Implications For Read-Alouds With Preschool Children
Uploaded by spootyhead on Mar 08, 2007
Implications For Read-Alouds With Preschool Children
The single most important activity for building the knowledge and skills eventually required for reading appears to be reading aloud to children (Adams, 1990; Goodman, 1984). However, a familiar complaint of primary teachers is that children often arrive in kindergarten or first grade showing little experience with books.
In an age of video games, television, and computers, connecting children with the pleasure of books and reading is a major concern. Many children do not seem to look forward to reading and they do not seem to know how books “work”, nor the pleasure they can bring.
Why is there an alarming increase in these types of behaviors? Some say it is the increase of families living in poverty. The National Institute for Literacy (1999) reported that 43% of people with the lowest literacy skills live in poverty, 17% receive food stamps, 70% have no job or a part time job. Many of these people never graduated from high school and may not value the educational process, perhaps because they feel it failed them. In the workplace these people earn a mean monthly income of $432 as compared to $1829 for those with a Bachelor’s degree (National Institute for Literacy, 1999). Needless to say, living conditions may or may not meet what we would consider “minimum standards”. Unsafe neighborhoods result in families leaving their homes only for necessities – going to work, getting food. They certainly donot have the time or desire for venturing out for recreational trips to the library (Gottschal, 1995). Unlike many middle-class families, these families have had few opportunities to enjoy and experience high-quality books.
Children who learn to read “naturally” before entering school usually have extensive story-reading experiences. Similarily, research has found that experience with books during the preschool years is related to successful literacy development during the elementary school years (Adams, 1990).
One might ask how soon could you begin reading to children? Some believe it is never to early to read to children (Kupetz & Green, 1997). Research clearly illustrates the benefits derived from reading to very young children. The benefits of early book experiences includes helping infant’s eyes to focus and recognize objects, building sensory awareness; reinforcing basic concepts; stimulating imagination; extending experiences; providing a reading model; as well...