Story Quest: Helping Children Develop Language and Literacy

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Story Quest Helping Children Develop Language
and Literacy

• University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension

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Developing Learning Skills

• As adults and parents the most important
  thing we can do is read to our children early and
  often. Reading is the path to success in school
  and life. When children learn to love books,
  they learn to love learning.
• ----Laura Bush

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Literacy in our own lives----

• Think of two things you really like to do
• How do you use literacy skills in these
  activities?
• Visit with the person next to you and share

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Story QUEST

• Nationwide, research-based program designed to
  help families, care providers, communities
  enhance the foundations for developing language
  and literacy
• Developed by California Institute on Human
  Services at Sonoma State University

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Story QUESTs Vision

• High-quality, early relationships and experiences
  throughout their daily routines provide each
  infant and toddler with the tools and skills to
  build a strong foundation for future school
  readiness. Families, caregivers and communities
  as a whole collaborate to enable all children to
  become highly competent in language and literacy.

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Objectives

• Participants will be able to
• - Identify tools for building foundations of
• language and literacy in everyday environments
• - Identify how everyday interactions with the
  
• environment builds literacy skills and how
  adults can
• support that
• - Develop techniques for using books to
  stimulate
• language and literacy development
• - Evaluate their environments to determine
  how it
• stimulates literacy development

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We use literacy to

• Communicate
• Obtain information
• Document ideas

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Tools of Literacy

• Pictures
• Maps
• Print (books, magazines, catalogues, junk mail)
• Songs
• Dance
• Performances
• Mathematical Formulas

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Discussion

• Think of the tools that our culture uses as part
  of their language and literacy.
• What are the tools our culture uses?
• How are they different from the past?
• What are some ways that we can help children
  develop language and literacy?
• Share these ideas with the person next to you.

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Infants Develop Language Naturally

• Baby talk or Parentese makes it easier for the
  baby to learn a language because the sounds are
  greatly exaggerated.

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Communicating with Children

• Infants
• Babies want to look, touch, taste and listen to
  everything that they encounter (reaching,
  grasping, mouthing).

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Communicating with Children

• Toddlers
• Show an interest in pictures by looking, patting,
  pointing or cooing at them
• Look at and recognize pictures in a book
• Learn about books and stories by actively
  listening and interacting with books
• Understand the picture represents a real object

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Communicating with Children

• Young Children
• Discover that stories have a beginning, middle
  and end
• Learn to love stories and rhymes
• Enjoy books with familiar characters, objects and
  events
• Find predictable routines and rituals very
  comforting
• Love to practice new skills and knowledge
• Learn about feelings and like to hear stories
  about emotions
• Learn the difference between real and pretend
• Enjoy stories about make-believe (e.g. animals
  who dress up and talk like people)

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Communicating with Children

• Caregivers
• Exaggerate voice and actions to keep toddlers
  interested
• Involve toddlers by encouraging them to join in
  familiar phrases or words
• Act out an action in the story
• Find things hidden in a picture

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Communicating with Children

• Use short, simple complete sentences
• Reduce the rate of speaking
• Repeat words, phrases and sentences
• Repeat what your child says to you
• Pause between words
• Talk about the here and now
• Use a lot of questions and requests
• Use a slightly higher pitch and an exaggerated
  intonation pattern
• Talk about objects that your child is focused on
  or actions he/she is engaged in

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Communicating with Children

• Think about ways you can incorporate these hints
  into your daily routine with the children
• Write down two things that you are going to work
  on next week
• Share them with the person next to you

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Storytelling Strategies

• Remember that telling stories is about sharing
  emotions, images, ideas or events
• Exaggerate your facial expressions and tone
• Tell a quick, short story
• Keep all the children involved by responding to
  each ones verbal and facial responses
• When reading for one child, allow the child to
  deviate from the story
• Make the story interesting by elaborating and
  exaggerating
• Use props

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Read A Story

• Determine where everyone will sit
• Choose a book with lots of pictures
• Tell the story rather than just reading the
  words
• Repeat and emphasize rhyming sounds
• Incorporate turn-taking strategies
• Use the CAR StrategyComment, Ask, Respond
• Be sure to include strategies to challenge each
  of the children. Levels of questions can range
  from naming things in pictures to thinking about
  the future
• Naming characteristics (bigger, smaller, red,
  fast)

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Read A Story

• Allowing the child to complete a sentence based
  on a pattern
• Asking the child to remember what happened before
  this page
• Asking the child what is happening in the picture
• Making judgments (How do you think he felt when
  that happened?)
• Making comparisons (The rabbit is faster that
  the turtle.)
• Making predictions (What do you think will
  happen next?)

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CAR Theory

• C Comment and wait so the child has time to
  respond
• A Ask questions and wait so the child has time to
  respond
• R Respond by adding a little more
• Waiting gives the child time to respond

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Observing Children

• Remember the OWL when reading to children
• O Observe the child for signs of interest
• W Wait for the childs reaction to the book
• L Listen to the childs words and actions before
  proceeding

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Helping Children Develop Language and Literacy

• Babble is Speech
• Play is Work
• Scribble is Script

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Helping Children Develop Language and Literacy

• Other than helping children to grow up healthy
  and happy the most important thing that you can
  do for them throughout their lives is to help
  them develop their language and literacy skills.
  
• It is no exaggeration to say that how well
  children learn to read affects directly not only
  on how successful they are in school but how well
  they do throughout their lives.

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Thank You

• Story QUEST national research project developed
  through the California Institute of Human
  Services, Sonoma State University
• Central Nebraska Community Services Story QUEST
  Team
• University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension