Anyhow. Today the Mini and I were having a lovely lunch of hummus, cheese, fruit and our favorite picture books. (Yes, I keep books everywhere, even in the kitchen. I know. I know.) As I moved to clean up, Mini asked to take a look at these on her own:
Now, we have read these books a million times. I originally bought them to use in my classroom, but since those days, they have been sitting on a shelf in my office. Until Mini discovered them that is. And the glory! They're so small! And so silly! And they come in a box!
Again, we have shared these together so many times that I don't even have to look down at the page anymore (and might, in fact, be checking my email secretly while we read). So I know she knows the stories. HOWEVER...
Today the Mini did some amazing oral storytelling just by using the pictures (and her memory) as cues. My nerdy little brain immediately started churning because, you see, kindergarten and first grade teachers everywhere are teaching their emergent readers to rely on the pictures in order to tell a story that makes sense or to use the picture to help figure out a tricky unfamiliar word. By beginning with wordless (or mostly wordless) texts and asking kids to tell a story, we begin to develop in our youngest readers a sense of story or an ear for what a story sounds like. Then, as we add more and more text, the picture serves as support or confirmation of the text - readers rely on pictures to make sense of the text, both it's meaning and any individual words that may be confusing.
Just by reading to her daily, Mini is already developing an ear for story. She is only two. She is already using the pictures to help her tell a story that makes sense. We routinely point to the pictures as we are reading together so she can begin to see the connection between the illustrations and the text on the page.
As I watch my little reader start to grow from the parent side of things (as opposed to the teacher side), I realize that at least one of our teacher's room theories was correct. There is a difference between those kids who were read to and those kids who were read to and asked to talk about their reading. Or at least there is in mine. So, sample of one. But really cute sample of one.
Some ideas to try with your mini-reader:
- Ask them to re-tell you a favorite story, using the pictures as cues. (Or tell it together.)
- As you are reading new books and old favorites together, make concrete connections between the illustrations and the words. For example, point to the action that is being described as you read.
- Look for shorter books to add to your collection - most popular board books (a.k.a anything Sandra Boynton) will do the trick. The trick is not about reading longer, wordier, more complicated books as soon as possible...
