Story time with preschool age children is so essential not only because you are helping them become lifelong readers, but because they are absorbing so much information and they are preparing to learn to read. Below are a few simple tips that are meant to help you really utilize story time with your preschooler to help you both have a wonderful experience. I hope you find them helpful and I hope your story times are an amazing experience for both/all of you!
Start with background knowledge.
Before even reading the book with your child, talk about background knowledge that is relevant to helping your child understand the story. For example, if you are reading a book like “Goodnight Goodnight Construction Site” then you could start by talking about the cover illustration of the excavator and discussing what your child already knows about construction sites. This will help them understand the story more and make connections to the knowledge they already have. Modeling this strategy helps them to learn it so when they read independently later on they can utilize it.
Ask questions throughout the story to help make connections.
Again, it’s all about connections. Pause throughout the story to point out a bit of information, emphasize a point, discuss illustrations and ask them questions either about what they just read or what they think may happen. These questions are a great way to gauge how much of the story your child is comprehending (which is useful for picking out books at appropriate levels and letting you know when to intervene to help explain things) as well as help them make more connections with the story.
Have them “read” you the story.
Children love to have you read their favorite stories over and over again which often results in them memorizing their own version of it. Invite your child to “read” these stories to you on occasion. They will love the chance to shine and show their knowledge and it is so good for helping them build confidence with doing story time themselves. Plus, it is a great way to see what they understand from the story, lets them practice “reading” with expression and helps build other early literacy skills. Plus, it’s just plain adorable.
If your library does story time, take them!
I believe that reading with you on your lap is the best story time opportunity that you can give your child. It is a great bonding experience for both of you and they are bound to benefit more from reading with a loving adult than anyone else. However, that being said, there are definite benefits from giving them the opportunity to hear stories from other sources and library story times are excellent for that. They even often include songs and/or crafts!
Read with expression.
Reading with expression is really important for story times with your child. When you read with expression you are sending the message that reading is fun and you are much more likely to capture the interest of your child in the story. But, even more than that, you are modeling excellent reading fluency for your child so that they can hear how good storytelling and reading should sound.
Choose books that are relevant.
Just as you loose interest in books that aren’t relevant in either topic or reading level, preschoolers can loose interest in books that aren’t relevant. Choose books that are at their age level and cover topics and themes that appeal to them. They are so curious and books are a great way to feed that curiosity and teach them so many wonderful new things.
If you’re looking for specific book suggestions for this age then check out THIS POST HERE for book recommendations.
If you’re looking for tips for choosing books for this age then check out THIS POST HERE.
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Dona says
I have used your ideas to teach an “Early childhood Education ” class at a tech center where I volunteer. thank you>