Conclusion

There is not one teaching method or approach that will work for all children, so you need to use a range of strategies in order to reach all of your students.¹ However, keep in mind that the most important strategy for infants through five-year-olds is reading aloud to them in a way that engages them.¹ “Frequent reading aloud to and with children has been shown to lead to increases in multiple areas of literacy development, including vocabulary growth, print awareness, enjoyment of reading, and even children’s writing abilities.”¹ Studies have revealed the importance of interacting verbally with children when reading storybooks with them. You should act as a scaffold for your students by connecting parts of the story to what your students already know, by asking them questions, and by encouraging your students to ask questions. You should guide them in relating what they learn about in books to the outside world and encourage them to draw conclusions. The nature of your interactions with your student while reading storybooks influences their knowledge about, strategies for, and attitudes towards reading.⁸