QUALITY STORYTENTS

A resource for family, early childhood and community literacy workers

Shared reading allows a child to observe, up close, how an accomplished reader approaches a text. It also creates a context of closeness and cooperation in which the child can ask for help with a word or phrase without feeling as if they had somehow failed. In shared reading, accuracy counts for little. We would redirect a reader only if a misread frustrated the child ’s attempt to make sense of a story.

Guided Reading

In the storytent we also use an adaptation of guided reading, which involves promoting specific reading strategies (Fountas & Pinnell, 1996). We use leveled books that are in children’s instructional ranges (not too hard, not too easy) and try, gently, to match up children and texts. As part of this method, we give children time to actively ‘figure out’ text. Sometimes, we also talk about the book with children. We might:

• point out patterns in the text
• point out regularities and irregularities in phonic principles
• discuss things like the title, author, or method of illustration
• link words to pictures
• predict what might happen next
• talk about how the story might have ended differently.

This is as close as we ever come to reading instruction. Because it is so easy to disconnect when we try to 'teach' someone, this is a time when we need to take extra care to listen to, support, encourage, respect, trust and accept each child.