s right, they
both start with j”).
5. Support for emergent reading
Encourage children to attempt to read books
and other types of print by providing
• a well-designed library center, stocked with lots
of good books;
• repeated readings of favorite books (to familiar-
ize children with books and encourage indepen-
dent reading);
• functional print linked to class activities (e.g., daily
schedules, helper charts, toy shelf labels);
• play-related print (e.g., signs, menus, employee
name tags in a restaurant play center).
(cont’d from p. 53)
54
Young children need
writing to help them learn
about reading, they need
reading to help them learn
about writing; and they
need oral language to help
them learn about both.
Bill Geiger
© Elisabeth Nichols
© Ellen B. Senisi
Young Children • March 2003
55
Children need to learn main-
stay concepts and skills of written
language from which more complex
and elaborated understandings and
motivations arise, such as grasp of
the alphabetic principle, recogni-
tion of basic text structures, sense
of genre, and a strong desire to
know. They need to learn phono-
logical awareness, alphabet letter
knowledge, the functions of written
language, a sense of meaning making
from texts, vocabulary, rudimen-
tary print knowledge (e.g., devel-
opmental spelling), and the sheer
persistence to investigate print as a
meaning-making tool.
Content of Early Literacy
Instruction
Teaching preschool children
• what reading and writing can do
• to name and write alphabet
letters
• to hear rhymes and sounds in
words
• to spell simple words
• to recognize and write their own
names
• new words from stories, work,
and play
• to listen to stories for meaning
Valuable Dispositions of
Early Literacy Instruction
Cultivating preschool children’s
• willingness to listen to stories
• desire to be read to
• curiosity about words and let-
ters
• exploration of print forms
• playfulness with words
• enjoyment of songs, poems,
rhymes, jingles, books, and
dramatic play
Essential Early Literacy
Teaching Strategies
6. Support for emergent writing
Encourage children to use emergent
forms of writing, such as scribble writing,
random letter strings, and invented spell-
ing, by providing
• a writing center stocked with pens, pen-
cils, markers, paper, and book-making
materials;
• shared writing demonstrations in which
the teacher writes down text dictated by
children;
• functional writing opportunities that are connected to class activities
(e.g., sign-up sheets for popular centers, library book check-out slips, Do
not touch! signs);
• play-related writing materials (e.g., pencils and notepads for taking or-
ders in a restaurant play center).
7. Shared book experience.
Read Big Books and other enlarged
texts to children, and point to the print as
it is read. While introducing and reading
the text, draw children’s attention to basic
concepts of print such as
• the distinction between pictures and print;
• left-to-right, top-to-bottom sequence; and
• book concepts (cover, title, page).
Read favorite stories repeatedly, and en-
courage children to read along on the parts of the story they remember.
8. Integrated, content-focused activities.
Provide opportunities for children to
investigate topics that are of interest to
them. The objective is for children to use
oral language, reading, and writing to learn
about the world. Once a topic has been
identified, children can
• listen to the teacher read topic-related
information books and look at the books on
their own;
• gather data using observation, experi-
ments, interviews, and such;
• use emergent writing to record observations and information; and
• engage in dramatic play to consolidate and express what they have
learned.
As a result of such projects, children’s language and literacy skills are
advanced, and they gain valuable background knowledge.
© BmPorter/Don Franklin© Ellen B. Senisi
© BmPorter/Don Franklin
56
Young Children • March 2003
TEACHING AND LEARNING ABOUT EARLY LITERACYTEACHING AND LEARNING ABOUT EARLY LITERACY
Written language is harder
to learn than oral
Learning an alphabetic writing
system requires extra work. Both
spoken and written language are
symbol systems for representing
and retrieving meanings. In spoken
language, meaning making depends
on phonemes or sounds. As children
gain experience with the language of
their community, they learn which
words (or sequences of phonemes)
stand for which concepts in that
language. For example, children
learn that the spoken word table in
English or mesa in Spanish names
a four-legged, flat-topped piece of
furniture.
Writing and reading with an alpha-
betic system involve an extra layer
of symbols, where the phonemes are
represented by letters. This means
that beginners must both learn the
extra symbols—the letters of the
alphabet—and raise their conscious-
ness of the phonemes (because,
while speaking and understanding
speech, we unconsciously sequence
and contrast phonemes).
Speakers, for example, understand
the two very different concepts
named by the words nail and lane
without consciously noticing that
those words are constructed from
the same three phonemes
(/n/, /A/, and /l/), but in different
sequences. When children learn
to read, however, they must pay
attention to those three phonemes,
how they are sequenced, and what
letters represent them.
Invented spelling is a phonemic
awareness activity that has the add-
ed advantage of being meaningful
and functional (Richgels 2001). Chil-
dren nonconventionally but system-
atically match sounds in words that
they want to write with letters that
they know. For example, they may
use letter names and sounds in letter
names (/ch/ in H, /A/ as the name of
the letter A, and /r/ in R) when spell-
ing chair as HAR. Invented spelling
begins before children’s phonemic
Written language is
decontextualized; that
is, the sender and receiver
of a written communication
usually do not share the
same time and space.
awareness is completely developed
and before they know all the names
of the letters of the alphabet. With
encouragement from adults, it devel-
ops through stages that culminate in
conventional spelling.
The meanings of both spoken
and written language serve real
purposes in our daily lives (Halli-
day 1975). We usually do not speak
without wanting to accomplish
something useful. For example, we
might want to influence others’
behavior (“Would you turn that
down, please?”), express our feel-
ings (“I hate loud music”), or convey
information (“Habitual listening
to loud music is a danger to one’s
hearing”). Similarly, with written
messages we can influence behavior
(NO SMOKING), express feelings
(I
u
NY), and inform (Boston 24 mi)
while serving such added purposes
as communicating across distances
or preserving a message as a record
or a reminder.
These added purposes require
that written messages be able to
stand on their own (Olson 1977).
Written language is decontextual-
ized; that is, the sender and receiver
of a written communication usually
do not share the same time and
space. The writer is not present to
clarify and extend his or her mes-
sage for the reader. This means that
young readers’ and writers’ extra
work includes, in addition to dealing
with phonemes and letters, dealing
with decontextualization.
Why do the extra work?
Historically, societies have found
the extra work of writing and read-
ing to be worthwhile. The extra
functions of written language, espe-
cially preserving messages and com-
municating across distances, have
enabled a tremendous growth of
knowledge. Individual children can
experience similar benefits if teach-
ers help them to acquire the knowl-
edge and skill involved in the extra
work of reading and writing while
always making real to them the ex-
tra purposes that written language
serves. We must cultivate their
dispositions (curiosity, desire, play)
to actively seek, explore, and use
books and print. As they learn what
letters look like and how they match
up with phonemes, which strings of
letters represent which words, and
how to represent their meanings in
print and retrieve others’ meanings
from print, they must see also how
the fruits of those labors empower
them by multiplying the functional-
ity of language.
With speech, children can influ-
ence the behavior of others, express
their feelings, and convey informa-
tion. A big part of motivating them
to take on the extra work of reading
and writing must be letting them see
how the permanence and portabil-
ity of writing can widen the scope
of that influencing, expressing, and
informing. Young children who can
say “No! Don’t!” experience the
power of spoken words to influence
what others do or don’t do—but
only when the speakers are present.
Being able to write No extends the
exercise of that power to situations
in which they are not present, as
morning kindergartners Eric, Jeff,
Zack, and Ben realized when they
wrote NOStPN (No stepping) to
keep afternoon kindergartners from
disturbing a large dinosaur puzzle
they had assembled on the class-
room floor (McGee & Richgels 2000,
233–34).
Young Children • March 2003
57
The practice of early literacy instruction:
Two examples
Unlike the very real and immediate sounds and
meanings of talk, print is silent; it is obscure; it is not of
the here and now. Consequently, early literacy instruc-
tion must often be explicit and direct, which is not to
say that it must be scriptlike, prescriptive, and rigid
(Schickedanz 2003). Rather it should be embedded in
the basic activities of early learning long embraced by
early education practice and research. These include
reading aloud, circle time, small group activities, adult-
child conversations, and play.
Teachers can embed reading and writing instruction in
familiar activities, to help children learn both the con-
ventions of print and how print supports their immedi-
ate goals and needs. The two examples below show how
what’s new about early literacy instruction fits within
tried-and-true early education practice.
Interactive storybook reading
Reading aloud has maximum learning potential when
children have opportunities to actively participate and
respond (Morrow & Gambrell 2001). This requires teach-
ers to use three types of scaffolding or support: (a)
before-reading activities that arouse children’s interest
and curiosity in the book about to be read;
(b) during-reading prompts and questions that keep chil-
dren actively engaged with the text being read; and (c)
after-reading questions and activities that give children
an opportunity to discuss and respond to the books that
have been read.
Instruction can be easily integrated into any of these
three phases of story reading. This highly contextualized
instruction should be guided by children’s literacy learn-
ing needs and by the nature of the book being read:
sINFORMATIONBOOKSSUCHAS"YRON"ARTONSAirport, can
teach children new vocabulary and concepts;
sBOOKSSONGSANDPOEMSWITHSTRONGRHYMESSUCHAS
Raffi’s Down by the Bay, promote phonological aware-
ness; and
sSTORIESWITHSTRONGNARRATIVEPLOTSSUCHASThere’s an
Alligator under My Bed, by Mercer Mayer, are ideal for
generating predictions and acquainting children with
narrative structure, both of which lay a foundation for
reading comprehension.
In addition, most books can be used to teach print rec-
ognition, book concepts (e.g., cover, page), and concepts
of print (e.g., print vs. pictures). Of course, instruction
should be limited to several brief teaching points per
reading so children can enjoy the read-aloud experience.
Enjoyment and building positive dispositions should
always be given high priority when reading aloud. For an
example of how a teacher might do an interactive story
reading session with There’s an Alligator under My Bed,
see “Shared Reading to Learn about Story Plot.”
Literacy in play
The general benefits of play for children’s literacy de-
velopment are well documented, showing that a literacy-
enriched play environment exposes children to valuable
print experiences and lets them practice narrative skills
(Christie & Roskos 2003). In the following example, two
preschoolers are playing in a restaurant activity cen-
ter equipped with wall signs (Springville Restaurant),
menus, pencils, and a notepad:
Food server: Can I take your order?
Customer: [Looks over the menu] Let’s see, I’d like some
cereal. And how about some orange juice. And how
about the coffee with that too.
Food server: We don’t have coffee. We’re all runned out.
Customer: Okay, well . . . I’ll just take orange juice.
Food server: [Writes down order, using scribble writing]
Okay. I’ll be right back with your order. (Roskos et al.
1995)
Here, the customer is using the literacy routine of
looking at a menu and then placing an order. If the menu
is familiar and contains picture cues, some emergent
reading might also be taking place. The food server is
using another routine—writing down customer orders—
and is practicing emergent writing. In addition, the
children have constructed a simple narrative story,
complete with a problem (an item is not available) and a
resolution (drop that item from the order).
A Vygotskian approach to developing mature dramatic
play also illustrates the value of tangible play plans
for helping children to self-regulate their behaviors, to
remember on purpose, and to deliberately focus their
attention on play activity—foundational cognitive skills
of reading and writing (Bodrova & Leong 1998). We have
found that preschoolers often spend more time prepar-
ing for their dramatizations than they spend acting
out the stories. For example, one group of four-year-
olds spent more than 30 minutes preparing for a pizza
parlor story (organizing felt pizza ingredients, arranging
furniture for the pizza kitchen, making play money, and
deciding on roles) and less than 10 minutes acting out
the cooking, serving, and eating of the pizza meal. One
would be hard pressed to find another type of activity
that can keep young children focused and “on task” for
this length of time.
58
Young Children • March 2003
TEACHING AND LEARNING ABOUT EARLY LITERACY
Specific to early literacy, descriptive research shows that
a literacy-in-play strategy is effective in increasing the range
and amount of literacy behaviors during play, thus allowing
children to practice their emerging skills and show what they
have learned (Neuman & Roskos 1992). Evidence is also ac-
cumulating that this strategy helps children learn important
literacy concepts and skills, such as knowledge about the
functions of writing (Vukelich 1993), the ability to recognize
play-related print (Neuman & Roskos 1993), and compre-
hension strategies such as self-checking and self-correction
(Neuman & Roskos 1997). Like storybook reading, the literacy
learning potential of play can be increased when it includes
before, during, and after types of scaffolding as illustrated in
“Guided Play to Explore New Words and Their Sounds.”
Closing
We are gaining empirical ground in understanding early
literacy learning well enough to identify essential content that
belongs in an early childhood curriculum. Increasingly, the
field can articulate key concepts and skills that are signifi-
cant and foundational, necessary for literacy development
and growth, research-based, and motivational to arouse and
engage children’s minds. The need to broadly distribute this
knowledge is great—but the need to act on it consistently and
carefully in instructional practice is even greater, especially if
we are to steer children clear of the bramble-bushes and on to
be successful readers and writers.
References
Bodrova, E., & D. Leong. 1998. Development of dramatic play in young chil-
dren and its effects on self-regulation: The Vygotskian approach. Journal
of Early Childhood Teacher Education 19 (2): 115–24.
Christie, J., & K. Roskos. 2003. Literacy in play. In Literacy in America: An
encyclopedia of history, theory and practice, ed. B. Guzzetti, 318–23. Denver,
CO: ABC-CLIO.
Halliday, M.A.K. 1975. Learning how to mean. New York: Elsevier.
IRA & NAEYC. 1998. Joint Position Statement. Learning to read and write:
Developmentally appropriate practices for young children. Young Children
53 (4): 30–46. Online (overview): www.naeyc.org/resources/ position_
statements/psread0.htm
Layzer, C. 2002. Adding ABCs to apple juice, blocks and circle time. Paper
presented at the conference, Assessing Instructional Practices in Early
Literacy and Numeracy, September, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Lewis, M. 2000. The promise of dynamic systems approaches for an inte-
grated account of human development. Child Development 71: 36–43.
Lonigan, C., & G. Whitehurst. In press. Getting ready to read: Emergent
literacy and family literacy. In “Family literacy programs: Current status
and future directions,” ed. B. Wasik. New York: Guilford.
McGee, L.M., & D.J. Richgels. 2000. Literacy’s beginnings: Supporting young
readers and writers. 3d ed. Needham, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Morrow, L., & L. Gambrell. 2001. Literature-based instruction in the early
years. In Handbook of early literacy research, eds. S. Neuman & D. Dickin-
son, 348–60. New York: Guilford.
NAEYC & NAECS/SDE (National Association of Early Childhood Specialists
in State Departments of Education). 2002. Joint Position Statement. Early
learning standards: Creating the conditions for success. Online: naeyc.
org/resources/position_statements/earlylearn.pdf
National Research Council. 1998. Preventing reading difficulties in young
children. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
National Research Council. 2000. From neurons to neighborhoods: The sci-
ence of early childhood development. Washington, DC: National Academy
Press.
Shared Reading to Learn
about Story Plot
Here is how one teacher reads There’s an
Alligator under My Bed, by Mercer Mayer, to a
group of four-year-olds.
Before reading. The teacher begins by
saying, “Let’s look at the picture on the cover
of the book. [Shows a boy in bed with an
alligator sticking out from beneath] The boy
in this story has a big problem. Can anyone
guess what that problem is?”
After the children make their guesses, the
teacher points to the title and says, “The title
of this book is There’s an Alligator under My
Bed. So Suzy and Joey were correct in guess-
ing what the boy’s problem is. How do you
think the boy will get rid of the alligator?”
After several children share their predictions,
the teacher begins reading the book aloud.
During reading. After reading the first sec-
tion of the book, which introduces the boy’s
problem, the teacher pauses and asks, “Do
you have any other ideas about how the boy
might get rid of the alligator?”
The teacher reads the next two pages,
which detail the boy’s plan to leave a trail of
bait to the garage, and then pauses to ask the
children what the word bait means.
After reading the next section, in which the
boy lays out a trail of food, the teacher asks,
“What do you think the alligator is going to
do?”
Finally, after reading the rest of the story, in
which the alligator gets trapped in the garage,
the teacher points to the note the boy left on
the door to the garage and asks, “What do
you think the boy wrote in his note?”
After reading. The teacher sparks a dis-
cussion of the book by asking several open-
ended questions, such as “What did you like
best about the story?” and “How would you
have gotten rid of that alligator?”
Later, the teacher does a follow-up small
group activity—to reinforce a sense of story
plot, she helps children sequence a few pic-
tures of the main story events.
Young Children • March 2003
59
Guided Play to Explore New Words
and Their Sounds
With the teacher’s help, the children are creating a gas sta-
tion/garage play center as part of an ongoing unit on transpor-
tation.
Before play. The teacher provides background knowledge
by reading Sylvia’s Garage, by Debra Lee, an information
book about a woman mechanic. She discusses new words,
such as mechanic, engine, dipstick, oil.
Next, the teacher helps the children plan the play center.
She asks children about the roles they can play (e.g., gas sta-
tion attendant, mechanic, customer) and records their ideas
on a piece of chart paper. She then asks the children to brain-
storm some props that they could use in their center (e.g.,
signs, cardboard gas pump, oil can, tire pressure gauge) and
jots these down on another piece of chart paper. The children
then decide which props they will make in class and which will
be brought from home, and the teacher or a child places an m
after each make-in-class item and an h after each from home
item.
During the next several days, the teacher helps the children
construct some of the make-in-class props, such as a sign for
the gas station (“Let’s see. . . gas starts with a g. Gary, your name
also starts with a g. Can you show us how to write a g?
).
The list of props from home is included in the classroom
newsletter and sent to families.
During play. The teacher first observes the children at play
to learn about their current play interests and activities. Then
she provides scaffolding that extends and enriches children’s
play and at the same time teaches important literacy skills.
She notices, for example, that the mechanics are not writing
out service orders or bills for the customers, so she takes on
a role as an assistant mechanic and models how to write out
a bill for fixing a customer’s car. She monitors her involvement
to ensure close alignment with children’s ongoing activity.
After play. During small group activity time, the teacher
helps children with a picture-sort that includes pictures of peo-
ple and objects from their garage play. They sort the pictures
into labeled columns according to beginning sounds—
/m/ (mechanic, man, map, motor); /t/ (tire, tank, top, taillight);
and /g/ (gas, gallon, garden, goat). They explore the different
feel of these sounds in the different parts of their mouths. They
think of other words they know that feel the same way.
After modeling, the teacher gives the children a small deck of
picture cards to sort, providing direct supervision and feedback.
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Copyright © 2003 by the National Association for the
Education of Young Children. See Permissions and Re-
prints online at www.naeyc.org/resources/journal.
60
Young Children • March 2003
O
lder babies will enjoy a special book nook. Crawlers and walkers can
get to an area where attractively arranged books are easy to reach. The
typical upright book-display racks, so popular in preschool classrooms,
are not very functional in an infant room. First, babies are not tall enough to reach the higher
shelves. A second problem is that unseasoned crawlers and walkers may lose their balance if
they must reach to obtain materials. Third, and more serious, the bookshelf itself can topple over
if toddlers try to climb on it. (Furniture should, of course, be bolted or otherwise secured to walls
or the floor.)
A book nook for babies can be made by standing some books up on the floor and laying oth-
ers flat nearby. Because the opened and standing books can be seen from a distance, they will
catch the children’s attention. A corner of the room will serve best, as traffic will not go through
the area. Make sure the area is covered with carpeting or a rug to make sitting comfortable.
Pillows are not necessary in a book area for babies, nor are they very safe. Babies often don’t
watch the floor when they walk, and they are unable to raise their feet very far off the floor. (Were
they to do so, they would lose their balance.) As a result, babies can trip over pillows. Moreover,
a book is easiest for a baby to handle in his or her lap, while sitting. Leaning against a pillow or
sitting halfway on top of one puts a baby in a position that makes
manipulating a book difficult.
Although a special place in the room is provided for books,
books do not have to stay there. Babies often get a book, look at it
for a short time, and then carry it with them as they go to another
area of the room. They might set the book aside while they engage
in another activity and then pick it up again. Toddlers might be gently
encouraged and helped to return books to the book nook when they
truly have finished with them. However, it is good to remember that
a toddler does many things while on the run. A book nook can be
thought of not so much as where books belong but as a place where
books can be found. If sturdy books only are provided (that is, books
with thick cardboard, rather than paper, pages), they will be able to
withstand the wear and tear of traveling throughout the room with a
crawler or toddler.
A book nook also provides an out-of-the-way place where adults
know they can read to children without being in the way of other
activities. While some children between 12 and 18 months sit quietly
on a lap to look at books for extended periods of time, many infants enjoy books only for a few
brief minutes at a time. They return periodically for several such episodes over a period of time.
Of course, positioning oneself in the book nook will probably draw infants to it, and they might
stay longer if an adult is there to share books with them.
Special understanding, patience, and sensitivity are required when we interact with ba-
bies and books. If we can learn to respond to babies’ signals and to share books with them
on their own terms, books can be the basis for many happy moments together.
Creating a Book Nook for Babies and Toddlers
NAEYC
RESOURCES
IN
FOCUS
Selected
excerpts
Source: Excerpted from Judith A. Schickedanz, Much More than the ABCs: The Early Stages of Reading
and Writing (Washington, DC: NAEYC, 1999), 35–36.
© Julie Snoke
