Reading for babies. Rhymes, lullabies, fairytales, poetry, tongue twisters. Every culture has its own oral repertoire.
Language games which are important because they introduce the child Not only to the world of language but also to the characteristics of his culture. Instructor sings a typical Brazilian rhyme. We work with both reading and storytelling.
We don't disregard any of them, as both practices are important. Therefore, when the teacher tells a story, the child is invited to join it in a different manner. You add gestures, mimes and different kinds of puppets.
You take all these resources and use them to tell a story. Instructor sings a typical Brazilian rhyme. The book is only one of the resources in this scenario.
It stands out from the other elements because the direct contact with it, as well as other representative bi-dimensional objects, Brings the children to another world. The world of fantasy and imagination. The baby starts seeing the dog not only as his own dog, or the neighbor's one, But also that a drawing or a painting of a dog is also a dog.
I started working here in 1987. The school was already established. They were looking for mothers who had already finished primary school.
These were basically the job requirements. When I worked at nursery school, there weren't any books. It seems that, teachers are considering their professional development more carefully.
They are looking forward to offering a better education to these children. I'd say that schooling is of utmost importance in developing the children's reading skills. It's a privileged place were children have a greater access to books, something that often times they can't find in other environments, such as their home.
We always wondered how come a baby would learn how to concentrate or participate in a reading group activity. They are too young! They won't be able to understand.
But, over the years, we realized that that's not really true. Children have such interest, but it has to be awaken and stimulated. 'Both the school and the teachers' job is to develop such attitudes.
Instructor tells a fairytale. Nowadays, we work with 'itinerant libraries' where children can borrow different books and take them home. We also work with reading for babies, a permanent activity in which teachers tell stories to infants.
There is a classroom library and the teachers choose the books according to the group of students. Each classroom has box full of books which children can take home. So, it works both ways; teachers can tell a story to children and they can borrow the books and take them home.
We choose the books previously. We read the stories in advance and check its appropriateness in terms of age and illustrations; if the book has catchy illustrations that will keep children interested. Based on that, we select the books we will read on a given day.
A good book has a rich narrative and beautiful illustrations. It needs to carry a good text. We've chosen the morning period because we realized that the babies are calmer.
It's the time that we talk to them and invite them to the reading activities. - Tree, please, come to my party. - Oh, thanks.
I will, but only if you invite the elf! - Look, the elf! - Elf!
- I'm so scared! You don't change the story when reading. You have to be loyal to the original story.
The author has written that and he wants to tell something to the child or the adult who's reading the book. They pay more attention to complex words. They think that those words are more beautiful, more different.
So, in Portuguese it is more interesting to say rhino, for example, than monkey. - I'm as brave as a. .
. - Rhino! - Rhino.
Well done! - And I'm as sweet as a lamb. .
. - Who's this? - It's the lamb.
They get calmer and they also observe more. I'd even say that they become more critical because they start choosing what they want. So, I think children and babies can realize and decide on what they want.
After I finish telling the story I give the book to the children and ask them to retell the story. I realize that they want to retell it imitating the teacher. So they sit on the chair and, because they're small and the book is big and sometimes they drop it.
The teacher's posture is of utmost importance. The image we transmit is extremely important. We have to read with enthusiasm.
The feeling we share when reading the story is important so they feel it and get interested. - Once upon a time - Look! Look here - The dragon!
- Wolf! - Wolf? - Yes!
- Bad Wolf? - Yes! - What does he say?
- Is his voice like that? - Yes! - Wow - She goes away with her mother.
The kid has to touch and handle the book. In order to become a reader, one has to grab the book, touch it and flip over the pages. It's common, specially with babies, that they take the book to their mouth.
They explore the book in a wide range of ways. So, often times the books will be torn, stained and dirty and that's good. It shows that the book is being used.
We shouldn't keep the books on the bookshelves. We shouldn't keep them there. Children are supposed to flip it over, read it.
At their ages, sometimes the books are torn, but we fix them. Besides reading at school, we also count on parents, because the kids take the books home and we encourage them to read with their parents on weekends. Therefore, I think we are not only incentivizing reading but also helping strengthening family ties.
The parents, during our parents meetings, they tell us that their children arrive home and ask them to tell a story, or they want to retell the story I'd told them earlier in the morning. Often times the parents report that the school has given an opportunity they've never had, which is sitting with their kids to read. Most likely, they are not used to reading themselves and they end up learning with their kids.
Each and every day we realize that these kids have a huge potential. They do learn. They surely can concentrate.
And, in my opinion, the first step is through reading. The child sees herself in that story. She puts herself in the story, through her own fantasy world.
She lets herself out of the real world to her own imaginary world. Projeto Entorno is a partnership between Fundaçao Vitor Civita and Sao Paulo’s Education Department. Its main goal is to foster reading on child education.
The reading experiences enjoyed by children and portrayed on this video represent the work and results of a network of professionals who developed this project. These images were shot at different schools in the district of the Regional Administration of Guaianazes We would like to thank the parents and children who kindly contributed to this video.
