Story Time

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See also fiction, reading, response to reading, story telling

This is a designated time, often at the end of the day in nursery and Reception classes, for telling or reading stories to the whole class. The advantage of choosing an earlier time is that other activities like role play and drawing can follow during the day (Browne, 1996). Teachers seek quality stories – there are so many wonderful ones in picture book form – and try to ensure that over a period of time the stories cover a range of types and present different experiences. Fortunate are the children whose teacher is able to tell or read stories in a spellbinding way with pace and enthusiasm, a feel for mood and atmosphere and with different voices for the direct speech. In the Reception class stories are read during the Literacy Hour but it would be sad if stories were not read for sheer pleasure at story time as well. Last time I joined a Reception class at story time the children were enthralled by one of the books in the Mr Men series – Mr Small. They asked the teacher to read it again. They laughed in all the same places and there was an atmosphere of complete harmony and shared enjoyment in a class of children that had had their fair share of squabbles during the day.

Reading and telling stories out loud is not just an activity for the very young.

Older primary children greatly enjoy hearing the teacher read a novel over several weeks. It provides a valuable shared experience for all the children and helps make the class a community of listeners and readers. I remember the profound discussion which accompanied a Year 5 teacher’s reading of The Midnight Fox by Betsy Byars. Tom had just confessed to Aunt Millie and Uncle Fred that it was he who let the baby fox escape after the chickens had been killed. The class talked about the conflicting interests of the farmers and the fox and Tom’s difficult combination of loyalties. I hope reading out loud to the whole class, whatever their age, will always be part of good practice in Primary English.

Browne, Ann (1996) Developing Language and Literacy 3–8 London: Paul Chapman.

Wilson, J. (2006) Great Stories to Read Aloud. London: Corgi.

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