building preschool children's language & literacy one storybook at a time

8/10/2019 Building Preschool Children's Language & Literacy One Storybook at a Time

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26The Reading Teacher, 63 (1), pp. 2639 2009 International Reading AssociationDOI:10.1598/RT.63.1.3 ISSN: 0034-0561 print / 1936-2714 online

Building Preschool ChildrensLanguage and Literacy

One Storybook at a TimeKatherine A. Beauchat, Katrin L. Blamey, Sharon Walpole

P reschool classrooms are dynamic and chal-lenging places facilitated by a group of teach-ers and teaching assistants who are different inmany ways from their elementary school peers. Thecall for efforts in prevention and early intervention inpreschool must be answered with the needs of thatworkforce in mind. In this article, we share a practi-cal tool to help teachers maximize the language andliteracy benefits of shared storybook reading throughplanning and reflection. We begin by describing theaudience we are targeting. Next we define sharedstorybook reading. We share our strategy for de-signing the tool. And finally we share the tool itself,along with some of the research that guided us, andhow to use the tool for planning and reflecting oninstruction.

The Reality of PreschoolPreschool teachers are charged with multiple re-sponsibilities. Early childhood settings serve childrenwho are still developing basic social and emotionalstrategies, fine and gross motor skills, and cognitiveunderstandings. Preschool teachers teach strategiesfor health and personal hygiene. They introduce

children to new expectations about interactions withpeers and with adults. These multiple duties aside,preschool teachers must consciously develop orallanguage and emergent literacy skills. The literacy

and language attainments children have at the star tof kindergarten set the stage for their short- and long-term reading success (Adams, 1990).

Many preschool teachers develop their craft overtime, but this is the exception rather than the rule. Thecomplexity of the job, coupled with the historicallylow wages offered to the preschool teacher, producehigh rates of turnover in preschool centers. At times,preschools serve as temporary training grounds forteachers who are in the process of earning elementaryschool credentials. For other teachers, the preschoolsetting proves too taxing and they move out of educa-tion. Providing a professional incentive system, livablewages, and opportunities for career building mighttempt some teachers to remain in preschool; provid-ing a professional support system to build confidenceand competence might encourage others to remain.A systematic effort to curb the high staff turnover inpreschool settings is a priority if preschools across thecountry are to realize their potential (Landry, Swank,Smith, Assel, & Gunnewig, 2006; Ryan & Ackerman,2004). In the meantime, though, we are committed tosharing lessons from research that current preschool

teachers can use right away.There is mounting evidence that such initiatives

can work. Preschool teachers who are provided withhigh-quality professional development are more likelyto have students prepared for success in kindergarten(e.g., Dickinson & Caswell, 2007). The challenge is forthe literacy research community and the early child-hood research community to work together to designprofessional development for preschool teachers

Preschool educators often come totheir classrooms without formal trainingin language and literacy pedagogy.

The professional development toolfeatured here can help facilitate theliteracy success of their studentsthrough shared storybook reading.


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Building Preschool Childrens Language and Literacy One Storybook at a Time

specifically. For most, this work must be entirely jobembedded; preschool teachers rarely have any paidplanning time. For these reasons, we are sharing apractical tool for focusing attention on language andliteracy during shared storybook reading.

Shared Storybook Reading Shared storybook reading is a broad term, includingall instances when an adult reads to a child or chil-dren, pausing to engage children in discussion aboutthe text (Holdaway, 1979). That discussion includesitems inside the textthe story and pictures andwords and lettersand outside the textresponsesand connections to experience. Preschool teacherscan engage in shared storybook reading when theyread to groups from big books or from childrens lit-erature trade books.

Shared storybook reading is relaxed and partici-patory, but it is not tr ivial. Opportunities to participatein shared storybook reading during the preschool years have been associated with gains in childrensemergent literacy and future reading development(Bus, Van IJzendoorn, & Pelligrini, 1995; Wells, 1985).We choose shared storybook reading as a vehicle forimproving language and literacy instruction becauseit represents a common, natural, and highly valuedearly literacy experience rather than an addition tothe typical preschool day.

A shared storybook reading exper ience beginswith selection of any text that will be engaging tochildren. It continues with teachers realizing thespecial potential of that text for building language orliteracy. Although shared reading can target multipleemergent literacy skills, a single shared reading ex-perience should not target every emergent languageand literacy skill. Table 1 presents the areas of focusthat we will consider.

We propose that teachers address all of theseareas over time. That way they can free themselvesto maximize the potential of a par ticular text on aparticular day to serve as a vehicle for language andliteracy for a particular group of preschoolers. Wethink that we can link research and practice to maketheir choices more concrete.

Our Research StrategyWe employed a research strategy that is part of a larg-er system called Concerns-Based Adoption Model

(CBAM). In this model, researchers assume that as anew practice is introduced, individuals tend to movefrom a focus on how the new practice will affectthem to how they will enact it to whether it is work-ing. Innovation Configuration (IC) is an observationtool that was designed in concert with CBAM work

(Hall, George, & Rutherford, 1977; Hord, Rutherford,Huling-Austin, & Hall, 1987). It assumes that individu-als implement any innovation in different ways andwith varying levels of quality. The IC identifies theessential components of the practice and providesconcrete examples from ideal implementation toleast effective (Hord, 1986; Roy & Hord, 2004). Thistool resonated with us because we expect that in aninstructional environment as rich as shared story-book reading, preschool teachers will employ a widerange of practices.

Our IC was constructed systematically (Beauchat,2009). We located research studies where storybookreading was used to bolster one or more early lan-guage or literacy skills. We identified specific prac-tices associated with improved achievement. Nextwe prepared a concrete model of teacher talk duringa shared storybook reading to illustrate each of thosepractices. We tested our model against actual sharedreading practices in 15 different classrooms, cap-tured on video. We organized teachers real-world ex-amples from least like to most like our model. Whenthe video analysis was completed, we conducted a

reliability check to see whether two raters could viewone shared storybook event and apply the IC simi-larly. We achieved inter-rater reliability of 0.94.

Shared Story Book ReadingInnovation ConfigurationHere we share each section of our IC along with aselection of the research that informed it. For those

Table 1Potential Language and Literacy Targets for SharedStorybook Reading

n Oral language developmentn Vocabulary developmentn Comprehension developmentn Phonological awarenessn Print awareness


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28 The Reading Teacher Vol. 63, No. 1 September 2009

questions they ask should include a range of think-ing tasks. Whitehurst, Epstein, et al. (1994) suggestedCROWD as an acronym for that range. Completion(C) questions, ask children to fill in a one-word an-swer to a question taken directly from the text (e.g.,The cat was ____). Recall (R) questions ask children

to remember a sequence of events from the textin order (e.g., First, the dog ate an apple. What didthe dog eat second? Third? Last?). Open-ended (O)questions have no right or wrong answer but insteadask children to make comments or predictions (e.g.,What do you think the character will do next?). Wh-prompts (W) use the traditional who, what, when,where question starters and normally require onlyone- or two-word answers (e.g., What kind of tool isthis?). Finally, distancing (D) questions ask childrento make connections between their lives and thetext (e.g., Have you ever been as hungry as the bear?What did you do?).

Our IC targets a range of comprehension ques-tions, and it may be useful for teachers to think abouta before, during, and after structure. Before reading,the teacher may ask children to predict what theythink the story will be about or model predicting us-ing the picture on the front cover as a clue. Duringreading, the teacher can pose numerous open-endedquestions, questions connecting the text to the read-ers, and questions connecting the text to other texts.The teacher can show children how to answer ques-

tions by thinking-aloud: I wonder why Bobby needsa chair? He might need a chair because... or poseopen-ended questions to the children, such as Whydoes Bobby bear need a chair for his table?

After reading, the teacher can ask questions thatcause the children to reflect on or connect to thestory that they just heard. A teacher might ask, Can you tell me something you remember? Or the teach-er can ask the children to connect the story to theirown lives, What are some things that you would liketo build? Who would need to help you? Why? By in-cluding a range of questions before, during, and afterreading, the teacher can use each shared storybookto develop childrens general comprehension.

Vocabulary InstructionThe vocabulary instruction section of the IC is pre-sented in Figure 3. During shared storybook read-ing, teachers build childrens vocabulary when theyteach word meanings explicitly. Teachers can easily

who would like to use the IC, an uninterrupted onlineversion is available at dx.doi.org/10.1598/RT.63.1.3.We used a particular storybook, Tabby Tigers Saw , toillustrate teacher language. This Big Book is designedfor shared reading (Wright Group/McGraw-Hill, 2001).It features Tabby Tiger, a recurring character in a se-

ries of books, who uses her expertise as a carpenterto make several objects for her neighbors.

Oral Language Development The oral language section of the IC is presented inFigure 1. During shared storybook reading, teachersdevelop childrens language when they reflect uponand seize oral language development opportunitiesbefore, during, and after reading. The teacher has acaptive audience and a context to model rich anddescriptive language (e.g., Whitehurst, Arnold, et al.,

1994). For example, you might hear a teacher add acomment like I notice that Tabby Tiger has a lot oftools in her toolbag and a lot of materials in her worktruck. I think that she is quite prepared to do somework today. Hearing sophisticated comments pro-vides children models for their own language. Surely,this is the goal of oral language development.

Teachers can also ask open-ended questionsthat allow for multiple responses and connections tostory content (e.g., Neuman, Copple, & Bredekamp,2000) and seize opportunities to repeat childrensresponses by building upon them with additionalrich language (e.g., Whitehurst, Arnold, et al., 1994;Whitehurst et al., 1988). Teachers can use follow-upquestions as a means to extend oral language whenchildren offer only a one- or two-word response to aprompt or question (e.g., Hargrave & Snchal, 2000).For example, a teacher could encourage a child bysaying, Yes, youre right. Bertie Bear does need adoor. Why do you think he might need a door to hiscottage? Teachers can also play the role of activelistener to engage children in deeper and r icher con-versation. The long-term goal of this type of language

interaction is for children to learn to expand their ex-planations (Wasik, Bond, & Hindman, 2006).

Comprehension Development The comprehension development section of the IC ispresented in Figure 2. Teachers target comprehensionwhen they ask children questions before, during, andafter reading. These questions surely develop oral lan-guage, but that language is about text meaning. The


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Figure 1Oral Language Development IC Components

Component: Rich Language Modeled Teacher interspersesdescriptive languagewhile reading andexplaining storycontent.

Teacher uses richlanguage, butchildren do notdiscuss the story.

Teacher uses richlanguage, but it isnot purposeful orrelated to the story.

Teacher reads thewords in the storyand does not add anylanguage (i.e., readsonly the words).

Component: Open-Ended Questions

Teacher models orposes questionsthat include use ofwhy, how, or other

open-endedquestions throughthe majority of thereading.

Teacher posesquestions thatelicit a one- ortwo-word

response.

Teacher posesquestions thatrequire childrento fill in the

blank.

Teacher posesclosedquestionsduring the

entire story.

Teacher posesno questionsduring thereading of the

story (i.e., readsonly the words).

Component: Language Repetition and Expansion Teacher repeats a childsresponse and expands uponthat response with richlanguage.

Teacher repeats childsresponse but does not providean expansion.

Teacher does not repeatchilds response nor does theteacher expand upon thatresponse.

Component: Language Follow-Up Prompts

After initial question, teacherprompts children to increasethe sophistication of theirdescription of the story.

After initial question, teacherposes a follow-up question,but it does not allow for fullexplanation of the story.

After initial question, teacherposes no follow-up questionsor prompts to increase childsdescription of the story.

Component: Role of Listener

Teacher listens to childrenscomments and uses them toengage children inconversation surrounding thestory.

Teacher listens to childrenscomments but does not usethem to engage children inconversation.

Teacher does not use groupcomments to engage childrenin conversation.

Component: Praise and Encouragement Teacher provides specificpraise and encouragement forchildrens successes,participation, approximations,etc.

Teacher provides praise that isnot specific to childrenssuccesses, participation,approximations, etc.

Teacher does not providespecific praise andencouragement for childrenssuccesses, participation,approximations, etc.

Ideal Some progress made Least effective


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Figure 2Comprehension Development IC Components

Component: Prediction Questions Teacher models or posesquestions that elicit children topredict what a story may beabout, what might happennext, or how the story mightend.

Teacher asks predictionquestions during reading butdoes not use responses toengage children in the story.

Teacher neither models norelicits prediction questionsduring the shared readingsession.

Component: Open-Ended Questions

Teacher modelsor posesquestions thatinclude use ofwhy, how, orother open-ended questionsthrough themajority of thereading.

Teacher posesquestions thatelicit a one- ortwo-wordresponse.

Teacher posesquestions thatrequire childrento fill in theblank.

Teacher posesclosed questionsduring theentire story.

Teacher posesno questionsduring thereading of thestory (i.e., readsonly the words).

Component: Text-to-Self Connection Questions

Teacher models or posesquestions that elicit children tomake text-to-self connectionsto characters, setting, or storyevents.

Teacher poses generaltext-to-self connectionquestions but does not havestudents explain personalconnection.

Teacher neither models norposes text-to-self connectionquestions during the sharedreading.

Component: Text-to-Text Connection Questions

Teacher models or posesquestions that elicitchildren to makeconnections to other textsthat they have read.

Teacher acknowledgessimilarities to another story butdoes not have students explain.

Teacher neither models norposes questions that elicitchildren to make connections toother texts that they have read.

Component: Reflection and Recall Questions

Teacher modelsor posesquestions at theend of the storythat elicitedchildren toreflect,summarize, orconnect to thestory just read.

Teacher posesreflectionquestions thatelicit a one- ortwo-wordresponse.

Teacherprovides asummary of thestory but doesnot elicitchildren toexplain, reflect,or retell.

Teacher endsreading byhaving studentsidentify pictureson back coveras a means ofending theshared readingsession.

Teacher neithermodels norposes reflectionquestions afterreading.



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Figure 3Specific Word Vocabulary Instruction IC Components

Component: Specific Vocabulary Identification (during) Teacher asks questions duringreading that request childrento label or point to pictures ofspecific words.

Teacher labels the pictures ofspecific words but does nothave children label.

Teacher does not drawattention or request childrento label specific wordsrepresented in illustrations.

Component: Specific Vocabulary Infused Into Story (during)

Teacher infusesspecific wordexplanations as theyoccur during thestory.

Teacher drawsattention to specificwords but does notdefine or provide aclear explanation.

Teacher responds tostudent interests butdoes not highlightany specific words.Specific words werenot planned to bediscussed.

Teacher does notdraw attention towords during theshared reading.

Component: Specific Vocabulary Introduction (before/after)

Teacher introducesspecific vocabularyusing picture cards orprops and posesquestions about theword and encourageschildren to commenton the word.

Teacher introduceseach specific word ona card and childrenname each word.

Teacher displays eachspecific word on acard and identifieseach card.

Teacher does notdraw attention to anyspecific words oncards or props.

Component: Specific Vocabulary Repeated (before/after) Teacher asks children torepeat the specific words afterthe teacher has said them toestablish a phonologicalrepresentation.

Teacher asks children torepeat some of the specificwords after the teacher hassaid them.

Teacher does not ask childrento repeat the word afterhearing the word.

Component: Specific Vocabulary in Child-Friendly Terms (before/after)

Teacher explains allspecific wordmeanings in child-friendly terms.

Teacher explainssome of the specificword meanings inchild-friendly terms.

Teacher providesexplanation but it isnot child friendly.

Teacher provides nodefinitions of specificwords.

Component: Specific Vocabulary Contextualized (before/after)

Teacher explains meaning ofspecific words as they wereused in or related to the story.

Teacher explains the meaningof some of the specific wordsas they were used in or relatedto the story.

Teacher does not explainmeaning of specific words asthey were used in the story.


(continued)


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Figure 3 (continued)Specific Word Vocabulary Instruction IC Components

Component: Specific Vocabulary in Other Contexts (before/after) Teacher provides examples ofeach of the specific wordsoutside of the story context.

Teacher provides examples ofsome of the specific wordsoutside of the story context.

Teacher does not provideexamples of specific wordsoutside of story context.

Component: Specific Vocabulary Extended (before/after)

Teacher encourages studentsto construct their ownexamples or make judgmentsabout the specific words.

Teacher asks childrenquestions about the specificwords but does not havechildren explain word orexperiences.

Teacher does not encouragechildren to constructexamples or make judgmentsabout the words.


weave vocabulary instruction into shared reading.One way is to draw students attention to target wordsby requesting that they either point to or label pic-tures (e.g., Wasik & Bond, 2001). A teacher may pauseand ask, Can you point to the magnifying glass?Building upon the labeling or pointing, teachers canthen provide a meaning of that specific word (e.g.,Juel, Biancarosa, Coker, & Deffes, 2003) saying, I see

that he is using a magnifying glass to look at the in-sect. A magnifying glass makes small things bigger sothat we can see them better.

Teachers can engage students in vocabularyinstruction directly before or after the shared read-ing event. The teacher might introduce a specificword using picture cards or props and then promptstudents to discuss their understandings (Wasik &Bond, 2001). After introducing the word, the teachercan guide the children to say the word to establisha phonological representation (Beck, McKeown, &Kucan, 2002). This procedure helps children to root

that word in memory.In the next step, the teacher can provide a child-

friendly definition. A child-friendly definition useslanguage that children can easily understand (e.g.,Beck & McKeown, 2007). A teacher might say, Safetygoggles are a special kind of glasses we wear to pro-tect our eyes, to keep them safe when we are usingtools. Lastly, the teacher can provide a definition ofthe word as it was used in the story and then real-

world examples of how that word could be usedoutside of the story (e.g., Beck & McKeown, 2007).Teachers can provide their own examples and thenprompt children to add additional examples. Theseprocedures help children to see that words from in-side the story can live outside it.

Phonological Awareness The phonological awareness section of the IC is pre-sented in Figure 4. Phonological awareness is theability to attend to the sound structure of spoken lan-guage. Research indicates a sequence of phonologi-cal awareness skills from easiest (segmenting andblending the parts of compound words) to hardest(segmenting and blending the individual phonemesin words); however, research also stresses the impor-tance of developing childrens skills in these areassimultaneously (Lonigan, 2008). Preschoolers whoare given training in phonological awareness have

accelerated reading acquisition (Adams, 1990), butwe target only the simplest tasks. These include workwith rhyme, syllables, and initial sounds.

The preschool teacher can target childrens pho-nological awareness during and after reading. Duringreading, the teacher may draw childrens attentionto rhyming words in the text, What do you noticeabout the words lunch and munch ? or Who cantell me two words that rhyme in the sentence I just


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Figure 4Phonological Awareness IC Components

Component: Rhyme Identification Rhyming Teacher draws attention to therhyming words and asksstudents what they noticeabout the words or has themidentify a set of rhyming words

just read.

Teacher provides the rhymingwords and asks students whatthey are called.

Teacher reads a rhymingpoem or story but draws noattention to any rhymingwords.

Component: Rhyme Completion Rhyming

Teacher leaves off the lastword of a sentence thatrequires children to fill in apossible rhyming word anddiscusses the pair of rhymingwords.

Teacher leaves off the lastword of a sentence thatrequires children to fill in apossible rhyming word.

Teacher does not provideopportunity for children tocomplete a rhyme.

Component: Rhyme Production Rhyming

Teacher models or elicitschildren to produce rhymingwords and extends by writingthem on a chart.

Teacher models or elicitschildren to produce rhymingwords but does not write themon a chart.

Teacher does not provideopportunity for children toproduce rhyming words.

Component: Counting Words Word and Syllable Awareness Teacher models or elicitschildren to clap, tap, or snapwords in a sentence and askshow many words they heard.

Teacher models or elicitschildren to clap, tap, or snapwords.

Teacher does not model norelicit children to clap, tap, orsnap words in a sentence.

Component: Segmenting Syllables Word and Syllable Awareness

Teacher models or elicitschildren to segment thesyllables in a word and countthem.

Teacher models or elicitschildren to segment thesyllables in a word.

Teacher does not model orelicit children to segment thesyllables in a word.

Component: Blending Syllables Word and Syllable Awareness

Teacher models or elicits children to blend thesegmented syllables of a word.

Teacher does not model or elicit children toblend the segmented syllables of a word.

Component: Alliteration/Initial Sound Identification Sound Awareness Teacher focuses on beginningsounds by drawing attentionto words that have the samebeginning sounds.

Teacher says words with thesame initial sound but doesnot draw attention to sounds.

Teacher does not attend toopportunities to focusattention on beginningsounds.



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conventions each day. For example, the teacher coulddesignate Mondays for being explicit about how tohold a book and identifying the front cover and titlepage, Tuesdays for discussing the role of author andillustrator, Wednesdays for counting the number ofwords in the title and locating where to begin read-

ing, Thursdays for demonstrating return sweep, andFridays for counting the words in a sentence and let-ters in words. Following this schedule, the teacherfocuses on each convention in the course of a week,and across several weeks children benefit from re-peated exposures to the same skills.

In addition, the teacher can begin the school yearmostly modeling the behaviors he or she is teach-ing and as children begin to grasp the concepts theteacher can elicit childrens participation. For ex-ample, a teacher at the beginning of the year maymodel, When I read, I start here and then I movethis way (sliding finger from left to right), and thenprogress to eliciting childrens participation, Whichway do I read?

Concept of Letter and Word The concept of letter/word section of the IC is present-ed in Figure 6. Concept of letter is not the same thingas knowing the alphabet. Rather, it is the more rudi-mentary understanding that the individual marks thatare used in a book are called letters. Likewise, con-cept of word is not the ability to read a word. Rather, itis the understanding that letters are used to representwords and that words are units of meaning. Theseconcepts are fairly simple to teach during shared sto-rybook reading, and they are the bedrock to early un-derstandings (Morris, Bloodgood, & Perney, 2003).

During shared storybook reading, teachers de-velop concept of letter and concept of word whenthey tell children that they are tracking print: While Iread, I am putting my finger under each of the wordsI am saying. I just read the word bear . Now I am goingto touch each of the letters in that word. Count the

letters with me. As with concepts of print, conceptsof word and letter can evolve from teacher modelingto student participation as children become comfort-able with the terms.

Alphabet Knowledge The alphabet knowledge section of the IC is presentedin Figure 7. During shared storybook reading, teach-ers develop alphabet knowledge when they target

read? While reading the teacher can leave off thelast word of a sentence that requires children to fill ina possible rhyming word and then discuss the pair ofrhyming words. The discussion may sound like this:

Teacher: She wants to run outside and play on thisbright and beautiful sunny ______.

Children: Day.

Teacher: Yes, you helped me complete the sentencewith a rhyming word. Our rhyming wordsare play and day .

After reading a text that uses rhyme, a teachermay engage children in producing new rhymes: Iam thinking about words that rhyme with run . Theywould have the same ending sound. Lets see...run...fun...run...sun, and then encourage children to joinin: Can you think of any words that might rhymewith run? Similarly, the teacher can work with words,syllables, and initial sounds during or after reading.For example, a teacher can work at the word levelby asking children to clap the number of words in asentence, Lets clap the words in the sentence. Bertie

Boar needs a door . How many words did we hear?How many times did we clap? This type of embed-ded word play (rather than out-of-context phonologi-cal awareness exercises) can become a natural partof shared storybook reading.

Book and Print Conventions The book conventions section of the IC is presentedin Figure 5. During shared storybook reading, teach-ers develop book conventions when they teach theforms, features, and functions of print (Lonigan &Whitehurst, 1998). The storybook reading format com-plements instruction in concepts of print, providing anatural platform for modeling behaviors such as howto hold a book, turning pages from left to right, iden-tifying a title, and differentiating between words andpictures (International Reading Association [IRA]

& National Association for the Education of YoungChildren [NAEYC], 1998). Knowledge of book andprint concepts may seem trivial; however, researchindicates the importance of book and print aware-ness for later reading success (National Center forFamily Literacy, 2007; Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998).

To target childrens development of book andprint conventions, the preschool teacher couldplan a repeating schedule for focusing on several


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Figure 5Book and Print Awareness IC Components

Component: Front of Book Teacher models or invitesstudents to identify front ofbook and encourages entiregroup to name the part of thebook.

Teacher models or invitesstudents to identify the frontof the book but does notencourage group to label thepart of the book.

Teacher neither models norinvites students to identify thefront of the book.

Component: Back of Book Teacher models or invitesstudents to identify back ofbook and encourages entiregroup to name the part of thebook.

Teacher models or invitesstudents to identify the backof the book but does notencourage group to label thepart of the book.

Teacher neither models norinvites students to identify theback of a book.

Component: Title of Book

Teacher models orinvites students topoint to the title ofbook.

Teacher invites astudent to find thetitle. The studentpoints, but theteacher does notpoint to the title andread it for the class orencourage class torepeat the title.

Teacher reads andpoints to the title ofthe book but doesnot say that it is thetitle.

Teacher reads titlebut does not point towords in the title as itwas read.

Component: Title Page

Teacher models or invitesstudents to point to or namethe title page.

Teacher discusses content onthe title page (i.e. the pictures)but does not call it the titlepage.

Teacher does not drawattention to title page.

Component: Role of the Author

Teacher models or invitesstudents to discuss the role ofthe author.

Teacher identifies a specificperson as an author but doesnot discuss the role of anauthor.

Teacher does not drawattention to the role of theauthor or name the author ofthe book.

Component: Role of the Illustrator/Photographer

Teacher models or invitesstudents to discuss the role ofthe illustrator.

Teacher identifies theillustrators name but does notdiscuss the role of an illustrator.

Teacher does not model orinvite students to discuss therole of the illustrator.

Component: Top-to-Bottom Progression

Teacher models and/or invitesstudents to demonstratetop-to-bottom progression.

Teacher tracks print, but doesnot discuss the process.

Teacher does not track printduring shared reading.


(continued)


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Figure 5 (continued)Book and Print Awareness IC Components

Component: Left-to-Right Progression Teacher models and/or invitesstudents to demonstrateleft-to-right progression.

Teacher tracks print but doesnot discuss the process.


Component: Return Sweep

Teacher models and/or invitesstudents to demonstratereturn sweep.

Teacher performs return sweepduring shared reading butdoes not discuss the process.



Figure 6Concept of Letter/Word IC Components

Component: Teacher Tracks Print Teacher tracks print whilereading shared storybook (i.e.,teacher points to each word as

he or she reads).

Teacher tracks print partiallyduring shared reading (i.e.,not during the entire reading).


Component: Students Track Print

Teacher invites children totrack print on a page while theteacher reads.

Teacher invites all children tochant memorized textsegment while he or shepoints to the words.

Teacher does not invitechildren to track print on apage while reading.

Component: Count Words

Teacher models or invitesstudents to count words on atitle or page.

Teacher counts the words inthe title or sentence or invitesa child to count the words butdoes not encourage studentsto count along or repeat.

Teacher does not model orinvite students to count wordsin title or page.

Component: Count Letters in a Word Teacher models or invitesstudents to count the letters ina word.

Teacher counts the letters in aword or invites a child tocount the letters but does notencourage students to countalong or repeat.

Teacher does not model orinvite students to count theletters in a word.



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Figure 7Alphabet Knowledge IC Components

Component: Identify Any Letter Teacher models or invitesstudents to name any letter ona page or chart.

Teacher points to and names aletter (or letters) but does nothave students name the letteror letters.

Teacher does not model orinvite students to name anyletter on a page or chart.

Component: Identify Specific Letter/Letters

Teacher models or invitesstudents to name a specificletter/letters on a page orchart.

Teacher points to and namesspecific letter/letters, but doesnot have students name theletter or letters.

Teacher does not model orinvite students to name aspecific letter/letters on apage or chart.

Component: Identify a Letter in Childs Own Name Teacher models or invites students to name aletter on a page or chart that contains a letter intheir own names.

Teacher does not model or invite students toname a letter on a page or chart that contains aletter in their own names.

Component: SoundSymbol Correspondence

Teacher makes adirect connection toa letter and thesound that it makesby showing the letter,having the studentsname the letter andsound, and byproviding words thatbegin with thatsound.

Teacher providesletter example andasks students toname and makesound only.

Teacher providesexamples of wordsthat begin with soundbut does not providethe letterrepresentation.

Teacher did not drawattention to anylettersoundcorrespondencessurrounding sharedreading.


specific letters of the alphabet before, during, or aftershared storybook reading. Alphabet recognition isone of the major early literacy skills that are predictiveof childrens later reading development (IRA/NAEYC,

1998; National Center for Family Literacy, 2007).Teachers can model or invite children to identify

any letter or letters on a page, a specific letter or let-ters on a page, or even a identify a letter in a childsname (IRA/NAEYC, 1998; Morris et al., 2003; NationalCenter for Family Literacy, 2007). A teacher mightpause on a page and say, Can you find the letter B on this page? or ask, Can you name a letter on thispage that is also a letter in your name?

Putting It All TogetherUsing the IC to Plan a SharedStorybook ReadingThe shared reading IC serves as a focused planningtool. A teacher can use the IC as a method of planninga shared reading and aligning the IC components to aspecific Big Book or storybook. After selecting a BigBook, for example, Tabby Tigers Saw , a teacher canuse the IC planning chart (see Figure 8) to select thecomponents to target. For example, the teacher maychoose to focus on comprehension development,concept of letter/word, and phonological awareness.


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acknowledge the responsibilities preschool teachershave. By sharing a practical tool that can be used inmultiple ways to plan and reflect on shared story-

book reading, it is our hope that preschool teachersfeel supported in their efforts to provide high-qualityoral language and literacy instruction.

ReferencesAdams, M.J. (1990). Learning to read: Thinking and learning about

print . Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Beauchat, K. (2009). Making the most of shared reading in pre -

school . Disser tation Abstracts InternationalA , 69(09) (UMI No3325480).

Beck, I.J., & McKeown, M.G. (2007). Increasing young low-income childrens oral vocabulary repertoires through richand focused instruction. The Elementary School Journal ,

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Bus, A.G., van IJzendoorn, M.H., & Pelligrini, A.D. (1995). Jointbook reading makes for success in learning to read: A meta-analysis on intergenerational transmission of literacy. Reviewof Educational Research , 65 (1), 121.

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The IC can then be scaffolded for planning a sharedreading that is purposeful and focused.

Using the IC to Reflect on a SharedStorybook ReadingThe shared reading IC also serves as a means of fo-cused reflection. It provides a powerful context for ateacher to engage in reflective practice; this is an es-sential component of teacher change. After a teacherhas used the IC to plan a shared reading, it can beused to reflect on that shared reading. In a sense, theIC is a strategy that teachers can use for reflectionbefore, during, and after reading (see Table 2).

One way for a teacher to engage in self-reflection

is to videotape a shared reading. The teacher canthen watch the shared reading session and considerhis or her position on its continuum of practice andplan for the very next session.

Preschool teachers are charged with the re-sponsibility to introduce children to classrooms. We

Figure 8Shared Reading IC Planning

This shared storybook reading is ideal to develop:

Oral language development Book and print conventions

Comprehension development Concept of letter or word

Specific word instruction Alphabet knowledge

Phonological awareness

Table 2Using the IC Before, During, and After Reading

Before Reading: Plan!n Use IC planning chart to target componentsn Use IC to plan shared reading

During Reading: Target!n Target the identified components while conducting

shared reading

After Reading: Reflect!n Use the IC to chart current implementationn Use the IC to reflect and plan for next session


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Whitehurst, G.J., Epstein, J.N., Angell, A.L., Payne, A.C., Crone,D.A., & Fischel, J.E. (1994). Outcomes of an emergent literacyintervention in Head Start. Journal of Educational Psychology ,86(4), 542555. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.86.4.542

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building preschool children's language & literacy one storybook at a time

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