Real-Life Inquiry Project

For my real-life inquiry project, I observed a two year old girl from my church as she displayed emerging ideas about concepts of print. Olivia has been spending the last few weeks in the nursery taking time look at books, read books to her baby dolls, and spend time listening to a teacher read to her. When a teacher reads the book, she is highly engaged, pointing at pictures and mimicking actions displayed on the page. (For instance, one of her favorite books lists a different body part on each page and she will point to her own body part and sometimes name it as well.) When reading to her baby doll, an interesting phenomenon occurs. She will place the doll in her lap, open up the book and "read" to the doll. Her reading is incoherent phrases that she strings together, but she does sometimes point to pictures as she "reads." She holds the book in an upright position and turns the pages in the correct direction.

I think it is important to remember that even children at a young age can be interesting in reading. Though she probably does not yet understand the concept of a word, she is display some knowledge of individual letters. Her reading is interesting because she takes on a tone while reading that is similar to one that I and other teachers use when reading to her. She is extremely interested in books and likes to read whenever she can. While we as teachers may not work with children this young, it is important to remember that possessing a strong interesting in reading is helpful. It is also so vitally important to be exposed to a variety of print options from a very young age. I can only assume that Olivia will continue to find a love for books and reading as she gets older. As the IRA and the NAEYC point out in their joint position statement in 1998, reading aloud to children is one of the most important activities that help children understand and learn skills for reading success (p. 3). I believe that not only her parents attempts but also the teachers attempts to read aloud to Olivia helped to spark this excitement in her wanting to read. Not unlike the Jones Family mentioned in Johnson's 2010 article, Olivia's family has established a family culture that values literacy. They take time to point out print in her everyday life. And, obviously, reading to Olivia is something that her parents value.

Here is a video of Olivia reading.