Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/selecting-books-for-young-children/5025376/
The early childhood environment is often called the second teacher. Its importance to the development and learning of the young child is critical. It includes indoor furniture, outdoor play equipment, and educational materials of all kinds for both the indoors and outdoors, arranged in centers and clusters to encourage certain kinds of activities, including play. It also includes books for children to look at and read (including a variety of art books), and for adults to read to students. All these materials and books must be carefully selected with the developmental age of the students in mind, and using the program’s curriculum as an overall guide.
Selecting Books that Represent Children and Families in Your Program
Recently there has been an increased interest in making sure reading materials for young children reflect the cultures, backgrounds and unique experiences of each reader. This includes picture books, books read to the entire class, and beginning readers used in the direct instruction of reading. Reasons for this approach are obvious and include:
Meaningful learning: content that reflects a child’s background and unique experiences holds a child’s attention and is more likely to be remembered (Dewey, 1938);
Identity: content that reflects a child’s home, community and culture builds a ...