Practitioners who want to create a rich reading environment for children in the Foundation Stage need to think about how they plan to engage young readers effectively with quality children's books - both fiction and non-fiction.
There is no doubt that creating an attractive book area, where the literature collection is displayed well and children are encouraged to browse and choose both alongside adults and independently, makes a significant contribution to such an environment.
However, educators need to plan a range of ways for children to engage with quality texts to ensure equality of access to the reading curriculum for all learners.
Reading aloud
It is important to remember that reading aloud to young children on a regular basis is still the most effective way to teach them about the whole reading process.
Story time is an essential element of the daily routine. Practitioners should take time to plan thoughtfully for this part of the day; choosing books with care to ensure that children hear a range of texts over time, including rhyming stories, traditional tales, humorous books and stories with strongly patterned and memorable language.
Getting to know well-respected authors and building a personal repertoire of favourite texts that can be read aloud with confidence and enthusiasm are important professional skills.
Choose some books to read over and over again, in consultation with the children, so that they become firm favourites. (These may become known as a collection of core books around which many of the activities below can be based.) Ensure, too, that you read some books that are of greater complexity than the children could memorise for themselves. Children need to see the readers that they will become, and hearing an adult read longer stories out loud with enthusiasm and expression is one way to show them what the pleasures of reading can look like.
A variety of contexts
As well as the traditional form of story time - an adult with a large group - make sure that you also plan small group sessions, so that children can be encouraged to pore over the quality illustrations of books by people such as John Burningham, Anthony Browne, Tony Ross, Helen Oxenbury and Lauren Child, to name but a few.
Obtain multiple copies of the books that seem to be most popular with the children so that they can share them with a friend, or so that you can use them to discuss the story in small groups.
Sharing stories and discussing them in this way is a far more effective way of 'group reading' than expecting every child in the group to be able to take it in turns to decode the words on the page while others wait restlessly!
Activities such as this help young children see themselves as part of a community of readers, and are invaluable in promoting confidence and self-esteem.
A variety of voices
Offer stories in a variety of forms. Many popular children's books are available on CD or even DVD. These productions offer 'alternative versions'
to favourite texts - with sound effects and animations. Where appropriate, discuss this with the children. Which do they like best - hearing the story read out loud or watching the DVD?
Today's children have the advantage of being highly visually literate. We need to value and use such skills. Create an area where children can listen to and/or watch their favourites either on their own, or in the company of an adult.
Build up a collection of recorded stories that reflect the languages of the community that surrounds your setting. Parents and carers may be happy to be involved in recording some of the children's favourite stories in their home language to add to your collection.
Stories and play
Bringing stories to life through play-based activities can motivate all children to read.
Props and puppets
Building a collection of props and puppets around well-loved stories can help young children think deeply about character, emotions and motivations, as well as offering an uncritical audience to read aloud to!
If the practitioner uses a cuddly toy or puppet at story time, some children may find it easier to concentrate and to listen. At the same time, the adult can model ways of using the toy, and it can become a focus for questions, so that the children can 'interview' it about the story in question.
Leaving a selection of such props where children can access them independently will mean that children can imitate the adult, and invent new ways of using the toys to explore the world of story.
Role play
Role-play activities offer the opportunity for children to inhabit the world of the story, using the voices and behaviours of characters that they have heard about - 'trying on' a variety of personalities in the same way that they may try on a costume.
They may be an animal taking a ride in Mr Gumpy's boat, or a brave adventurer having a journey in a magic bed, for example. Whatever they choose, they will be more likely to use the language of story, and to incorporate story structures in their speech when playing in this way. In turn, this will feed their ideas for writing. Playing imaginatively undoubtedly helps you write imaginatively.
Role-play areas based on well-loved stories may provide the starting point for retellings or for creating new versions that can be written down by an adult during a shared session, or be an inspiration for a child's independent writing.
Small-world play
Creating small worlds from books offers children the chance to retell well-loved stories, reflect on motivations, plot and character and rehearse new versions of old tales.
These miniature environments can be built with a variety of multi-sensory materials, bringing the stories to life, and helping young children on a narrative journey, as they play, talk and explore.
Small-world play can be a particularly effective way of incorporating book-based activities into all areas of provision, including construction play, sand and water.
If appropriate, small worlds can also provide an excellent focus for sharing multiple copies of texts in small groups. The small world offers an excellent point of reference for the children, and can be used to re-enact the story as it is read.
Outdoors
Finally, books, and the kinds of opportunities outlined above, need to be included in planning for the outdoor area, as part of continuous provision.
Story time, sharing books in small groups with an adult, role play and small-world play can take on a different appearance outside.
Many children's books (including some by John Burningham) are set outdoors and deserve to be explored outside.
Building a version of Mr Gumpy's boat outdoors, using cardboard boxes or milk crates and other found materials, can mean that the story can be explored and revisited in a far more exuberant manner than would be practical inside.
In Oi! Get Off Our Train, the differing weather conditions provide a range of exciting play opportunities for the characters in the book. This could inspire a whole raft of outdoor activities in any early years setting.
Many children, particularly boys, operate more effectively outside. It follows, therefore, that offering pleasurable, playful opportunities for reading both indoors and outside will ensure that all children have the chance to see themselves as readers.
