All early years practitioners know how important it is for young children to learn to read. Studies such as the Bookstart Project have shown that when parents and carers provide children with positive experiences with books from an early age, they have an advantage across all areas of learning when they start school.
Two key factors seem to influence children's achievements in reading. The first is that children want to read, see it as important and think it serves a purpose. The second is that they love books and enjoy reading and being read to.
Reading is not just a skill - it's an adventure and it opens doors to whole new worlds. Practitioners need to make reading and sharing books a pleasurable experience for all children. If children see books as exciting, interesting and fun, they will choose to read for themselves and share books with others.
It is really important to build up a book collection that will captivate young children and help them to develop positive views of themselves as readers. A quality book collection should include a wide range of texts and incorporate:
* classic story books
* information texts
* traditional tales
* rhythmic and rhyming stories
* books that deal with important themes
* recent story books.
Classic story books Buying books can be a difficult and expensive process, but it can also be a great pleasure and very rewarding. It is sometimes hard to know whether a book is a classic that will stand the test of time or is simply part of a current trend.
Contemporary classics will help to enrich children's understanding, enjoyment and love of literature and have many characteristics in common, including the following:
* they are often written by experienced children's writers and illustrated by talented artists
* the language is used in exciting and inventive ways
* they are frequently multi-layered and can be read at several different levels, meaning different things to different readers
* the text is memorable and children can retell the stories independently
* they reflect the multicultural society in which we live
* they stimulate discussion and debate
* children and adults will want to revisit these books time and again.
Core books
Children and adults often re-read favourite books, and when they do children begin to respond at different levels and in increasingly sophisticated ways. They make links between books and draw on their earlier experiences.
When children revisit books they develop the ability to predict what will happen next. As their experience broadens, they gain the confidence to predict what may happen in unfamiliar stories too.
Many early years settings select a set of 'core' books that include contemporary classics. These are revisited frequently and all the children become familiar and comfortable with them, so practitioners can provide opportunities for the children to retell the stories in various ways.
Sometimes story sacks that support these books are developed. Story sacks contain a variety of resources to support the retelling of the story, including magnetic story props and soft toys or puppets that represent the main characters.
In addition, children can retell stories through the use of role play and imaginative play situations.
Judith Stevens is early years adviser at Lewisham Education