Reading corner mysteries

Reading corner mysteries

Together, let's take a look at your reading corner, evaluate its contents and study how children use it.

Contents of your reading corner:
The reading corner is an area within your daycare filled with attractive books. Offering a variety of books is crucial. The books must correspond to the interests of the children in your group.

Including books related to the themes you explore can represent an important asset. A comfortable and attractive decor makes it fun for children to visit your reading corner. Whenever possible, the reading corner should always be accessible to the children in your group.

Your reading corner is just as important as all the other corners that are part of your daycare. Many children have little or no books of their own at home and few children have reading models at home.

The reading corner should be a point of reference for children who feel the need for a calm activity.

The goals:

• On a moral and social level, the reading corner should help children develop their self-confidence and their independence (they express their likes and dislikes, their interests, make choices, put things back in the right place). Children also share their discoveries with their friends and their early childhood educator.
  
  
• On a cognitive level, children use books to discover the world and their environment, add to their vocabulary, solve problems, explore objects on a symbolic level, and develop their creativity and their dramatic expression. They experiment with different ways of expressing themselves (songs, poems, fables, rhymes). We mustn't forget the sensory and motor aspect of books.

What you may observe in your reading corner:

• Does the child demonstrate a sense of initiative? For example, a child may visit the reading corner without touching a single book.
• Is the child interested in stories?
• Does the child show an interest for books? Which ones?
• Does the child explore new words?
• Does the child communicate and talk with others?
• Are the contents of his favorite books part of his/her games?
• Does the child use language models in his/her games?
• Does the child seem interested in the reading corner?
• When does the child like to visit the reading corner?

As you can see, the reading corner is very important. It offers many opportunities and ways to stimulate children and must therefore contain a wide range of books.

Marie-Josée Thibert

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