RL.A.37 LISTENS TO A COMPLETE SHORT STORY

The remaining 3 items in this sequence are concerned with the child’s ability to attend to a story.

At the 18 months-2 years level of development, the child can be expected to attend to an entire short story. A typical short story will have about a dozen pictures (perhaps one to an opening) and 1 or 2 sentences to accompany each picture. The Dick Bruna storybooks (published by Methuen) fit this description. You will find many alternatives in children’s bookshops. Note that we are talking here about storybooks, as distinct from books which show a series of loosely related pictures.

Listening to stories ties in closely with the book skills described in Sequence FM.G.

How to Assess

Method: Read a short story to your child.

Score plus if she attends for the entire story by looking at the pictures and at your face.

How to Teach

Teach your child to attend to short stories by making them an important part of every day. As you read, show your child that you enjoy the experience.

Most children have favourite stories that they want to hear over and over again. Don’t discourage this, as children enjoy and learn from such repetition. You may, of course, have to pretend your own enjoyment, if you are reading The Three Little Pigs for the seventh time in a week!

If your child attends to pictures, but loses attention during stories, begin by making up brief stories around the pictures that you show her. Instead of saying ‘Here’s a spoon’ and moving on, you could say ‘This spoon helped Katie eat porridge for breakfast, and baked beans for lunch, and peas and potato and jelly for dinner’. Look for books which show an individual child going through all the events of a day, and describe the pictures in a way that relates to your child’s own experiences. Choose your first storybooks very carefully, ensuring that there is a picture for each event, and that the words and events are familiar to your child. Why not use some family snapshots to make up your child’s own story.