Reading storybooks with young children is one of the most important things adults can do to support early language and literacy skills. What other fun, engaging interaction can teach children so many critical concepts - including print awareness, vocabulary, grammar, sentence structure, and social and conversational skills - all at once? Making the most of shared reading is the goal of this practical guide, ideal for early childhood educators in preschool, Head Start, and child care programs. Step-by-step strategies help educators engage, respond to, and teach young children during storybook reading - information they can share with parents to continue the learning at home. Readers will discover how to: create a fun and enriching reading atmosphere; promote children's print awareness and phonological awareness; choose appropriate books and read with expression; work with children who have developmental delays and behavior challenges; motivate reluctant readers; work effectively with individual children and small groups; support parents in developing their children's language and literacy development; all of the suggested strategies can be adapted for use with any storybook, and many are vividly illustrated with sample scripts. And with the helpful appendices, teachers will have short summaries of strategies for easy reference, a ""reading log"" to give to parents, answers to parents' frequently asked questions about reading at home, and a glossary of key terms. Filled with ready-to-use ideas, this guidebook has everything early childhood educators need to turn the fun of shared reading into a powerful learning experience.
Helen K. Ezell is a speech-language pathologist in the Department of Instruction and Learning at the University of Pittsburgh. She specializes in the study of children's early language development and emergent literacy acquisition. Her research has involved a range of topics, including vocabulary development, print awareness, and reading comprehension. She has published extensively in professional journals and has authored two other books — Guide to Success in Doctoral Study and Faculty Work (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, 2002) and The Syntax Handbook (co-authored with Laura Justice, Thinking Publications, 2002). Dr. Ezell served as Director of Communication Development for 8 years at Western Center, a Pennsylvania residential facility for individuals with mental retardation, and as Associate Research Scientist for 5 Years with Allegheny-Singer Research Institute before joining the faculty at Ohio University. She currently holds a research position at the University of Pittsburgh with the Pennsylvania Reading First External Evaluation Project.
Laura M. Justice is Assistant Professor of Reading and Communication Disorders at the University of Virginia's Curry School of Education, Charlottesville. She directs the Preschool Language and Literacy Lab at the University of Virginia, which conducts basic and applied research on preschool literacy and language development, language disorders, parent-implemented early childhood language and literacy interventions, and classroom-based language and literacy programs for at-risk preschoolers. Dr. Justice's cross-disciplinary research has received awards from the International Reading Association (2001 Distinguished Finalist, Dissertation of the Year), the Council for Exceptional Children (2003 Early Career Award, Division for Research), and the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (2004 Editor's Award, American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology). She recieved her doctorate in speech and hearing sciences from Ohio University under the mentorship of Dr. Ezell.
