By Anna Wallis
Story-time in preschool is treasure trove of wonderful experiences for teachers, parents and children alike. It is the perfect opportunity to share enjoyment of books and enthusiasm for reading. Interacting with books enhances preschoolers’ development and helps them gain skills for later success in reading.
Preschool Story-time Boosts Children’s Natural Motivation to Learn
The years from age 3 through to age 6 are an awesome phase of growth and learning. As three-year-olds, four-year-olds and five-year-olds preschoolers are always gaining new skills.
The patterns of learning children acquire throughout the preschool years prepare them for the next exciting step – starting school and learning to how to read.
Preschoolers are active learners. Story-time helps preschoolers experience literacy in action.
Story-time Opens up New Worlds
Preschool-aged children are naturally curious and adventurous. They love to ask a lot of questions about anything and everything. Their most frequently asked questions begin with “Why?”, “How?” and “When?”
Read-aloud time in preschool is a wonderful way to stretch preschoolers’ vivid imaginations, search for all the answers, open up new worlds and, to:
- Travel to distant lands
- Explore the moon and the stars
- Enjoy adventures under the oceans
- Save the world as superhero guys and girls
- Take care of our environment
- Make friends and be a good friend
Read-aloud Time Builds Language Skills
Listening to stories helps preschoolers discover interesting new words to describe people, animals, colours, shapes, numbers, emotions, actions and directions.
All the elements of story-time:
- Reading aloud new children’s stories and information books
- Rereading of favorite old stories
- Engaging children in lively discussions
- Encouraging children to join in, finish off our sentences and retell the story
Help preschoolers connect words to meaning, extend vocabulary, enrich speech and language development.
Ability to speak well to express thoughts and ideas using rich vocabulary enhance the process of reading. Language underpins all literacy achievements. It also helps children:
- Discover how books work
- Deepen comprehension skills
- Develop early literacy skills
Making the Most of Story Time in Preschool
Read-aloud time in preschool is all about enjoyment and creating happy memories while reading stories that appeal to children:
- Hold your book facing the children
- Move your finger under the words to show the link between the text and what we are reading
- Pause to make eye contact to interact with the children
- Point to the illustrations and talk about the pictures
- Ask children what they think will happen next
- Ask children’s advice about the kind of voices we should use if we want to sound like one of the characters for example: Papa Bear, or Mama Bear or Baby Bear.
If children seem restless shorten the story and change activity. Some children may take longer to fall in love with reading. Rest assured that enjoyment is catching so keep on sharing books even if it is for a moment or two. Before you know it your busy preschoolers will be nagging you to read more.
There is always a perfect time for story-time.
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