I wrote the following from notes I took during the Learning to Talk by Talking : A Developmental Approach to maximizing Language and Literacy Skills course.
Reading books with children…
- Provide the environment for rich ideas and topics that aren’t a part of ordinary life experience
- Generate opportunity to ask questions and build children’s agency to respond and react
- Retelling story, anticipating outcomes, elaborate on topic of book
- Introduce powerful topics, and stimulate learning to talk by talking
- Give opportunities for affective potential, warmth and nurturing
- Create questions about what was on the page and which requiring inference
- Explore emotions in real life situations
- Engage the senses by flipping pages
- Respond to child’s interest
- Allow children to be full participants in conversations