Early Childhood Education Literature and Storytelling with Young Children

Why is Literature Important to Early Childhood Education  Literature is an essential component in early childhood environments.  Stories are the core of activities that encourage development of language, reading, writing, listening skills, creative thinking and concept formation.  A literate rich environment exposes children to letters, sounds, symbols and meanings, which help develop skills and building blocks toward reading and writing.

Choosing Books Are the pictures colorful, interesting, and easy to understand? Will the story appeal to the child’s interests? Does the story include action that will hold the children’s attention? Will the child understand most of the words? Does the book use descriptive language that brings the book to life? For younger children, is the story short enough to read in one sitting?

How to Properly Read a Story Practice reading the book beforehand Hold the book so it is facing toward the children (they will want to follow along with the pictures) Keep some eye contact with the children between pages, this will help keep them more engaged Let the children participate in the story and you as the reader stay interacted with the children by: asking them questions throughout it, ask them to predict what will happen next or let them point at pages and comment. Attempt to do different voices for different characters, so they know who is speaking. Incorporate an interactive element relating to the story to work on before or after the story. Last and most important HAVE FUN!!!!!

Different Story Techniques Felt board story Self written story (create a story from pictures or using the theme of the week, etc.) Finger Plays / Puppetry / Dioramas / Dress up / Music Regular Story / Book add: enthusiasm, character voices, open-ended questions, let children finish the ending by writing or drawing a picture, etc.