QUALITY STORYTENTS
A resource for family, early childhood and community literacy workers
Shared reading has been described as “a step between reading to children and independent reading by children [and therefore] the step where children learn to read by reading” (Depree & Iverson, 1994, p. 34). This method is particularly appropriate to storytents, “a non-competitive learning environment” where “risk taking, mistakes, and approximations are seen as a normal part of learning – not signs of failure ” (Depree & Iverson, 1994, p. 34.)
In a typical scenario, a child might sit close to the adult and book. The adult reads the book aloud, at least twice, with the child joining in as he or she feels comfortable. With a book like Robert Munch’s Mortimer, the child would probably begin by reading the short chant repeated every other page. With a pattern book like Bill Martin Jr.’s Brown Bear Brown Bear, the child might start by reading the line “What do you see” which appears with each new illustration. Or, with Sandra Boynton’s Blue Hat Green Hat, they might read “oops” each time it appears. With time and repetition, the child gathers more of the text, until they reach a point where they believe they can read the book on their own.
With older children, shared reading might follow a more structured scenario: “You
read a page and I’ll read a page, okay? Who do you want to start, me
or you?”
This can
allow a child to read a longer or more difficult book that, were he or
she to attempt on his
or her own, would end in frustration.