Lea M. McGee

Repeated Interactive Read-Alouds in Preschool and Kindergarten

Repeated interactive read-alouds, a systematic method of reading aloud, allow teachers to scaffold childrens understanding of the book being read, model strategies for making inferences and explanations, and teach vocabulary and concepts. A storybook is read three times in slightly different ways in order to increase the amount and quality of childrens analytical talk as they answer carefully crafted questions. During the first reading, teachers introduce the storys problem, insert comments, ask a few key questions, and finally ask a “why” question calling for extended explanation. This is accompanied by elaborations on a few key vocabulary words. Second reads capitalize on childrens growing comprehension of the story by providing enriched vocabulary explanations and asking additional inference and explanation questions. Third reads consist of guided reconstruction of the story in which children recount information as well as provide explanations and commentary. These techniques have shown to be effective in increasing childrens engagement, understanding, and appreciation of literature in preschool and kindergarten settings.

The NELP Report on Shared Story Reading Interventions (Chapter 4): Extending the Story

The authors discuss the 19 individual studies included in chapter 4 (shared story reading interventions) of the report of the National Early Literacy Panel (NELP) and offer more nuanced conclusions than the report’s authors do. They also emphasize the need for more comprehensive approaches to shared story reading in preschool than those found in the studies available to the NELP for its meta-analysis. Like the panel authors, the authors of this response call especially for shared reading interventions that support children’s understanding of meaning, as well as vocabulary and syntax development and print-related skills.

Transition to Kindergarten: Reaching Back to Preschoolers and Parents through Shared Summer School.

M[ aking the transition from preschool to kindergarten is a milestone in a young child’s life, and it does not always g i smoothly. Consequently, the authors developed Shared Summer School, our unique approach to kindergarten transition, in which preschool and kindergarten teachers jointly taught children prior to their kindergarten entry. Shared Summer School was a half-day program that lasted for six weeks, with classes held five days a week. Over two summers, five preschool and four kindergarten teachers and 60 entering kindergartners participated in this program, housed in one elementary school. Children from a local child care, Head Start, and pre-kindergarten program who were considered most at risk for school failure were invited to participate. The threefold purpose of this program was to develop supportive relationships between local kindergarten teachers in the community elementary school and preschool children and their families, provide a seamless transition in activities and teaching approach from late preschool to early kindergarten, and increase the social and academic skills of children most at risk for school failure. After two years of Shared Summer School, reports from the parents, teachers, and the elementary school principal suggest that two activities-small-group instruction and school-home morning message-most influenced parental involvement and changed kindergarten teachers’ instruction. This article will further describe those two activities.

Expanding Preschoolers' Vocabulary: The Role of Professional Development

reschoolers’ vocabulary development is integral to their oral P language development, which is critical for literacy learning. Accordingly, Early Reading First (ERF) programs provide specific professional development intended to strengthen preschool teachers’ vocabulary instruction. In 2006, as project directors, we implemented a professional development plan intended to produce stronger methods for teaching vocabulary. Throughout that year, we observed notable changes in teachers’ instruction, which led to an acceleration of children’s vocabulary growth.

Scaffolding Children’s Reading During Guided Reading in Intervention Programs

Purpose – To provide classroom teachers with an understanding of how children’s errors in reading provide evidence of sources of information that children draw upon to solve problems and monitor their reading.Design/methodology/approach – This chapter provides a theoretical discussion of sources of information found in text and their use during reading followed by examples from two case study children.Findings – One of the case study children primarily relies on meaning and syntax and ignores visual/print information. The other case study child relies primarily on visual/print information and ignores meaning and syntax.Research limitations/implications – Only two case study children are examined and only at the very beginning stages of reading in first grade.Practical implications – The decisions made by the teacher used in the examples provide valuable suggestions for classroom teachers who have a range of different readers in their classrooms.Originality/value of chapter – Teachers need information about how to shape children’s reading behaviors as they read text, solve problems during reading, and monitor their attempts.

Designing Early Literacy Programs: Strategies for At-Risk Preschool and Kindergarten Children

1. Who is at Risk for Reading Difficulties? Implications for early literacy programs 2. Understanding Literacy Development 3. Using Assessment to Make Instructional Decisions 4. Language and Literacy Rich Classrooms 5. Language Development: Gateway to literacy 6. Classroom Activities that Expand Childrens Vocabulary and Comprehension 7. Classroom Activities to Develop Childrens Concepts about Print and Alphabet Letter Recognition 8. Classroom Activities to Develop Phonological Awareness and the Alphabetic Principle 9. Prekindergarten in Action 10. Kindergarten in Action