Early Childhood Education

Recommends the use of books with enlarged texts for teaching reading to children in small groups. Approximation of the family storybook reading experience; Patterned and predictable language as key feature of Big Books; Suggestions for activities to be used with Big Books.

Presents an interview with Don Holdaway, early childhood educator and originator of "shared book experience." The article first provides a brief summary of themes embodied in Holdaway's first book, "The Foundations of Literacy." It then presents the interview with Holdaway, discussing literacy learning, big books, and Holdaway's acquisition model of learning.

Offers four essays containing suggestions from classroom teachers on using big books for sharing reading experiences; poems or paragraphs; an interdisciplinary unit of study for first graders around Tomie de Paola's "The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush"; and comparing film and text to build critical comprehension.

Big books, magnified or enlarged versions of children's books, are recommended for use in the English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) classroom. The big book approach is based on the idea that shared reading and enlarged texts support joint adult-child participation in the reading process and emphasizes reading for meaning and enjoyment rather than accurate decoding. Big books are a rich source of activities that promote reading and meet curriculum objectives, including activating prior knowledge, modelling the thinking process, tracking print, encouraging prediction skills, and providing varied linguistic and creative activities.

There's no better way to get smart(er) than by reading "Time for Kids Big Book of What?" and "Sports Illustrated Kids Big Book of Why."