Description
Students in early childhood settings don't always get the benefits of shared book reading—a strategy proven to boost language skills and content knowledge. Prepare the next generation of teachers to make the most of shared reading with this accessible textbook, a complete guide to building vocabulary-rich science and social studies lessons and discussions around storybooks and informational texts. Field-tested with children in high-poverty school settings, this instructional approach is valuable for any young learner at risk for comprehension difficulties.
This concise book presents the authors' proven, empirically based "Project WORLD" (Words of Oral Reading and Language Development) framework for integrating shared book reading into the classroom. Offering both big-picture curriculum design principles and specific instructional strategies, this text gives teachers the know-how they need to accelerate language skills, vocabulary development, and high-priority science and social studies content knowledge for all young children.
Ideal for preservice teacher education courses and in-service professional development!
GET TEACHERS READY TO:
- Use the most effective shared book reading and vocabulary practices
- Teach new vocabulary while introducing key science and social studies concepts
- Align vocabulary instruction with content standards and objectives
- Stimulate and expand children's oral language abilities via interactive book discussions
- Implement a framework tested in collaboration with Head Start and preschool teachers
- Choose their own books and vocabulary words to teach
- Design lesson plans that get results
- Build a strong foundation for children's future success in science and social studies
- Advance learning with proven teaching techniques, such as multiple exposures to words and connected concepts and strategies
- Successfully teach both English language learners and native English speakers
PRACTICAL MATERIALS: A step-by-step Shared Book Reading Instructional Unit Planner, sample vocabulary words with child-friendly definitions, real-life classroom vignettes with embedded instructional techniques and suggestions, examples of appropriate storybooks and informational texts paired by science or social studies themes, and tools to support teachers' content vocabulary instruction.
Reviews
Review: Midwest Book Review
"Accelerating Language Skills and Content Knowledge Through Shared Book Reading" is an ideal curriculum supplement for preservice teacher education courses and in-service professional development. It is thoroughly 'user friendly' throughout, making it strongly recommended."
Review by: Betty Bunce, University of Kansas; Director, The Language Acquisition Preschool; author, Early Literacy in Action
“Children who have had fewer resources bring to the reading process much less world and language knowledge. This book-sharing framework provides a way to begin to fill the gap.”
Review by: Laura Justice, The Ohio State University
“Provide[s] explicit guidance on how to craft high-quality book readings with children that will elevate their language and literacy skills. This book fills an important gap in the early-childhood field!”
Table of Contents
About the Authors
Foreword: Susan Neuman
Preface
Acknowledgments
About the Forms
Chapter 1. Shared Book Reading Research and Content Learning
Chapter 2. Design and Development of the WORLD Shared Book Reading Approach
Chapter 3. Aligning Vocabulary Instruction with Content Standards and Objectives
Selecting and Organizing Book Reading Content
Chapter 4. Creating Multiple Exposures to Words and Connected Concepts
Selecting Complementary Texts and Vocabulary
Chapter 5. Opportunities to Dialogue: Word and World Connections
Chapter 6. Instruction in Practice: Teaching Strategies in Action
- Appendix A: Instructional Unit Planner
- Appendix B: Lesson Design Figures
Chapter 7. What Lies Ahead: Inspiring a Paradigm Shift in Thinking and Teaching
List of Vignettes
List of Storybooks and Information Texts
Index