by Tatjana Vonta, Head, Developmental Research Center for Educational Initiatives Step by Step, Slovenia, and Fanika Balic, Master Teacher Trainer, Developmental Research Center for Educational Initiatives Step by Step, Slovenia

Introduction

Reading is one of the most important lifelong activities. Young children are connected with reading and books long before they actually know how to read. It starts when a child has the first book in his hand or when parents read to him from a book. It is a wonderful way for young children to spend time together with their parents. The interaction that is going on between a child and parent when they are reading together has some important components. One of them is predictability—as these activities usually occur on a regular schedule and follow a regular pattern of steps. Playfulness is evident as these activities are done for fun. Language is used to construct meaning and share ideas. The child gets opportunities to lead the activity, the parent is modeling language and reading behavior and together they develop their own jargon for many ideas. In this way parents intuitively use the "lab method" to teach their children about language, print, and books (Daniels, 1994, p. 37). A child understands that a book is connected with something pleasant for him and his important adults, something that makes them feel good. He understands the meaning of the word for an object long before he can say this word. Later he starts to understand that there are pictures and words in books and that they have some meaning. This is first step in developing reading abilities and love towards books.

STEPS IN INTRODUCING BOOKS TO CHILDREN

Introducing books to children and developing a love of books is a process in which adults help structure interactions and experiences that allow a child to pass through a series of developmental steps. This process can be understood within in the ERR (evocation, realization of meaning, reflection) framework (Steele, Meredith, & Temple, 1998).

Evocation Phase
In this phase we want a child to be actively engaged in recalling what he or she knows about a topic—encouraged to begin thinking about the topic they will be exploring in detail. The primary importance of this phase is to establish a base of personal knowledge and beliefs to which the new knowledge can be added, and to connect the new with the known. In this phase we also activate a child. Active engagement means that the child expresses knowledge and understanding through active thinking and speaking. The child's previously established construct for thinking about the topic is elicited. The child's point of view is not the same as that of an adult or a textbook point of view. In a group, children raise their own answers to different questions. Some of these ideas may be contradictory, and differences among ideas could lead children to ask themselves personal questions that are a powerful motivator for further activities. The practice of introducing books to children at this phase contains several steps for teachers to accomplish:

1) Introducing the covers, the title and authors of the text and illustrations.
If they have encountered this author or Illustrated by in previous reading activities try to connect those experiences with the new one.

2) Predicting the content.
In this step we ask questions like "What is the content about?" "What is a book about?" "What will be going on in the book?" "Who will be the main character?" Together with those questions we need to give children opportunities to explain WHY do they think so?

3) Looking at the illustrations and predicting the content according to the illustrations.
Children foresee the events according to illustrations, they connect the text with pictures and ask themselves personal questions.

Realization of Meaning Phase
In this phase a child is coming into contact with new ideas from the text in the book. The task of this phase is to sustain the engagement and interest established in first phase. In addition, a child is building the bridges between known and new knowledge and in this way establishing new understanding. The teacher's role is to read the book with a sense of the dramatic and to create an exciting mood for reading and listening. He or she could read by candlelight, have quiet music as background, or use different kinds of visual tools to help the children focus on listening, etc.

Reflection Phase
In this phase children are expected to express in their own words the ideas they encountered. Children will remember best what they understand in their own context, in their own words; that is why it is necessary to have a discussion after reading. Teachers can ask questions like "How did you find the book and why?" "Did the book remind you of anything and why?" "Did anything take you by surprise and why?" "Which character did you like and why?" The teacher should encourage the child's self-expression in those answers. Exchanging ideas among children expands their vocabulary and exposes them to varying schemata to consider as they build their own. This is a time of change and reconceptualization in a child's learning process. In a school setting, this phase brings each child into a position where he or she is exposed to multiple ways of integrating new information and more flexible constructs that can be applied in the future. Professional teachers will create all kinds of opportunities for children to use and apply these new ideas in creative ways in all kinds of activities—from different developmental and subject-matter domains—and in this way connect all of them in a holistic approach.

Evocation
1. Introducing the book
2. Predicting the content
3. Looking at the illustrations
Realization of meaning
4. Reading/listening
Reflection
5. After-reading discussion
6. Connecting with other activities

Books as a Bond Between Parents and School
Parents are very often confused about what kinds of books are appropriate for their child; some parents don't have the opportunity to buy or rent books and some of them don't know how important books are in a child's development and in his life. That's why one very important goal of every teacher and school is to inform parents about the benefits that books have for the child's development and life.

At schools we could easily arrange all kinds of opportunities (e.g., information desk, letter for parents, periodic memoranda, etc.) to share information about appropriate books for children at different developmental levels. Another very important role of the school is to create opportunities for parents to have easy access to these books. Arranging it so that parents together with their child could choose and borrow a book really brings books into their homes and encourages reading at home. Involving parents and other family members in different activities connected with books—like making books with children or reading stories at drop-out or pickup time—is also a good way to enrich family members with knowledge and experiences that cultivate a love of reading and books.

One popular tool for using books to create bonds between home and school used by our preschools are book backpacks. As part of our implementation of the Step by Step methodology, we began five years ago to develop different kind of backpacks (i.e., birthday backpack, grandparents backpack, ecological backpack, author's backpack, etc.). Usually the backpack includes: books for the child; a professional book or journal where parents can find interesting information about education, children's development and learning, care and health, etc.; a letter to the parents that explains the aim of the backpack (see sample on next page); a notebook for responses; and other interesting information. According the rules that children and teacher made together, these backpacks travel between homes and school regularly. In some groups, there is more than one backpack to give more opportunities for children to take these home. This initiative brings very good results. According to teachers, more parents started to read with their children more regularly. Children share a lot of ideas at school as they read the same books at home and those ideas enriched their activities and creativity. According to parents, these backpacks have become an integral part of life in their homes, and they've started to read more professional literature too. These backpacks with books changed the children, parents, and the school.

Conclusion
In conclusion, we have to stress that a child will learn to love books if he or she lives with them every day; if adults know how vital it is to involve books in the child's everyday life and introduce books to children in a manner that takes into account his individual and developmental characteristics in the learning process.

References
Daniels, H. (1994). Literature Circles: Voice and Choice in the Student-Centered Classroom. York, ME: Stenhouse Publishers; Canada: Penbroke Publishers Limited.

Steele J. L., K. S. Meredith, & C. Temple. (1998). A Framework for Critical Thinking Across the Curriculum (Prepared for Reading and Writing for Critical Thinking Project), Guidebook I.

Resources
Kordigel, M. & T. Jamnik. (1999). Knjizevna vzgoja v vrtcu,, Ljubljana: DZS.

Kropp, P. (2000). Otrok postane bralec za vse zivljenje, Ucila.

Plut Pregelj, L. (1990). Ucenje ob poslu?anju. Ljubljana: DZS.

Walsh, K. B. (1996). Creating child-centered classrooms (6-7 years old). Washington, DC: CRI, Inc.; New York: OSI.

Walsh, K.B. (1997). Creating child-centered classrooms (8-10 years old). Washington, DC: CRI, Inc.; New York: OSI.

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