Explore the desires of each child so that they gain the desire to explore.
A literature-based curriculum "promotes the development of knowledge and understanding, processes and skills, as well as the dispositions to use and apply skills and to go on learning" (Bredekamp and Copple, 1997, 20). Through books, children can explore all aspects of the world.
-Science
-Social Studies
-History
-Geography and the Environment
-Various Art Forms
-Math concepts
-Multicultural
-Self-Analysis and Emotions
These are just a few of the topics of interest that a child can learn more about through reading.
In order to foster such interests, it is important to build upon prior knowledge and experiences.
For ever topic of interest there is an equal number of ways (genres) to present that text. Literature comes in the form of poetry,songs, fiction, non-fiction, interactive, and many other books.
It is important to find out which genre and topic adheres the needs and desires of each specific child. If we want our children to want to read, then we must provide them with desirable material!
Although some of these needs and desires are innate are come from sources outside of the classroom, educators and parents can deepen these desires by strategically reading a book with purpose.
There are five different steps that can be practiced for each stage of reading:
Before reading: look at the cover, talk about pictures and text, activate prior knowledge, personal connections, and set a purpose.
During reading: make predictions, pause and reflect, create mental images, synthesize and summarize, and conduct oral cloze.
And After reading: make personal connections, make text-to-text connections, sketch to stretch, create reenactments, and perform retellings.
So you can see that there is more than just giving a child any book to read--READING IS A THOUGHTFUL PROCESS!
