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	Standard: V.A.4 - Shows understanding of text read aloud.

Understanding Stories: What Does This Mean? Why Is It Important?

Through conversations with others in the same space at the same time, children are able to figure out the meanings of unfamiliar words and phrases, and what is being said. They watch facial expressions, notice changes of expression, and look at the objects around them to help them understand. However, listening to stories and reading require children to rely on the words themselves in order to figure out the meaning of what they are hearing. Reading to children helps them build the thinking skills, vocabulary, and background knowledge they will need to comprehend more challenging texts as they move through school.

When we read different types of texts (such as grocery lists, menus, and storybooks) to children, they learn how to respond and what to expect. They learn that stories and informational texts are organized in different ways. By reading lots of different kinds of books to children, we help them learn how different texts are organized.

Helping Children Grow in Their Understanding of Stories

By paying attention to the comments children make, the questions they ask and answer, and how they retell stories, you will figure out what students understand about the books you read to them and how you can help them grow in this understanding.

If children have had few experiences of hearing books being read aloud, their early retellings and comments will include a few key words and phrases from the story and some pointing to details in pictures. As children gain more experience in listening to you and other children retell stories, when they are retelling stories, they should begin to include main characters and a sequence of the story's events. The kinds of question you ask as children retell stories will teach them to include these details.

Over time, you will want to help children listen for story elements, such as the characters’ problems, and start to think about how settings influence problems and solutions. Help children link the events in a story and include more “story-like” terms such as “Once upon a time,” or “suddenly there was...” as they retell stories. Again, when you retell stories for children and ask key questions you help children learn to expand their retellings.

Ideally, as children prepare to enter kindergarten, you want them to be asking questions, making inferences, paying attention to details, and sharing reasonable predictions about what will happen next in a story. You want them to make connections between their own lives and the books you read to them and to make connections to other books you have read to them.

Reading Informational Books (Nonfiction)

Don’t forget to read lots of informational books to your students, too. Often, early childhood teachers hesitate to read informational books to their students. However, there are many wonderful informational books for young children offering rich resources for building their background knowledge and vocabulary for school. Young children who have repeated experiences with informational texts are at a distinct advantage for learning words and concepts related to science and social studies. This will help them succeed in school. Reading informational books is a powerful way to encourage conversation, question asking, and thinking in your preschool classroom.

You will not necessarily read an informational book aloud from start to finish. Often, you will only read and talk about a small portion of the book. A great way to encourage children to ask questions and talk about new information is to show the pictures or illustrations in the book and ask children, “Do you have something to say about this?” While this is a great way to introduce a new book, it is also a powerful way to revisit a book you have read to students before. Finally, when reading informational books, you will want to stop regularly to clarify the meanings of technical terms, to summarize the information or make links for children between their own experiences (or previous books) and what was just read. Informational books for preschool children should have many photographs or other visual aids and some text with a few technical words.

Exposure to informational books will help children learn that these books are written to help them learn about the world around them. Help children to start using more technical vocabulary and use of timeless, present-tense verbs in their conversations and recounting of informational texts. Help children notice how informational books are divided into sections, and how photographs and other supporting graphics will help them understand the information presented in the book.