Use and Users
Users and Their Information Seeking Needs
The Story Bags we have collected provide practice in the five essential reading skills for emergent readers. Those five essential reading skills are vocabulary, phonemic awareness, fluency, comprehension, and phonics. These bags can be used by teachers, reading specialists, librarians, and parents. However, the main users of these story bags would be emergent readers in preschool through second grade. The bags are designed to be used by an adult either one-on-one with an emergent reader or with a small group of emergent readers. According to LEARN NC, a program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Education, emergent readers are on the path to fluent literacy, before conventional reading and writing skills emerge. Emergent readers demonstrate alphabet knowledge, a concept of what a word is, a sense of story (beginning, middle, end), listening and retelling skills, phonemic awareness, and verbal expression. However, all emergent readers are at different stages of emergent reading.
There are seven stages of emergent reading. The first stage of emergent reading is “What is a book?” where children begin to perceive differences between books and toys and begin to learn to enjoy books. In stage two, “Learning how books work and responding to books,” children manipulate books and learn the different parts of a book. The third stage, “Listening and participating” is when children enjoy and benefit from repetition of stories and begin to use dialogue and interact with the story. In the fourth stage, “Reading by inventing stories for pictures,” children create stories from their imagination that describe what they think is going on in the illustrations or pictures in a story. The fifth stage of emergent reading, “Story retelling combines focus on print, pictures, and memory,” children are developing concepts about print and words and combining strategies of using picture clues, knowledge of story structure, and print when retelling stories. In the sixth stage, “Focus on letters, sounds, and words during reading,” children focus on reading words, using what they know about phonics and word recognition. In the final, seventh stage of emergent reading, “Coordinate knowledge of print and story conventions,” children use a variety of reading strategies to gain meaning from print. They especially rely on prediction and use of background knowledge to support their reading (Lily & Green, 2010).
In each of the stages of emergent reading there are opportunities for instructors and caregivers to support the emergent reader. These story bags we have collected will help adults support children through the stages of emergent reading by offering practice and providing activities that adults can do with the children. Obtaining and practicing the five essential reading skills are important for emergent readers in order for them to become literate. Our story bags offer an opportunity for emergent readers to focus on a specific reading skill for practice.
There are seven stages of emergent reading. The first stage of emergent reading is “What is a book?” where children begin to perceive differences between books and toys and begin to learn to enjoy books. In stage two, “Learning how books work and responding to books,” children manipulate books and learn the different parts of a book. The third stage, “Listening and participating” is when children enjoy and benefit from repetition of stories and begin to use dialogue and interact with the story. In the fourth stage, “Reading by inventing stories for pictures,” children create stories from their imagination that describe what they think is going on in the illustrations or pictures in a story. The fifth stage of emergent reading, “Story retelling combines focus on print, pictures, and memory,” children are developing concepts about print and words and combining strategies of using picture clues, knowledge of story structure, and print when retelling stories. In the sixth stage, “Focus on letters, sounds, and words during reading,” children focus on reading words, using what they know about phonics and word recognition. In the final, seventh stage of emergent reading, “Coordinate knowledge of print and story conventions,” children use a variety of reading strategies to gain meaning from print. They especially rely on prediction and use of background knowledge to support their reading (Lily & Green, 2010).
In each of the stages of emergent reading there are opportunities for instructors and caregivers to support the emergent reader. These story bags we have collected will help adults support children through the stages of emergent reading by offering practice and providing activities that adults can do with the children. Obtaining and practicing the five essential reading skills are important for emergent readers in order for them to become literate. Our story bags offer an opportunity for emergent readers to focus on a specific reading skill for practice.
Sources
- Emergent Reader. (n.d.). LEARN NC. Retrieved on November 29, 2013, from http://www.learnnc.org/reference/emergent%20reader
- Lily, E., & Green, C. (2010, July 20). Stages of Emergent Reading. Education.com. Retrieved on November 29, 2013, from http://www.education.com/reference/article/emergent-reading/