It has been an exciting time at kindergarten recently, our library bags were ready to go home with the tamariki.
At Bream Bay Kindergarten we know and value the importance of reading and books in the early years. As McReedy (2006) states"If children are to become readers, for life, they must first love stories".
The creation of our library bags has been an ongoing process that we have journeyed towards for quite some time. We began by designing and sewing our own library bags. This was an exciting and lengthy process which prompted discussion and invited engagement with the tamariki as we worked towards our goals.
The children helped to sew, the children helped to thread, the children helped to count! Some days we sewed lots of bags, some days we sewed none. But we continued to work towards completing them all.
Once we had reached our goal.....50+ library bags we were ready to begin!!
Marilyn Adams states that "reading aloud with children is known to be the single most important activity for building the knowledge and skills they will eventually require for learning to read".
Our whanau have welcomed the library bags and our tamariki have begun to excitedly take and return library books on a daily or weekly basis. Taking them to read at home with their mums, dads, grandparents and siblings.
"Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his deep and continuing needs, is good for him" Maya Angelou.
Sharing picture books and reading stories with children is always a great activity to support literacy development. The increased language interactions positively impact the child’s language and literacy development (Dickinson & Porche, 2011). These connected literacy activities at home and at kindergarten is an important part of each child’s ongoing literacy development.
The library bags offer our tamariki an opportunity to share books with their loved ones.
Books that they have choosen. Books that appeal to them.
Books that spark their interest in reading.
The tamariki share with their whanau books that they have grown to like and love here at kindergarten.
"It is not enough to simply teach children to read; we have to give them something worth reading. Something that will stretch their imaginations, something that will help them make sense of their own lives and encourage them to reach out toward people whose lives are quite different from their own" Katherine Patterson.
Since the introduction of this initiative, we've noticed an explosion of children's interest and enjoyment of books and reading.
Children are choosing to read all the time within play space.
Roald Dahl once said....
"So please, oh please,
we beg, we pray,
go throw your TV set away,
and in its place you can install,
a Lovely bookshelf on the wall"
