Early Learning Project
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In this clip, Lisa takes advantage of opportunities provided by a storybook to help her 4-year-old son Miguel make meaningful connections with important concepts and to practice emerging skills. Miguel has special needs associated with language and developmental delays, as well as learning and behavioral difficulties that are generally associated with attention deficit disorders. His mother is able to take advantage of the engaging context provided by a favorite storybook. In some cases, opportunities to focus with Miguel on concepts emerge from the text of the story, while in other cases, Lisa creates opportunities to explore the concepts using the story as a basis.
What can we learn from this clip?- Use Motions to Help Children Understand the Meaning of Words. Lisa uses motions as she reads, “It went here. It went there. It went on. It went off.” Notice that she models these movements at the beginning of the storytelling, and the boy joins her as she uses the same motions later in the book.
- Share Humorous Moments in the Story. The mother and child share the humor in the rhyme text when it says, “‘Who? Who made that boo?’ asked Sam.” Later in the story, when an owl in the text is called a “silly goose,” Lisa helps Miguel understand the humor by pointing to the owl, laughing, and asking, “Is he a goose?” Miguel laughs as he replies, “He’s an owl.”
- Ask the Child to Predict What Might Happen Next. After reading that the characters Sam and Gus made a lot more words, Lisa asks, “Then what happened? What’s going to happen?” Later in the story, she reads, “And did those cars go? They went bash. They went smash.” She then asks Miguel, “What happened?” He replies, “They crashed.”
- Teach Math Skills and Concepts within a Story. Lisa reads, “The firefly made shapes with his lights” and traces the shape with her finger. She then asks Miguel, “What shape is that?” And he answers, “Triangle.” Lisa also reads, “Then Sam looked down and saw some cars.” She then asks Miguel, “How many cars?” She begins to count them with Miguel but drops out and allows Miguel to finish counting the four cars.
- Reinforce Recognition of Facial Expressions and Feelings. Lisa cues Miguel to recognize a character’s feelings by saying, “Look,” pointing to the character’s face, and asking, “Which face is he making? He looks… (she waits until Miguel has identified the feeling) scared, doesn’t he?” Note that after asking the question, Lisa waits for several seconds for Miguel to think of an answer. During the reading of the book, Lisa also helps Miguel to identify instances where the characters felt “sad” and “mad.”
- Emphasize Words that Rhyme. The ability to recognize and make rhymes is helpful to children learning to read. Lisa works on this ability with Miguel when she helps him rhyme fish/wish and house/mouse.
- Choose Books that Lend Themselves to Participation. For example, she reads, “Sam was there, but where was Gus?” Miguel responds by pointing to Gus on the page.
- Emphasize Print Awareness by Pointing to Important Words. For example, at one point, one of the characters writes a sign that is portrayed in the illustrations. Lisa uses this opportunity to help Miguel understand that print has meaning by asking, “What did Gus write?” She then points to each word in the illustration as she reads, “Come in. Free show.”
- Help the Child Use Illustrations to Provide Clues to the Meaning of the Text. Lisa helps Miguel use the illustrations as clues to what the printed words might say. For instance, she points at a picture of a hot dog stand with a sign and asks, “What does this say? Hot…” The boy then smiles and says, “Hot dog.”
- Model Emotional Engagement with the Characters. For instance, when Gus the firefly is trapped in a jar, Lisa says, “Poor Gus.”
Related IEL Tip Sheets
- What's Next?” Predictions at Story Time
http://illinoisearlylearning.org/tipsheets/whatsnext.htm - Using Predictable Books with Young Children
http://illinoisearlylearning.org/tipsheets/predictable.htm - Fun at Home with Preschoolers: Getting Ready to Read!
http://illinoisearlylearning.org/tipsheets/homeactivities.htm - The Gift of Words: Reading and Games
http://illinoisearlylearning.org/tipsheets/gift-reading.htm - Sharing Books with Your Preschooler
http://illinoisearlylearning.org/tipsheets/bookspreschooler.htm - The Path to Math: Geometric Thinking for Young Children
http://illinoisearlylearning.org/tipsheets/math-geom.htm - IEL Interactive Chat: Encouraging Literacy Development in Preschoolers
http://illinoisearlylearning.org/chat/scott/index.htm - IEL Interactive Chat: From Chewing to Choosing: Bonding Books and Children
http://illinoisearlylearning.org/chat/hearne/index.htm
Other Resources
- How to Get the Most from Any Story while You Read to Your Kids (Scroll down)
http://www.pbs.org/parents/lions/activities/literacy_tips-reading.html - Kids Who Care: The Development of Empathy, Care, and Compassion
http://library.adoption.com/articles/kids-who-care-.html - Emotions in Motion: Explore Feelings through Books and Simple Games.
http://www.pbs.org/parents/lions/activities/activities-emotions_in_motion.html - Rhyme with Me: It's Fun, You'll See!
http://www2.ed.gov/parents/academic/help/reader/part5.html#rime - Story Time for Preschoolers
http://kidshealth.org/parent/growth/learning/reading_preschool.html - Reading Aloud: Reading With Your Child
http://www.rif.org/us/literacy-resources/articles/reading-with-your-child.htm
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