Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/motoring-toddlers-require-moving-story-experiences/5021487/
Early childhood professionals know that emergent literacy experiences are essential to helping young children grow as readers. Although they are encouraged to read to children daily, there are ways to maximize daily book sharing with toddlers.Teachers typically create a daily story time where they gather toddlers to read a book and then check for understanding by asking questions about it. However, there is little evidence to suggest that these questioning techniques are meaningful for very young children. Honoring the toddlers’ desire to move and explore forces us to be creative in sharing stories in a non-traditional engaging manner. Nurturing children’s motoric responses to shared stories allows teachers to check for comprehension in an authentic and meaningful way.
We suggest honoring the developmental strides of inquisitive toddlers by providing movement activities as they explore their environment. Manipulation and movement help the toddlers make meaning of their environments. When body movements are paired with language, and language is paired with sensory motor experiences, toddlers have two ways to make meaning of their experiences. This bodily kinesthetic and linguistic connection encourages recall and pairs descriptive language with movement (Marigliano & Russ, 2011).
Begin by including printed materials that require movement and investigation in ...